Merry Christmas!

Just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

NFAC and my Art Portfolio

First off I will start with my new NFAC art, which I made in 'bookmark' shape, which I vary, this one is 2" x 5".

The theme this month is Nocturnal and I have a rat walking in the dark. I've been busy with other things and am lucky that rats, which I mostly draw, just happen to be nocturnal.

Click on the drawing to go to the auction, which will end on Monday night.
I've been looking for a job and it seems just when I have my portfolio updated, I will see a posting for things I can do but haven't listed. I think you get so used to what you can do you forget to include past things.

To the right is the link to my Art Portfolio, (or just click the words in this paragraph). I switched to my .Mac account, instead of Flickr, since I can have more groupings of art. It's helping me to organize all the things I've done and can still do. Of course I am sure that something new will come up in a job posting and I will scramble to add another category.

Thanks for stopping by!

Leaf fabric

I had designed a leaf pattern and now have it for sale on Spoonflower. I am attaching the actual sample I have of it so you can see it printed, it does look a bit more muted, due to the porous nature of fabric.

I hope you enjoy my first foray into the world of fabric! I will be doing more designs as time permits.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

A Gang of Wild Turkeys oh my!

This morning I heard one of my cats coughing and when I went to check on him I saw this gang of wild turkeys out the window and just had to go out in the pouring rain and take some pictures. They looked so cute following each other around.

I wonder where they sleep and hang out or what they find to eat as I am not in a rural area.

Years ago I had seen one or two but never 10 like today.

Stay safe little turkeys! And my coughing kitty was just fine!

You're kidding me, right?

My drawing here may strike you as a humorous piece of art but apparently to the post office it is offensive. I have this art in my Zazzle shop and submitted it for postage and this is their response:

The details of the product being removed are listed below:

•    Product Title: No cats on beach postage
•    Product Type: Postage
•    Product ID: 172580117471961236

•    Result: Not Approved
•    Policy Violations:

o    Design incorporates material the primary purpose of which is to advocate or protest any particular religious, social, political, legal or moral agenda of any person or entity.

They go on to apologize, blah, blah, blah. My primary purpose was to create a funny piece of art and I wasn't advocating or protesting anything. No cat that I know, and I know quite a few, have taken offense at my drawing. In fact my cat even posed for the picture. The card and postcard are still available.

Thanks for listening.

The Rat Race painting

I had gone to Home Depot recently and had some hardboard cut into 8"x10"(they are closer to 7.75x10)  pieces which I then primed. I have finished painting one of them, it's titled 'The Rat Race' and is available now on eBay (clicking the picture will take you there).



Well I am off, thanks for stopping by.

Windsurfing Rat

My latest drawing features a windsurfing rat. He sure is enjoying his new hobby.

The size of this art is 4"x8" and it's done on Canson paper. Click on the picture to go to the eBay auction.

Today I am hoping to finish up a painting on hardboard. I had started it and then decided to change it when it just wasn't to my liking.

Now that the painting has a new direction I feel much better about it, now I just have to hope the paint is cooperative.

Well I better get cracking if I want to finish all the things I hope to finish today.

Thanks for stopping by!

New Art and Job Hunt

First up is Beer and Butts featuring one of my ratties and a few of his vices, which everyone needs now and then.

Another new art is a surfer, who feels at his best when riding the waves.

Clicking on the pictures will bring you to the eBay auction where you can read the story.

I am currently looking for a job in northern NJ in case you have need of an artist! But doesn't even have to be art related.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy July 4th!

Have a happy and safe July 4th. And a big thank you to our soldiers, keep them in your thoughts!

This is a graphic I made in Photoshop.

Ratties at the Beach art

 

My newest drawing is a 2x8 inch panoramic of seven rats frolicking at the beach which is for sale now on eBay. Clicking the picture will take you there. I plan to do more of these.

I have been adding more items to my Zazzle and Etsy stores too! See links to the right to visit.

Hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July and remember our soldiers.

Thanks for visiting.

