Scratchboards and weather....

We have arrived! Cat-in-a-Box is officially based outside of Chicago now!

It's been a slightly hairy week, moving across the country is rarely a pleasant experience but this was actually the smoothest move I've had yet (and let's just say this wasn't my first rodeo!). Generally my husband and I take a Uhaul trailer to tote the more delicate items like computers, monitors, and art. I had the forethought to package my unused scratchboards separately with the intention of being extra-cautious about climate control. Scratchboard is a pretty hardy substrate, however I have on one occasion taken a board from the west (dry Colorado climate) to the midwest (colder and more humid) and back again. That board became more difficult to work and I was never certain if it was the humidity change or the temperature change that affected it.

Well this time I had my plan all laid - however as usual, life got in the way. It's all well and good to make plans, but when you arrive at the hotel four hours late because of the severe winter storms in Nebraska (after we'd passed 3 semis and over 15 cars and trucks off the road I stopped counting) and then wrangle four cats and their associated paraphernalia into the hotel room let me just say that the last thing you are capable of doing is digging out that special box of scratchboard from a pile of other stuff and suddenly your faith in the durability of scratchboard and whiteboard takes a huge upward leap!

Winter Storm - (c) KMTV Action 3 News

Now, more rested and arrived at the other end, I am regretting a little that the sratchboard got so cold. Only time will tell if there was any ill-effect. The one board that I had that was affected was still workable, it ended up turning into this piece:

"Ginger" (c) Pam Boutilier

When I get to working any of the boards that have traveled I will let you know how the surface is!

I also am able to share another commission I did shortly before the move, this is little Jessie. Her portrait was done in pastel, which was really fun to do after working in scratchboard so much recently! She is such a pretty little girl!


"Jessie" 5x7" Pastel (c) Pam Boutilier

The studio and supplies are piled in boxes - the next couple weeks are going to be just as busy as the last few!

~ Pam

Farewell Dear Heart....

October has been a bit of a wipe for me.... I'll just say, up front, that I'm behind on my Desktoppers, I have not filled the sketchbook, and my other artwork has been mostly on hold.

Earlier in the month we were visiting family 1500 miles away when our old doggie (who had been very chronically 'going downhill' but doing well when we left) decided to take a sudden turn. We had to make the heartbreaking decision to let her go without seeing her - we felt it wouldn't have been fair to her to make her wait the 18 hours it would have taken to get the soonest flight home.

Emma was my husband's dog initially, she and he were buddies for many years before I came along. Over the last 8 years though we'd all melded together as a big, happy (mostly four-legged) family. Emma was a wonderful soul - a street dog from Detroit she had a survivor's soul, but at her core she was sunshine incarnate. She knew about rules and mostly followed them... unless a higher calling (such as having some fun) beckoned.


She was almost 15, and in the last year and a bit she'd been going downhill. Heart issues and kidney issues, and mostly just old age. Like old Laurich she would dip low and we'd have 'the talk' then we'd change her treatment and she'd rally and we'd know it wasn't yet time.

Despite knowing 'it was coming', we'd stalled the trip for months and finally booked it when it seemed that she was stable and might decide to live another year. Whether it was the stress of us being gone or just bad timing - whatever the reason she chose that week to take the big downturn. My greatest regret is that my husband couldn't be with her to say goodbye.



Even being veterinarians, even knowing that it was coming, it is still hard. The first thing your mind does is construct the worst-case scenario and try to dwell on it. No matter how many people I've counseled when losing their pets it took my good friend to remind me "You didn't cause this to happen. I know you know that, but you have to ACCEPT that too." Knowing and accepting are two very different things aren't they?

Emma was our last dog - this is the first time we've been dogless in 15 years. The cats are more than happy to fill the gap and get more love and attention, but every night I still feel like there's something I should be doing (carrying the skinny dog downstairs to go potty because for the last month or two she couldn't navigate the stairs on her own). When we drop a piece of toast on the floor we have to toss it out because there's no dog to 'take care of it' (I won't mention the occasional cat vomit that we can't rely on Emma to 'take care of' either :D).



