Life With Cats and Art December 2022

Published: Tue, 12/27/22

Life With Cats and Art December 2022

This has been a very busy month for me. I celebrated a BIG birthday and had lots of company and partying. December is normally a busy month but I've been keeping up with marketing and sales somehow. Wishing you all a Happy New Year! Keep your resolutions to ones that you can stick with.

Red says Happy Holidays but he prefers a nap.

Red and Bella enjoy relaxing on their favorite chairs.

Started a painting before my bad fall last month. It's a new series I am working on from photos I took on Safari a few years ago. This is the second one "Elephant and Calf" and it's almost finished. The first one, "Lioness and Cubs" is shown further down in "Anatomy Of A Painting". I have many of these photos available for sale on prints and products in my POD shops. I wanted to also capture some as oil paintings on canvas.

Tuxedo Cats at the Fun House Insulated Water Bottle is the latest product in my Zazzle Shop. These whimsical tuxedo cats are looking into a funhouse mirror which turns them into a very fat or very skinny cat (both images are on the bottle). The bold colors and clown faces add to the fun and whimsy.
Thor Copper Vacuum Insulated Bottle keeps beverages hot for 12 hours or cold for 48 hours. Click on the left image for buying details.

Cats Playing Mahjong in the Garden Coasters

Continuing with this series of showing the history of some paintings. So far we have explored Cats and Flowers, Meowjongg - Cats Playing Mahjongg, Jazz Trio, Jazzy Cats, CAT Scan, Cats and Koi and The Cat Cafe. If you have a favorite you would like to know more about just contact me.

Anatomy of a Painting

Lioness and Cubs

If you love animals you should try to go on Safari. There is nothing like seeing a wild animal in its natural environment. I loved every minute and hope someday to go back. I took many photos and you can see them all in my collection AFRICA on my main POD site www.karenzukrosenblatt.com .

The first challenge is to select the right photos. I do have my photos organized as to subject and location but when you have an idea of what you want you have to put your creative cap on and use what you have. Some photos had a lioness with a cub or two but the surroundings had to be just right so I had to improvise. I used references from several photos to get the animals and background composition just right.

I began working over the sky and background trees. The stream was important to lead the eye around and to use for bringing the hazy blue sky color down to the ground. I worked on the animals and their relationship to each other. This is the most important aspect to me. The balance of yellows and greens was interesting and orange was used to unify the land and lions.

Lots of decisions have to be made. What to put in or leave out? I didn't like the distant trees because I wanted to keep the focus on the animals. The foliage on the sides were given some darker values and variations in the greens were added.

I began to work on a path leading toward the back because I felt it needed more of a direction. Also some more color variations were added as well as details on the lions.

Added more greens in the foreground and more details on the lions. I later changed the path as you can see in the finished version because I felt it competed with the lions. The same with the foreground foliage.

There were many iterations in between these examples but this is the final version after some finishing touches. The size is 12" x 16". Click on the image to visit the painting in my Etsy Original collection. All originals are currently on sale with 25% off and Free Shipping.

This is the finished painting as a framed print. Click on the image for details on purchasing. Shown here is size 24" x 18" with a 2" white mat and frame SLWS. Available on all wall art or home decor and more.

Some recent sales. Click for info on purchasing. The Long Sleeved T-Shirt of the Tortoiseshell Cat is my oil painting of Bella and the Coasters are my oil painting "Meowjongg - Cats Playing Mahjong".

Tortoiseshell Cat Face Long Sleeve T-Shirt

Original art makes a great gift! Available in many sizes with varying subjects. Some have frames with an option to purchase unframed. Treat yourself too! Click on the image to see them all.

Holiday or every day! These are so fun! Remove the string and you have a beautiful fridge magnet. Use the string and you have a tree ornament. Comes in 6 shapes (oval, star, stocking, heart, bell, tree) GREAT GIFT IDEA!! Each ornament is made of solid wood and is approximately 4" tall and 1/2" thick.

Click on the image to see them all.

Calendars are available in 3 sizes. Excellent high quality paper stock and vibrant printing. Africa, Venice, Cats and Dogs.

Cat Life 2023 Calendar. "Eye to. Eye" cover image.

Cat Life 2023 Calendar. "To Bee or Not to Bee" cover image.

Cat Life 2023 Calendar. Cats and Koi cover

If you would like to view previous newsletters click here

Art gifts are always popular:

Greeting cards, prints, photography and products with all my artwork are on my main POD (Print On Demand) site: www.karenzukrosenblatt.com
Gift cards are available as well. You will find the links at the top of the home page. Any image you see here or on any of my other POD sites can be produced on a product you see in my Etsy Shop. Just email me at karen@artbyzuk.com
Calendars and home decor items are available in my Zazzle Shop: www.zazzle.com/artbyzukcreations
Apparel, accessories and more are available in my Red Bubble Shop: KarenZuk.redbubble.com
TeePublic has great prices on tees and some other products. My shop name is https://www.teepublic.com/user/karenzukart
Checks, address labels and checkbook covers with my artwork and photography are available on Check Advantage: www.checkadvantage.com/karen-zuk-rosenblatt
I am continually updating my Etsy shop to include other subject categories and original paintings: www.etsy.com/shop/karenzukrosenblatt
My website is a work in progress and includes links to my POD venues and other news. It's an independent site and I may add e-commerce eventually. Right now it links to my POD sites and coordinates all in one place: www.artbyzuk.com

If you have any questions or comments please email me via the link below. I will continue sharing "works in progress" as well as the history behind some of my paintings. I take photos of all my paintings as they progress. If you have a request for one of my paintings to be "dissected" let me know.

Until next time...

Let us all stay well!

karen@artbyzuk.com

13177 Vedra Lake Circle
Delray Beach FL 33446
USA

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