New app and new pen

I am continuing on my journey with digital art, drawing with a digital pen to be exact.  I have been considering the apple pen for a few weeks now and with the stimulus money everyone is getting I almost talked myself into it but then I went on Amazon and found another brand cheaper.  I was hesitant at first but 2 things made me purchase it.  1. This is a hobby I don't need to spend the big bucks yet ($36. versus $100.) and 2. This pen got a 5-star rating!

Also the app I am now using is Procreate.  I'm sure everyone in the world has heard of it except for me but now I'm on board guys!  So here are my 5 latest drawings:

Newport News Fall Festival!

I know I've been MIA for a while but it's because WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! So this summer was all about purging old junk and moving to our new place.  As soon as the boys went back to school I told myself that I really needed to buckle down and get ready for this year's fall festival.  So here are a few pictures from this weekend:

One of my new items this fall was my zendoodle notecards.  Here's a better picture I took before the festival:

My booth may look totally different next year because as I was sitting there assessing what people were buying (and not buying) and what creative endeavor I like to spend my time doing now... I think I'm "reinventing" myself.  

I probably won't shut this blog down but I will be devoting more time to my newer blog over here: Timeless Tangles Thanks for looking!

Fabric Designer

I am now designing my own fabric!  I joined Spoonflower last year but didn't really understand how it worked until last weekend when I decided to play around on it some more.  Spoonflower is a website that allows you to create and sell your designs on fabric, wallpaper, gift wrap, drapery and much more.
If you want to get your creative juices flowing, Spoonflower has design contests.  They post a theme and leave it up to you to do the rest.  This weeks theme is "Endangered species" and since my nine-year-old loves rhinos I decided to take on the challenge.  I drew a zentangle rhino then shrunk it down to the appropriate size for a fabric print.

There are also a few drawing apps I use on my phone to create abstract designs like this:

When I was in church on Sunday I kept looking at the architecture of the building.  I took a few photos, changed them to black and white, and after sizing and mirror-imaging them I came up with another beautiful print.  This is the initial photo I used:

Tuesday, when I was on a field trip with my son's class, I took a picture of this little frog.  I first manipulated the colors in the picture, mirror imaged him, then turned him into fabric as well:

You can be a customer or vendor or both!  Here is a link to my virtual storefront but I encourage you to use the search engine and look up anything your little heart desires.  I can almost guarantee someone will have designed exactly what you are looking for.

My shop name is October Cat Studios, the link is October Cat Studios

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!!

I have finished up a lot of my projects over the holidays and I can't wait to share them with you!  I'm still in the process of organizing the photos of my many projects but I have a lot of new and exciting things to show you.

My first love has always been photography and with the all of the photo apps out there now one can do amazing things with one's photos.  Over Christmas, we were visiting family in WI, and we ate brunch at "The Old Feed Mill" in Mazomanie, WI.  (Link here) I took this photo from the outside of the building:

I used one of the many photo apps to create these:

I took this photo at the bar area inside the old feed mill:

And these are just a few of the altered photos of this same photo:

If you are an artist like me, please look into these apps.  Most of them are free and it allows you to see your photos as if they were painted in watercolors or pastels, charcoal or pencils.

Save the Date!

October 7-8th, 2017... I've been accepted into the Newport News Fall Festival of Folklife so please come see me!!  Here is a temporary link NN Fall Festival  I will update this link as they update their website.  I don't have my booth number yet but you all will be the first to know where to find me.

I will still be selling my fabric bowls but will have new items as well.  A new line I will be introducing is my whimsical hand-painted home decor.  Here is a sneak peek of my pink and black end table:

Before

After

A close-up of the base:

I am also working on a child's bench that I will have in the show so stay tuned I'll be posting pictures soon.

Painting, painting and more painting

This Blog is all over the place just like my brain!  A few months ago I was all about quilting.  I was going to create a new quilting blog but, with my creative gene, I've bounced back to painting.  When I tell people I'm an artist, I quilt, I do handwork and I paint people ask, "What medium?" or "What do you paint? What's your style?"

I paint mainly in acrylics but I also like watercolors.  My style?  I've never been able to define this.  It's not folk art and its' not realism.  I like the word whimsical but that in itself is open to interpretation.  Abstract, pop-art maybe?  You be the judge.  Here are some of my latest creations:

Wall hanging for the princess in your life (wood)

Snowflake wall hanging because I love snow! (wood)

Nothing is more patriotic than a red, white and blue anchor (wood)

My Christmas reindeer (paper mache)

Because the word home should be done in folk art colors (one piece wood)

My idea of fun pumpkins (paper mache)

Paper mache trinket boxes

Stoneware catch-all tray

Decorating and zentangles

     We are moving in just two short weeks!  I'm not that much of an interior decorator but one of the bathrooms in our new-but-old house needs some TLC.  We currently have a glass door on our shower but in the new house I get to pick out a shower curtain... which then entails picking out the rugs and any other accents.  I have had so much fun with this!
     It took me a while to decide on the perfect shower curtain (which I'll probably change out six months after we move in, because I'm like that). This is the shower curtain and it looks like it has a white background but it's really a cream color.  I'm thinking of hand sewing beads onto it because it just feels like it needs beads, plus I love to hand sew.

     I bought it from Target online.  It's made by Boho Boutique and the name is Utopia.  This picture is from their website and it's even more gorgeous in person, the red and orange really pop.  I bought two rugs (one orange and one cream color) locally.  I bought fabric from JoAnn's to eventually make curtains but I need to take measurements first.  And finally I decided to do a few zentangles for the walls.
     I probably only needed to do one or two but I've done three so far.  There is light blue and olive green in the shower curtain also that doesn't show up to well in Target's picture.

     I can't wait to move in and get this bathroom all set up so you can see the final product.

What I've been up to

     We are moving in June!  My husband is a Methodist pastor and if you know anything about us Methodists it's that the pastors move often.  Since we are in the Virginia Conference we will stay within this state.  When we got married we were assigned to a quaint little town on the Rappahannock river called Urbanna, Va.  Six years and two kids later we moved to Portsmouth, Va.  We have been here five years and are now moving to Lexington, Va.
     So, needless to say, this is what's been going on in my life for the past few months: helping the kids transition, packing and purging, starting to change our address on bills and looking for new doctors, etc.
     I am still working on my two young adult fantasy fiction stories but yesterday I revisited one of my other passions, zentangles!

So if you don't hear from me for another month or two it's because I'm knee deep in boxes.

Found objects and photography

Today my son asked me "Mommy why did you get interested in smashing things?"

"Well Joshua, do you remember the Steampunk wall hanging that I'm making?  Steampunk involves a lot of gears and wires and instead of buying them at a craft store I thought it would be more fun to smash apart an old electric knife cutter."  (This truly makes my art pieces one-of-a-kind)

Today I decided to go back to these railroad tracks that I explored a few months ago to look for more found objects.  These tracks are about an hour away so I don't make it up there often.  When I was there a few months ago I remember finding A LOT of railroad nails.  I picked up a few last time, and again this time, but what I was really there for was other rusted metal pieces. Rusted metal = steampunk look!

I am a very quiet and "to myself" kind of person so walking on railroad tracks by myself, enjoying the beautiful autumn weather is pure heaven for me.  I have always liked railroad tracks.  Maybe it's the idea that they could take me to different places that intrigue me.  Maybe it was the 1986 movie Stand By Me that turned me on to railroad tracks.

While I'm looking for rusty metal and taking pictures of these beautiful tracks today I remembered that photography was my first love, my first artistic expression.  So here again two of my artistic interests cross paths.

If you'd like to visit my Steampunk board on Pinterest you can find it here.