The sadness fades over time. We'll get used to our new situation. And sometime, when the time is right, we'll open our hearts to another homeless doggie. Until then we'll remember Emma's many good years - when she'd play chase with Nadia, cutting through the garden because that was the one spot Nadia wouldn't go. When she'd run Laurich ragged, then dive-bomb him in great, looping circles. The look on her face when she'd see horses 'What the heck are those big dogs doing?'. The way she'd keep one eye on you while you were eating but the other on the floor, because smart dogs know when the food drops the one watching the floor will get to it first. That her nose almost never left the ground on a walk. The fact that she lived in more places than me, from the heat of Texas to the chill of Saskatchewan winters, and everything in between. And mostly the look of sheer enjoyment that graced her face most all of the time.

So here's to Emma (and Laurich, and Rosie, and Scout, and Ty, and Ellie)! Here's to all the cats and dogs that leave such holes in our hearts when they pass, but who make our life so much more fulfilling while they are here and forever afterward.

I heart Moleskine

My latest project (because I always need a latest project) starts tomorrow... I stumbled across an art journaling challenge posted by fellow blogger Ghislaine Bruno. I love Ghislaine's work, and also enjoy reading her blog in french then seeing how good (or how poor) my french comprehension is these days :).

A challenge! I'm there! Er... at least I'll start it...

In all seriousness - my sketchbook is down to its last few pages and it was about time for another. Getting *something* down on page consistently is important for your art, and I've decided that it's just going to be a constantly waxing and waning thing with me. It's so easy to get caught up with my non-art related work, home, life... you all know that there's always more that needs to be done. Like everything important in life, you just have to ~make~ time for the art. And that's exactly what this challenge is about. For you artists who might be reading this you can find the details on WetCanvas here. Basically the task is to fill a sketchbook in one month - specifically the month of October 2010.

Now this doesn't supplant my 100 dogs challenge, in fact it will augment it... I need to fill this sketchbook in a month, there are definitely going to be some pooches in there! I'm only up to 20 in the dog challenge, and coming up fast on the one year anniversary! At this rate I'll be.. well, let's not talk about how old I'll be when I finish it.

(c) Pam Boutilier 2010, Dog Sketches #14-19

Suffice it to say that more sketching is always better, and more dogs are always better (at least as far as sketching is concerned)...

.... and then there's the Moleskine!

You see, I've always slavered over Moleskine sketchbooks. They really aren't that impressive, a simple black book with an elastic binding. They ~are~ a high quality sketchbook, but it's more than that. There's something about the romance of using the same kind of book as Matisse, Picasso, Hemingway.... *sigh*. Maybe it's just we artsy folk who do this - but somehow there's an energy in such a thing... almost as if you are linked through time and space to those great thinkers and artists by virtue of a nondescript, little black book.
But despite the romance, I always seem to talk myself into buying a different sketchbook. One that is bigger, bound differently, less expensive, or just happens to be there and the Moleskine does not (buying sketchbooks is rarely something on can ~wait~ on). And so never have I actually had a Moleskine. And so when I read of this challenge I knew immediately that a Moleskine it would be! For simply practical reasons, they are smaller - and if I'm going to fill this thing in one month I really shouldn't start with a 100+ full-page sketchbook. So with only practicality in mind (*cough*) I jaunted down to the local art supply store and came home with this....

Isn't it beautiful?!

*happy sigh*

Of course now I have to mar it's simple perfection with my coarse markings. Perhaps the inspiration of Matisse will seep through the pages to infuse my pencil and brush. We'll see.. Even if I don't achieve those lofty heights, I will get some sketching done - and after all, that's the *real* point here...right?

>:)

~ Pam

(PS - I'm a total hipster aren't I?)

(PSS - how do ~you~ pronounce 'Moleskine'?)

Where it all began....

