Wizard of Oz - Tinman Cat

The third in the Wizard of Paws series - The Tin Woodscat.

Wizard of Paws - Celebrating 70 Years of the Wizard of Oz

Two pictures from my new series the Wizard of Paws. Its been rough trying to find time to do artwork anymore, but as art season approaches, I have to carve the time out.

These two pieces took about three days to complete (not counting the design time). They are both 7x10 inches completed in colored pencil on Strathmore Bristol Board.

The rest of the main characters will be done before the end of June plus one big piece with all four of the main characters.

Of course they will be available on my website http://www.bigcatdesigns.com/ for sale when the set is finished. You can also see the original sketches on the work in progress page on the website too.

New Mother's Day Cat Art

Here are two new cat art pieces for Mother's Day. The Del Mar Spring show is coming up soon and I will hope to have a dozen new art pieces ready for all to enjoy.

These are my two new Mother's Day Cats.

Happy Day to All and

Meow for Now!

The Big Cat

Okay... three in one weekend. Saw the CHA (Craft and Hobby Show) in Anaheim, CA and the West Coast Art and Frame Show in Las Vegas this weekend.

The CHA show was really crowded. We got there right at opening so we had saw the ribbon cutting ceremony and the bagpipe players. How Festive!

Like last year approximately 75% of the show was dedicated to scrapbooking... something I just have never gotten into. There was, however, some really nice paper there, so I picked up a few catalogs. The vendors didnt give away as many goodies as last year (BOO), but we found a lot of great projects for our children's workshops this summer at Art-A-Fair.

Pentel gave me some samples of new gel pens and they had a huge box of gold and silver which are nearly impossible to find anymore and the only thing we use to sign giclee's with! I think I am going to order a case! Derwent had a display of colored pencils in a three tiered wood case that I really wanted (actually I just wanted the case).

Got through the whole show in just a few hours because we mainly skipped the scrapbooking area. I heard today that Paris Hilton was at the show... I guess that was what all the screaming was about on the floor... I thought it was just the joy of scrapbooking!

Then it was off to the Art and Frame Show. The "Art" part of the show was actually doing really well. The print houses were making sales and there were quite a few artists showing up with the portfolios. I think I may do this show next year with the Big Cat line.

The "framing" part of the show was pretty dead. So many frame shops have gone out of business. We did find some great mouldings for my summer show line and some really neat shadow box mouldings for some customer projects at the frame shop. (We have to frame some bricks!) We got through that whole show in about three hours and turned around and drove the four hours home.

So.. I am SOOO tired!

I did get some sketching done in between shows this weekend. A few more for Easter and a couple Mother's Day pieces. Between now and the end of March I gotta get some work done.. no more lazy nights, draw, draw, draw.

Well... back to work.....

This is the weekend of trade shows. Went to ISS (Imprinted Sportswear Show) today. Really big crowd. During a down economy a lot of people go into "instant" businesses such as t-shirt designs. Believe me, its not as easy as it seems! But is was great to see the show busy... the past couple of years it was dead.

There was hardly and new art there, pretty much the same as the past couple of years. A lot of new direct to garment printer sellers and rhinestones were the hot commodity.No one giving away t-shirts this year either (BOO)....

I'm working on my Easter Card line, hoping to get six done in the next week. Posted the first guy today. I have to get another large piece done because the Art-A-Fair decided they were going to do the artist portfolio two months early this year (yep.. thank's for the heads up!).Well... back to work!

Del Mar Art Show Update

Well... as expected people were a little tight with the $$$ this weekend! (Of course they should have been buying cat art!!)

Sold a lot of Cat Dracula t-shirts, Cat aprons, and quite a few prints too, so I was happy. The crowds were a little down so I thought I would be able to get some drawing done in between. I started a piece twice, and tore it up twice.. so no new finished piece to post this week.

Here are two of the sketches I was working on.. may get one of these done before the Pomona show at the end of November. Not sure which one I prefer. Ron likes the one on the bottom because the cat in the middle looks grumpy!

Just returned from the Long Beach Harvest Festival. Had a horrible head cold at the beginning of the show but the customers and other vendors were so nice, it made the weekend go quickly. Here's the new cat art piece which I worked on during the show I had been wanting to do for some time. To see the sketch, visit the work in progress on my website at www.bigcatdesigns.com.


Hope to see you all at the Del Mar Show Oct 24-26th! Stop by and say Hi! (they have the best food there too!.. visit the Singing Pig booth for fantastic apple pie butter)

Meow for Now.. The Big Cat