Bookmark painting of a tabby cat

My bookmark painting featuring Betty, the tabby cat. It is done in colored pencils and is 2"x5". I have been doing larger acrylic paintings for a couple weeks and decided to get back to small colored pencil drawings so I wouldn't forget how.

Sometimes it is good to get away from a particular medium for awhile, I think I needed the break.

Today I will be finishing up an ACEO of a rat with a cupcake. If things go really well, I will also have a few more drawings/paintings to show.

Well, I'm off to get an early start to my day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cat paintings

I am hoping to get a lot of painting done this week. I have been working on some larger cat paintings. So far I have my cat Puggy behind a lace curtain and four little kittens. These are 10"x8" acrylic paintings. I will be listing the 4 kittens tonight on eBay. (search KMCoriginals) or see my link to the right.

  
I have one almost finished of my cat Fluffy looking at roses and hope to have it completed today.

I also have a rat holding a rose ACEO (art that is 2.5"x3.5") that I want to finish, I haven't done a rat in awhile and miss the little critters!

I am hoping for a nice productive week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Good Friends and New Art

This is my newest colored charcoal drawing. It's done on a 3"x5" Pastelbord panel. I like using Pastelbord and will pick some more up on my next trip to Jerry's Artarama.

I plan on doing art today while I listen to a book on tape. I have a charcoal piece I want to tweak a bit and some new pictures that are giving me inspiration.

While at my moms on Friday I was taking pictures of her rhododendron and I can just picture a rat peeking out of the petals. Or perhaps holding one. I'm sure by the time I put pencil to paper something will click.

My next inspiration comes from a visit with two of my best friends yesterday. My friend has a stream running through her back yard! (how cool is that?) I finally took pictures of it since it was a beautiful sunny day. Here is a peek at one of the photos I may work from.

Well, that is all for now, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day with Mom. I am going to visit my super mom today and just have a nice relaxing day.

Yesterday my wonderful sister-in-law took my mom shopping in a humongous mall to find a dress for my nieces wedding. (I went along for the fun of it.) My mom is not the shopping type and doesn't especially like large stores, so it was interesting. We managed to trudge through a lot of the mall. Unfortunately a dress wasn't found but it was great company.

Although we had planned to do something today, mom is kinda worn out from yesterday, so we will be hanging in and see how the day goes.

This ACEO is from a few year's back.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

My New Etsy shop

Hello, I thought I would post about my new Etsy shop. So far I only have one print available (see below) but you have to start somewhere. I will be adding more items to it as time permits.

Now I am going to watch the first Mission Impossible movie and be glad this week is over!

Thanks for stopping by.

New Paintings

Hello,

I've done a few paintings this month, this first one is acrylic on a 12x6 inch Ampersand Panel, complete with grooves on the back for hanging.

I have broken out my watercolors again and am using them together with ink pens. The first one is standard ACEO size (2.5x3.5") and the second is a small (2.25x2.25") square.

Last but not least is one of my NFAC entries this month, theme: Fabulous Felines. I drew my pretty Fluffy cat.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring is finally getting here!!

Winter is finally gone I think, although I wouldn't be surprised with another freak snowstorm. haha This will probably be my last snow painting until the end of the year, but you never know, I may be inspired to paint snow when I am complaining about the summer heat.

Back to my painting, it is of 'Tabby Cat' who hangs out by my house, she was under a truck in my driveway staring out over the mound of snow. She was waiting for food and for me to shovel her a path so her dainty feet wouldn't have to touch the snow. I was happy to oblige.

I was inspired to do a portrait this week and chose to do a drawing of my Grandfather, aka 'Pop', from 1916. He was a very handsome man and only 19 in this picture. I haven't done a human portrait in awhile and would like to start doing more.

I filled out the census form and will mail it out today, something I have been putting off.

Well I better get going! Thanks for stopping by.

Sneak Peek at new painting

Hello, I am posting my newest 11x14 acrylic painting. I hope to get a better scan tomorrow and will be listing it on eBay. Now I am off to dreamland and I hope when I wake up the bad weather will have gone. It was raining and super windy all day.