Recently I was looking for some document or other and came across my 'bin of remembrance'... I'm not a terrible hoarder, but I do tend to keep my drawing and writing as well as cards and letters from people. Most of the drawing of the last two decades can be found in my sketchbooks but I have this one bin of loose sheets in plastic document-protectors. It mostly consists of sketches and cartoons, concept drawings and random high school notes to friends. But among all of those I found what might be the oldest pet portrait I have saved....



Note the very yellowed paper, crumpled and water-stained, and the lovely extra touch of some amber scotch-tape residue on there. It's dated 1989, so I would have been 14 when I drew it. I'm pretty sure this one wasn't an actual portrait - that what a time when I was very into drawing cats and dogs from magazines, pet food labels and kitty litter packages (my mom owned a corner convenience store), and just about any other reference shot I could get my hands on. This one had 'Mike' scrawled at the top - and it tickles my memory that 'Mikey' was the spokesdog for a pet food at that time.

At any rate - not the most auspicious beginning. I know I drew things (especially horses) much earlier than that, but those seem to have been lost to the ether...

So that was then... and up to the now. The new studio is all unpacked and I'm finally getting back to work. It is wonderful to have so much open space and natural light! I'm still shuffling my supplies around to figure out what the perfect organization is for functionality - but that's a part I actually enjoy.


I've got several things in the works - so more posts will follow (I mean it this time!)

~ Pam

Desktopper Contest WINNER for JUNE!

Better late than never, right?

The studio is currently 1/3 in the new place, 1/3 here and 1/3 in the truck (I'm taking a load over this afternoon). So instead I went to a local coffee shop today to finish off the piece!

"Who Me?"

The winner for June is Red, an English Cocker Spaniel owned by a fellow artist Karen Hendrickson. Red was actually the first entry I received - and his solemn, wise eyes caught my attention immediately. The title of this piece (chosen by Karen) is 'Who me?'. She said that Red can't jump on the counter anymore so he used the chair. She had just asked him 'What do you think you're doing?' when the reference photo was snapped, and his response is perfectly clear!

This is what Karen told me about Red:

This is Red, my heart dog. He has a recurrence of anal gland adenocarcinoma with mets to his lungs. He's 12 years old and I'll say goodbye when he no longer feels he's invincible.

Well he sure looks like he's enjoying his senior years! Congratulations Karen and thank you for giving me the opportunity to get to know Red in a small way!

Because this move is a bigger disruption than I had anticipated, not helped at all by getting sick in June, I am going to make a small one-time change to the Desktopper contest and thereby hopefully preserve the tiny bit of sanity I was allotted in life. There will be no drawing for July, and instead I will draw TWO in August (to be posted Sept. 1st). The deadline is August 20th and you have double the chance of winning.

I've also decided that I like all the entry photos so much I'm just going to keep them in the 'hat' and carry them over month to month (and I apologize if I've already announced that... getting old and senile you know). So if you've entered previously you are still in the running! You are welcome to enter another pet though (one pet photo and description is considered one entry). If for any reason you don't want to be kept in the running then just send me an email and I'll remove your entry, no questions asked!

So jump on in and enter for August's draw! And once the studio is all moved and settled I do have some things I'll be blogging about. Until then...

~ Pam

I have some essplaining to do.....

I don't even know if I've ever watched a full episode of 'I love Lucy' but yet I can hear Desi saying 'You have some essplaining to dooooo!'.

If you follow this blog you know that I've sort of dropped off the face of the earth. I seem to do this in a bit of a cyclic fashion but this time there is a string of legitimate excuses. June has been a rough month for Cat-in-a-Box (not the actual cat.. he doesn't care, the whole world could collapse and he'd be happy as long as his food supply wasn't interrupted and he had a couple of humans around to apply his dorkiness to).

This is referred to as effective packing of kitties :)

In early June I attended a veterinary conference - which was great. It was actually a really good meeting and there was some great stuff presented. But traveling eats up time and despite having good intentions of posting to the blog and such, the conference really was pretty well all-consuming of my time for 1.5 week of the month.

