Feline Friday...on Saturday

I've decided to add a new weekly post to the blog to help keep myself in the habit of posting.  During the holidays I get a bit distracted and neglectful of both my creativity and this site.  The new feature will hopefully remedy this.  I can't promise that I won't miss a day now and then.  I mean, I am starting the first post a day late, but I will try my best to keep it up.  I'm currently feeling under the weather and I did not manage to get the post completed yesterday, so I'm finishing now.  Better late than never.  Next week I will hopefully be feeling better and back on track.

Anyway, every Friday I plan on posting a painting, digital illustration, photo or quick doodle that in some way involves a cat.  This week I have a little drawing featuring my cat Mr. E to share with you.  I had to pick up his food after work on Friday.  Instead of just writing a note to help me remember this errand, I drew a picture of Mr. E with the "death stare" on his face.  I sat the drawing on my desk so he could glare at me all day.  The trick worked like a charm and I promptly picked up his food on the way home.

Mr. E's death stare:
About an hour before feeding time Mr. E situates himself directly in front of me, no matter where I am in the house, and just stares at me.  Seriously.  He doesn't blink.  Try winding down after a day at work with a giant black cat staring at you with it's pupils fully dilated, not moving, not blinking, occasionally howling at you.  It's a little unsettling, but I love the big, little guy!  He doesn't stop until I move toward the kitchen and open the cabinet containing his beloved food.

I guess I should explain the flame on his tail.  In the past month he has managed to catch the tip of his tail on fire, twice.  He's fine.  His tail is never aflame for more than a second or two and his fur is so long that he doesn't even notice that it's on fire.  His only injury is a small clump of slightly singed fur.  He is apparently unaware of the activity of his tail.  I am now extremely careful of where I place candles, and very aware of the whereabouts of Mr. E while they are lit.

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of Feline Friday, even if it is on the wrong day.  Remember to check back next week!

Mission Completed: Winter Prints!

We had our first "snow" of the season a week or two ago.  It wasn't anything big.  It basically just made the ground wet, but was a very strange snow.  It was evening and I had to make a quick run to the store.  By "run" I mean drive.  Anyway, it had been kind of windy most of the night and I do recall seeing a slight chance of a "single" snowflake in the forecast, but it wasn't anything to be concerned with.  So, I put on my coat and headed out the door.  As soon as I stepped onto the porch I noticed HUGE snowflakes whipping about.  "How nice," I thought.  I got into the car and headed for the store.  By the time I got on the main road, those HUGE, fat snowflakes were falling harder and faster.  It almost seemed like a bizzard.  The snow was coming down so "thickly" that I couldn't see to drive.  It was actually kind of scary.  I did make it to the store without incident.  When I got out of the car, the ground was just wet, like it had been raining, not snowing, but the snow was still falling heavily.  Before walking into the store, I took a few minutes to just stand in the parking lot and look up at the snow filled sky.  It was refreshing, and kind of magical.  It almost felt like standing in a snow globe.  What a nice start to...fall?

Being inspired by the first snow, I came up with some winter illustrations to try and transition myself from Halloween to the winter holidays.  I hope you enjoy them!  Prints are available in my shop. 

Mission Completed: What I've been up to lately

It's been dry in the painting department lately.  I decided to take a break and concentrate on some personal and household projects.  Aside from the non-art related projects, I have been fairly busy at the computer.  I've been working on some designs for a dear friend.  He asked me to come up with some  shirt designs for the first and second grade classes at some local elementary schools (Welch and Struble).  The first grade shirt was to say "First Grade is FROGtastic!" and the second grade shirt was to say "When it comes to reading, Second Grade doesn't monkey around!"  I was very happy with what I came up with (especially the for the monkey shirt) and apparently the kids were as well!

Thanks, Eric, for giving the opportunity to design these shirts!  It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad they were so well received!