Zazzle Keds shoes Contest

Zazzle is having a Keds shoe design contest so I put my 'Lattice Cats' painting on a pair. I think they turned out pretty well!

You can view more angles of them here.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Horse and Rats painting

I had actually started this painting years ago and decided to add rats to it to jazz it up, plus the stable door has been reworked to look a little fancier. Sometimes paintings just need to sit until the right inspiration hits.

I call this 'Three Pals' and it is listed on eBay.

It looks like it going to be a nice weather week in NJ so it will be nice to work without shivering.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Charcoal drawings and acrylic painting

I haven't blogged much this February, it has just been so cold, snowy and depressing I didn't have it in me. We just got over (I hope) a 2 day snow storm and now that the roads are clear and walks are shoveled (thanks to my wonderful neighbors!) I feel a bit human again.

I am going to post some new art done in charcoal. In my teens charcoal was what I did most, then I went to art school where I learned to use watercolor, acrylics and oils, among other things. I taught myself colored pencils a few years back and have been using them almost exclusively for the past few years. Now I felt like just sketching and here are some of them, which are for sale on eBay.

I also painted my cat Puggy on a wooden door hanger, He look's to be saying 'Come Back Later' so that is what I titled this.

 

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Drawings, ACEOs, prints and t-shirts

I have listed a few new items on eBay in the last week or so. Here is an 8x10 charcoal drawing I did of my cat Bone. It was nice to loosen up and sketch. In my younger years charcoal was my favorite medium, although it was black charcoal on white paper, so it is fun to do again.

I've found a printing place I like so am now offering prints of some earlier art and should have more to offer late next week.

Another venture is t-shirts. Besides drawing and painting I am also involved in screen printing and have finally put a rat on a t-shirt. Markus, the cool rat is the chosen one and printed on the front of a black 100% cotton Gildan t-shirt with the saying Rats are Cool.

And last but not least is ACEO theme week with 'The Color Red' as the theme. With valentine's day so close it seemed logical to do some red heart balloons held by a rat with a red scarf.

I am also happy that the snow storm that was heading my way missed me and there is now snow to shovel! Yay!!!

Baby Rat ACEOs and my Book

Hello, thanks for stopping by on this gloomy Sunday, well, it's gloomy where I am. I have more of my book 'The Rats of Summer' in and they are available on eBay.

Blurb has been great, I had a few books with wrinkles in the pages and Blurb promptly reprinted and shipped them, so they have great customer service.

Shown is a sample page. If you go to Blurb you can preview the first 15 pages.

On Facebook I am friends with Michelle Carroll and she has given me permission to draw some of her adorable rat babies. I have done 2 so far and have them listed on eBay. I will be doing more of the little rats soon.

Well, off to work, hope you have an enjoyable day.

Mid January Hello!

I've been meaning to post here for weeks now and have decided that today is the day! It's been a tad chilly here in NJ but with January almost over and February so short, March is just about here! And that is when it starts to get a bit more temperate out and I start looking for the crocus.

My brother, SIL and niece went to Africa to visit my nephew in the Peace Corps and had a nice time. I will probably do a few ACEOs with rats in Africa.

NFAC starts tomorrow and I thinks it's Mask/Masquerade this month, but I will double check. For now I will post my lastest ACEOs that are still up on eBay, you can click the pics to go to the auction.

The first two pictures feature Randy and Rosa, celebrating their 2 year anniversary and Randy bringing Rosa a stuffed rat and balloon, He sure is a big spender this year! The little lady with the heart shaped jelly donut (given to her by a secret admirer) is Little Missy, the clumsy skater as shown in the last picture. She just doesn't want to accept that she is not adept at ice skating.

Oh well, off to work, thanks for stopping by!

ACEO Theme Week January

My theme week entry this month, the theme is 'Snow Birds' and I have drawn a rare white raven helping a mouse who got stuck in the snow with his snow disc.

Hope you had a great New Year's Day!