Then upon return I contracted the obligatory travel-virus and felt crappy. A week of such illness is typical for me when I travel, but this was different - instead of sleep/tea/echinacea/gargling salt-water fixing it, a week later I felt as bad or worse. Another week and a course of antibiotics (I haven't been on antibiotics since about 2003!) and I felt better, but not quite 100%. And last night the throat started feeling suspiciously irritated again. So possibly another trip to the human doctor for me...*grumble*.

And on top of all of that we are in the process of moving (just locally - to a place where my studio will have way more natural light, yay!!). It may be the most painless move I've ever experienced but with the way I'm feeling this month it's just one more thing.

So those are my excuses - I've got a beautiful commission that is completed and will post as soon as it's delivered to the recipient (waiting on some framing materials). There *is* a winner for the June Desktopper contest who has been informed but is being graciously patient as I'm terribly behind on getting it finished. I have other works on the go and planned, things to blog about, a newsletter to put out, and so much else that is sitting on the ever-growing pile.

Desktopper for June - detail of the preliminary sketch

The best I can do at the moment is pick at the pile and try to keep (get?) healthy. So thanks for bearing with me - once the craziness has passed I will get more consistent with posting again!

~ Pam

Desktopper Contest WINNER!

First - thanks to everyone who entered the May contest!

Second - I'd like to happily announce the winner (by random draw) of my first Destopper Pet Portrait contest....*drumroll*.... Bailey!



Bailey Page is an adorable boy owned by Jon. Jon actually found my little contest in his endless search for things to enter - be sure to check out his website, it's highly entertaining!

According to Jon, they rescued Bailey from a shelter where he was slated to be euthanized. Here's what Jon has to say about his friend:

"My wife and I are convinced that he is a person trapped inside of a pup's body. In addition to his many outstanding qualities, such as destroying couches, we love his most obvious physical characteristic: his right-ear-up, left-ear-down combination."

I love it too - Bailey was a joy to paint, his personality just shines through!

Now since by the time I got my website updated and the blog posted last month there wasn't much space before the deadline, so I am going to carry the May entries over to June (you know who you are!).

And for anyone who didn't enter - now's the time, you have until June 20th! All you have to do is send an email to me with a few lines describing your pet and a photograph. The drawing is random and the next winner will be announced July 1st! Full details are on my website here.

(Hey, I think I can count Bailey in my 100 dogs challenge too!! Yay!)

100 Dogs Challenge #13 - Schnauzer take II

This time in colour....

Schnauzer Study, 4.5x 5.5" Ink/Watercolour paper

More life drawing

I have many tasks on the go this month - but keeping my online venues up to date doesn't seem to be one of them. I'm coming around though - and soon will get the website updates finished and another newsletter out.

Running parallel to that I have also put several of my in-progress scratchboards to the side in favour of doing some different techniques. Loose... sketchy... painterly.. those are my guiding words for this late-winter/early spring period.

There are my life-drawing classes (here are some products of the last couple of weeks). This is a great way to force a looser, more gesturely sketching technique. Our instructor emphasizes the sketch and it is a wonderful feeling to capture that .. something. Sometimes it is the gesture, sometimes the mood, sometimes a particular beautiful angle, sometimes just the right play of contrasts. These are things that you can be in danger of losing as a painting/scratchboard/drawing gets 'finished', a reminder of what I want to preserve is tremendously helpful when I go back to my hyperdetailed, meticulous boards again!





Along the same lines I've been doing more little sketches and then also some scratchboard paintings (as I must always come back to my first love). I alluded last post to working in Charlie's technique - a more painterly approach to scratchboard than what I usually do. Now I have no real desire to paint buffalo (sorry you bison fans out there) so I started with what I do know - the boys:

Close to complete "Brothers" - 18x24" whiteboard/india ink

"Brothers" is india ink on whiteboard - scratched with a steel wool and fibreglass brush. It's not done yet - Michael's face needs work, Dufus' fat-folds need work.. but it's getting there. This photo is really terrible - on the original the contrast is better and there are some great, subtle and dare I say even borderline abstract textures in the 'solid' parts. I will post better photos when the piece is completed. This has now officially become my largest scratchboard!