Halloween: A quick recap

Seems like I'm always trying to play catch up on here, but I'm trying to get better.  Halloween has come and gone and I am sad to see it go.  I had a lot of fun this year.  Though I seemed very busy with the party preparations and taking down the "Little Conversations" show, I did manage to make some time for pumpkin carving with Zach.  This year we set up a table in the kitchen and watched The Howling 2 while we gutted the pumpkins.  I was pretty pleased with the way my pumpkin turned out. 

This year, my costume was Canary Yellow from Rainbow Brite.  It might seem a little obscure to do one of the Color Kids and not Rainbow Brite, but it was part of a "group" costume.  Earlier this year I went to Dragon Con in Atlanta with some friends.  Our group costume was Rainbow Brite characters, and my character was the yellow one.  My friend was Rainbow Brite.  Sadly, I live about 4 hours away from them, so the rest of the bunch wasn't at the Halloween party, but I still rocked my yellow outfit.  I made Mr. E my sprite.  Mr. F was not happy with the antennae, so he didn't have a costume this year.  He was more than happy with that outcome.

Zach was a werewolf.  Can you tell?  He likes his costumes to be "minimal."

I tried a few new recipes for the party this year.  The homemade potato soup was a big hit.  I've made it about 3-4 times since the party.  It's definitely getting to be soup weather.  Cupcakes always make an appearance, and this year I made chocolate toffee crunch cupcakes with caramel frosting.  I thought they were amazing. 

To top of the holiday, a friend of mine snapped a shot of my Halloween prints on display in the window at Fabricate.  Don't they look awesome!  Thanks to Diane for sending me the pic! 

All-in-all, I had a great Halloween, and I hope you did too!  Now, on to the rest of the holidays...

Halloween: A Friendly Hello

Mr. E wanted to wish everyone a great Halloween season!  It really should be a season, shouldn't it.

Now Showing: Little Conversations

i've been absent for a little bit, but that is to be expected for October.  i did think it would be nice to check in and update you on the show opening of "Little Conversations."  It was a great evening with a surprising crowd.  There was a pretty steady flow of people coming through the gallery, which was exciting.  Some sales were made, some conversations were had and some cupcakes were eaten.  Actually, a great deal of cupcakes were eaten, and not all by me.  All in all, a pretty good evening.  Thanks to everyone that came out.  I had a blast!

i didn't get that many pictures during the show.  i was a little busy working the room and networking.  Actually, that's entirely false.  i was busy being the little introvert that i am and trying to blend in with the wall.  It's terrible, i know.  i did manage to get a couple of good shots of the crowd late in the evening.

i only got one picture of myself, and of course it was blurry.  That's usually how it goes.  i thought i'd share it anyway, because i like the composition, and i like the moment that it captures.  Thanks to Zach for trying to get a picture!

Yep, that's me (in the yellow dress) and my good friend and sometimes roadie, Shannon.  If you're wondering what we are doing, well, we're talking about cats, because that's what we do.  Actually, we are talking about cats and she's showing me pictures of cats on her phone.  Perfect.

i know not everyone was able to make down to the gallery for the opening.  For those that wanted to make it, but couldn't, i thought i would post some of the images of the actual paintings on display.  Now, i can't post them all because there are far too many, so i narrowed it down to just the newest pieces.

This one was the absolute last painting i did before dropping all the artwork off at the gallery.  Even though it was the last piece finished, it is the sketch for this piece that gave me the idea for the title of the show.

Can You Hear Them, acrylic on canvas, 12"x12"

Are You Ready to Bumble?, acrylic on canvas, 6"x6"

i love this next one, mainly because mountain goats are pretty sweet, and also because the background is a little different than what i'm used to doing for backgrounds (when they are more than just a single color).  It was a little bit of an experiment for me and i was pleased with the results.  i will be honest, i was a little irritated by the painting most of the time i was working on it, but it all seemed to come together at the end when i added the accent lines to the background.