And the other 'painterly' board - this one is literally just barely started. Again, using Charlie's techique but this time with colour instead of just india ink. I've been dying to do one of these, of course now that it's started I have no idea where I'm going!

Just barely started "Emma" - 16x20" whiteboard/ampersand ink

The technique is very different than my usual coloured whiteboard process of many layers of subtle, even washes alternating with scratching. The basic concept of ink/scratch/ink/scratch is the same - but I'm allowing much more of the brush strokes, bubbles, uneven layers and... well.. character of the ink to come through. I'm using wide, sweeping scratches with the steel wool and I will only put fine detail in certain areas as the piece progresses further.

So I guess I do know where I'm going... it's just a road I've not really traveled before, so I might make some wrong turns along the way. Honestly, as an artist, if you don't travel some new roads from time to time it is certain you will stagnate. And I was feeling a little stagnant over the winter which I guess is what (in hindsight) prompted these new explorations. Little Abbie, the snow leopard, Nessie's BIG board... those are all waiting for me and once I've had my fun with painting I'll get back to them. But for now... loose... painterly.. I can do it!

Thanks for stopping by!
~ Pam

(PS - And to you fellow artists out there.. yeah, I know even my 'loose and gesturely' is still tight as a steel drum. But it's all relative! :D)

100 Dogs Challenge #9- DaVinci

Another ACEO size ink painting.



This is little DaVinci, an Italian Greyhound.

Here's a photo to give you some perspective of the size if you're not familiar with ACEOs.



Enjoy!

~ Pam

100 Dogs Challenge #8 - Little Frenchie

French bulldogs are the breed of the month on WetCanvas for February - this little guy was so cute he prompted me to try something I've been thinking of but haven't done, painting with my Ampersand inks on paper (*gasp*).


This is ACEO size (2.5 x 3.5) on archival matboard. He was tremendously fun to do, though I have to get used to the different feel on paper compared to Claybord.

Thanks for peeking!

~ Pam

Alamosa bound!

It's an exciting evening for me - tomorrow morning the hubby and dog and myself pile into the car and drive 5 1/2 hours through the mountains to Alamosa, CO.

This is my first mention of it on the blog - but two of my pieces have been accepted to the Adam State College Invitational Scratchboard Art Show in Alamosa, Colorado. The show officially opened Jan 19th, but the official Opening Reception is tomorrow, January 22nd. I'm very excited as this is the first time for me having my art shown in a gallery, but also I will get to meet some people I've known for more than a year and yet have not met in-person. Here's a brief moment for me to put out a plug for WetCanvas.com - a great online artist community of which I can say at least the Scratchboard art segment are a great bunch of folks! Many of the artists showing in Alamosa did a show last year in Indianapolis, and I am proud to number among them in this show (and so lucky that it's close enough I can actually attend!).

So here's a peek at the pieces I have in the show, in case you aren't close enough to stop by:

"Ben" 11 x14" Scratchboard and Ink

Detail shot:


Some of my blog followers may remember this one from the initial sketch here, or the sneak peek here. This was a beautiful boxer I met at the Basalt Sunday Market last year. It's one of the first coloured scratchboards I have done and presented a few challenges that were a definite learning experience. I am glad that I was able to represent this beautiful dog, and the pose and lighting were an artist's dream to work with. I love working from my own reference photos when I can catch the exact image I want - perhaps that is why I take 30-40 photos for every one that I choose to use for a scratchboard. :D

"Ben" 16 x20" Scratchboard

Detail shot:


This was (is) my beautiful Belgian horse. This is my largest scratchboard yet, and even so it is not as large as real-life, in reality if he stuck his muzzle in my armpit I could just barely reach his poll (the tip-top of his head). He is a wonderful horse - when my veterinary career advanced I had to move across the country we had to sell Ben, but he went to a wonderful farm where he could be around other horses and finally decided that with a friend the harness wasn't so scary.

I hope you like these pieces, and if you happen to be in southern Colorado please stop by - the show is at the Cloyd Snook Gallery and runs from Jan 19th to Feb 19th, 2010. You can find a little more information here.

I'll put out a new Newsletter with photos from the show after the fact, and the first glimpse of my newest whiteboard, so if you haven't signed up for the Newsletter yet consider doing so (link in the upper right!).

Good night, wish me luck on the snowy mountain roads tomorrow!

~ Pam

You want to use *this* Pillow?

So one of the things most voted for was more works-in-progress! Here ya go!

This is from a photo out of the reference library on WetCanvas, I loved the expression and was excited about the challenge of doing the pillow/blanket.

As always it started with a sketch...


And the sketch was transferred to the board with graphite (I still prefer using a graphite stick directly to the back of my sketch for transferring rather than transfer or graphite paper, it just works best for me).

Stage 1 (underpainting):
This one is a whiteboard so rather than get right into the scratching it starts with a painting in ink. The biggest thing I learned about whiteboard underpaintings is to go much darker than I think - remember, from here on it's going to be taking ink off and re-applying it, but more always goes than what gets put back!


Stage 2 (first scratching):
I always feel like 'why did I bother putting this ink on' and from a distance it looks like I'm scratching it all off, but if you look at the close-up shots of the final piece you will see the incredible amount of depth and colour variation this technique gives - it means many more hours of work on the image, but the end result is well worth it!


I couldn't resist working on those limpid eyes...

You can see how pale this is now - it leaves the deepest colours still dark but more ink will be needed on the mid-tones.

Stage 3 (re-inking):
Here comes that depth - the goal in this stage is to use colours with values slightly different (ie lighter or darker) than the background. If I use the same colour I will actually cancel out any scratches I've made, but if my ink is a little bit lighter I will dampen the contrast to get a more natural look and I can use subsequent layers of ink and scratching to get the feeling of a thick, deep coat.


And you can spot the oopsie... on the left side of the nose (our right) there's a dark little spot - that is actually a small ding to the clay. It might have happened when the clay was wet after a wash of ink as it is very sensitive during that time. Here I've inked it and will use layers of ink and scratching to try to cover that defect. Yes, this made me very sad and I blame the fat cat for it.



Stage 4+ (more scratching):
There are actually multiple stages in here of scratching areas, re-inking to keep my values where I want them, scratching more for texture, and so on. You can see that my extensive medical attention to the nose blemish was successful!


This is also where I went to town on the pillow - I wanted it to look like flannel (what could be more cozy than a labrador on a flannel pillow?). I have fibreglass brushes in two sizes that help me achieve the soft, knobbly look here.

After this there are more hours of tweaking - inking, letting it dry, rescratching, re-inking. There is usually a point where either I've reached a deadline or the painting just says 'stop'. That is when I know I'm done and we're ready for framing. My absolute favorite bit which I save for last is the whiskers! That and a signature and....

..the finished product!

'You want to use *this* pillow?'
6x6 Whiteboard/Ink (c) Pam Boutilier

Detail shots (larger than life-size):






This one is available for sale ($250.00, includes basic frame matted to 12x12"). It is not yet uploaded to the website (quick note, the website is currently under construction getting a bit of an update) but if you are interested just email me at pam@catinaboxstudio.com!

As always - if you're interested in a commissioned pet portrait send me an email or give me a call (I have a brochure in PDF form for anyone who wants more detail on ordering a commission).

And as always, thank you for stopping by and peeking at my blog!!

(PS - so does this one qualify as dog #8 in the 100 dogs challenge?)

100 Dogs Challenge - #6 (and #7)

This is a quick ink sketch/painting I did this evening. It's in my wee sketchbook which is not at all the appropriate paper for ink washes, but I felt like just doing something 'quick and dirty' (the scratchboard is not being my friend tonight).