Rock Steady, acrylic on canvas, 11"x14"

Ok, so "Don't Stop" is a continuation of my flying cats series of paintings.  It holds a special place in my heart.  i think the whole cat with a balloon tied around it is kind of popular "thing" right now.  i say this only because i ran across this necklace over on Modcloth.com and almost died (not literally).  Anyway, i fell in love immediately, though i did not make the purchase and sadly it is no longer available.  The reason i loved the necklace so much was because it reminded me of one of my favorite children's books, "The Little Kitten."  It was about a little orange stripey cat that lived on a farm and kept getting lost in the tall grass.  In order to remedy this problem, it's owner, a little girl, tied a balloon around its waist so she could know where it was at all times.  HAS ANYONE ELSE READ THIS BOOK????????  If you haven't, and you love cats, you obviously need to.  i absolutely loved it, and thinking about now makes me tear up and smile a little.  i actually just did a quick search and found it on amazon.  i might have to get it.  i no longer have my original book that i adored so much.  it was almost like an autobiography (again, this is stretching the truth).  i grew up on my grandparent's farm, and they had several little orange stripey cats, though i never tied a balloon to any of them.  They were apparently my grandmother's favorite kind of cat.  i find that strange, and a little endearing now.  i mean, if someone asks you what your favorite kind of cat is, the usual response is something like a Persian, Siamese, Norwegian Forest Cat (or is that last one just me?).  i never expect to hear "a little orange stripey cat is my favorite kind of cat."  It's an adorable answer from an adorable grandmother.  Maybe i should have made the cat in my painting a little orange stripey cat.  Oh well.  There's always next time!

In addition to the above information, "Don't Stop" is also special to me because i painted the cat to resemble, somewhat, my new office mate.  She's a little gray tabby that has taken up residence in a shed next to my office building.  i've named her Marlo and she has become a great office companion, but i would love to find her a permanent and loving home.  i'll have more on her later, so stay tuned.  So, here's "Don't Stop," a painting about a certain cat's never ending search for love.

Don't Stop, acrylic on board, 8"x10"

Also in addition to the flying cats is "Let's Go."  My favorite part of this painting is the grass.  It reminds me of warm and windy summer days hanging out in the fields of the farm mentioned earlier.  Although, i do have to say that the tall grass did make it hard to see those darn cow pies.

Let's Go, acrylic on board, 8"x10"

i posted "in progress" photos of this bat painting earlier.  i couldn't be more happy with the finished product.  i still think this is my favorite of the new pieces.

Night, acrylic on canvas, 12"x12"

And, finally...the largest of the new paintings!  It, by far, took the most time to paint.  i was in love with the way the owl turned out, but the part that still makes me more proud than anything is the snake's rattle.  Probably one of the smallest elements of the painting, but it is still the area that i spend most time looking at.

Vs., acrylic on canvas, 13"x20"

Again, i wanted to thank everyone that was able to make it out to the opening.  It was an amazing turn out!  And i wanted to give a big thanks to Lily of 1305 Gallery for giving me this amazing opportunity.  It couldn't have been better!

The entire show will be on display at 1305 Gallery in Cincinnati til October 22, 2011.  If you have the time and want to stop in before the show closes, the gallery's hours are Thursday-Sunday 12-4pm.  For prices and inquiries on the paintings shown above, and all paintings in the show, contact 1305 Gallery.  You can find the contact info here.

Happy Halloween Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is....Sherry Lykins!  Congratulations Sherry!  i'll be contacting you shortly to make the shipping arrangements for your new print!

Thank you to everyone that entered.  i enjoyed seeing everyone's favorite scary movies.  There were some classics listed and some that i haven't seen yet.  My "to watch" list for this year just got a little longer.  

This giveaway was fun, and i plan on doing more in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for the next one!

Also, if you didn't win but still wanted a print, they are available in my etsy store, or if you're local, just send me an email (gerileighshields@gmail.com) with your order.

And, if you were wondering how i chose the winner, i used the random number generator at www.random.org.

Thanks!
-G