Next time I get the urge I promise I'll go dig out my watercolour paper :)
(And I'll actually work on getting accurate colours instead of having fun with ink mixing)

'Roughly Buffy' 5x7"

And sick of the brush I kept doodling with a ballpoint pen and lo, sketch #7 happened:

'Gromit' 5x7"

Remember one of the stipulations of the 100 dog challenge is that I post 'em all - even the rough ones!!

~ Pam

Goodbye old friend

We said goodbye to our old boy, Laurich, tonight. He was 14 and had a good, long life. He was to the point recently that he could barely get up at times and couldn't go outside to pee and poo on his own. It was a hard decision - but it was the right one.

Here's to an old friend - may his legs be ever strong and his tummy ever full!



~ Pam

2009 in Review!

2009 is coming to a close and I promised a poll!

Really, I've gone through phases over the years of making huge lists of resolutions or none at all. New Year's eve is a fun date on the calendar, but it's meaning is more symbolic than anything to me. However this year the planets have aligned such that I'm finding myself very reflective the past week or so, particularly about my art business.

Although it's technically been over a year since I started Cat-in-a-Box this still seems like a good time to call an 'anniversary' and take stock. This year has been an exploration and a bit of an experiment - for someone with no background in the business side of art it has been a huge learning experience. I've gone about some things in a pretty inefficient or backward manner, but I've learned every step of the way. In the last six months I finally feel like things are falling into place (though it may not look that way from the outside).

The main purpose of this post is to address, what else but the blog! Anyone who's followed the blog since it's inception will know that the subject matter has been a bit random - from posting progressions of works-in-progress to showcasing new art, talking about the technical side of the media I work in and peppered with some more personal entries. This has been a bit of planned randomness to help me get a feel for blogging and see what people are interested in.

Now there are analytics and numbers that can track what entries people are looking at (and I have a tenuous grip on such things so I will be looking at them) but call me an old-fashioned gal, I just can't look at numbers alone. So the purpose of this post is really to ask for feedback from anyone who's reading this blog entry:

~ what things have you enjoyed about my blog?
~ what things did you skip over?
~ what would you like to see that isn't here?

If you have a moment please leave a comment, or take a quick second to fill out the poll to the upper right of this post (it will be up for one week). If you'd prefer to send an email, by all means - send it to pam@catinaboxstudio.com, or use the 'contact' sheet on my website www.catinaboxstudio.com (please note that the website is undergoing some revisions so if you hit upon an ugly page please ignore it and come back next month! :D).

In 2010 I want to take a more directed approach to this blog, and continue the newsletter as a companion to the blog. If you have not signed up for my monthly newsletter please consider doing so! Your feedback will be tremendously helpful in both areas!

Now this being an art blog we need at least one image! So here's the latest 100 dogs sketch:



(you can read more in the Newsletter, and also see this dog's bad habit :D)

See you next year!!

~ Pam

Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmahanukkwanzakah!

Whatever you celebrate everyone here is hoping that you have a happy midwinter holiday season! Our Christmas tree is up and our little four (and three) legged family members are all with us for the time being.

This will likely be Laurich's last Christmas with us - the old man will sure enjoy his gift (he still hasn't caught on that his gift is always a nasty, smelly bone from the pet store... or at least he never complains at our lack of imagination in gift selection!)


And Dufus wishes to express his extreme enthusiasm for the holiday and the jingly neckband.... (either that or he's plotting my demise?)



ART!!

For those of you who read my previous dog sketch post here, the sketch has been turned into a scratchboard - completed just in time for Christmas! I can show this one because Cali's owner has seen it already... after Christmas I'll have another board or two to show off *wink*.

'Cali' 5 x7" Scratchboard

After this weekend it will be time to start preparing for the new year. A great time to evaluate status and set some goals. My art and studio business have changed and grown in the last year, it will soon be time to figure out where I want to go in 2010. I hope you come along for the ride - or at least stay tuned until the next post (hint: There's gonna be a poll!).

Merry Christmas one and all!

100 Dogs Challenge - #2 and #3

The 100 dogs challenge continues!

These two sketches are prep work for a current scratchboard commission I am working on. I was lucky enough to meet little Cali in person this summer - the first sketch is from a photograph of her when she was younger, the second is from one I snagged.

'Cali' (5 x 7" and 7 x 9" graphite on paper)
(c) Pam Boutilier, 2009

She is adorable from any angle, but the first sketch is the one that speaks most to her mom's heart so that is the one we are using for the scratchboard.

I knew when I started the project that it would take awhile to get 100 sketches done, especially with the hectic nature of the holidays as well as the upcoming shows and art events I hope to enter, and that is exactly why I did not put a time limit as part of the goal.

Having set it out that way I find that even though it may be a few weeks before I get to the next sketch, I'm already looking forward to it! I have a pile of reference photographs that I am eager to work on and, like Jazz, maybe some of them will speak to me more loudly and get developed further. Artistically this project is shaping up to be a very valuable tool.

I'll keep you posted as more sketches emerge!

~ Pam

Sneak Peak Sunday....

My current project-in-progress (well, one of them anyway)- recognize this one?
(hint: Check out my last blog post

Going for 100

This post is a bit of a non sequitur, but by posting it here I make it real, so here goes.

Something in the October issue of The Pastel Journal caught my eye - it was an article entitled 'Going for 100' by pastelist Marla Baggetta about her self-challenge to paint the same small landscape 100 times. I am focusing more on scratchboard and whiteboard these days than the pastels, but the basic concept applies regardless of your medium. It's not a new idea - on WetCanvas there are very often challenges such as '100 x in 100 days' ranging from subjects, subject groups, media, etc. People often do similar challenges without the time limit.

The reasons for such a project are many - for many animal artists it is a way to explore a range of species or breeds, giving you a framework to systematically study their differences. For some it is a way to stretch their knowledge of a particular subject - to capture it from different angles, maybe even in different media. Marla Baggetta's goal was as a practice in gesture painting. She limited herself by time and size so that each painting was spontaneous. Her rationale was that if I know I'm doing 100 versions of this same scene I will mentally relax. Some of them will be crappy, some of them will be great (refer to my previous blog entry about the paralyzing effects of worrying about perfection). Also, by using the exact same scene for all of the paintings she was able to put away worries about subject, composition, etc and focus on the subtleties of colour and value instead. This, in turn, led to taking more chances and working sometimes outside of her 'box'.

I've been intrigued by this idea for some time and it falls on my perpetual 'someday I'll do that' list. Well, fellow procrastinators out there know that particular list rarely ever gets accomplished. Unless you say you're going to do it in your blog and newsletter... then you have enough external pressure to fuel you (right? Hm, we'll see I guess).

So... I'm officially announcing my self-imposed 100 Dog Challenge. My personal goals are to explore some breeds that I may not otherwise ever 'get around to', to shift my focus away from the end product (like Marla Baggetta said - not all of these are going to be masterpieces), to loosen up with my sketching and to produce 100 dog sketches!

1) 100 dogs, any media on paper is acceptable

2) Limit to roughly 1hr/piece (ie I will try to not spend more than 1 hour on each one - this promotes the 'gesture drawing' component of this project, this is not a hard and fast rule)

3) No time limit to complete this project (between my other art commitments and full-time job I think that would be a bit too much)

4) I will only include sketches from this post onward (no cheating here :D)

5) I will post all of the sketches (even the ugly ones) here on the blog as they are completed

And to show that I'm really serious about this, here's my first sketch:

Jazz (9 x 12" graphite on paper)

This is a beautiful doggie I met at the Basalt Sunday Market. I loved the way the light caught his face as he sniffed the air. It took a bit more than an hour (closer to 1.5 hours - see, there I go breaking the rules already!). I might turn this one into a whiteboard, if I do I'll be sure to post it in a future entry.

So welcome along for my 100 dogs journey! I hope you enjoy the art - comments are always welcome!! Let's see what 100 dogs does for me, and if any of you are artistically inclined I encourage you to consider your own 'Going for 100' challenge!

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~ Pam