What I did today

Re purposed canvas. 12x12x2". Chunky and shiny. A Siamese/lynx point kitty cat still, hunting in a pile of wildflowers. Abstract and loose. Yet needed some tight details for the eyes. Acrylic and using only the best paints which I now forever am obsessed over. Golden AND Liquitex heavy body. Worth every pretty penny. Roughly $10 for 2 oz. Cheap paints are like...cheap. These are made in USA or France or Germany or even UK. This fun piece is based on a vintage framed needlepoint work of art that I own. I am pretty satisfied. The paint is heavy and vivid and flows nicely! I still need much more practice with my flowers though. But hey-it's abstract/expressive/loose. I Try not to dwell too much. It's good. But the next one will be better. Cats.

New banner/cover/profile/photo on ETSY!

I have been selling all kinds of collectibles on EBAY since 2007. My feedback seller/score/rating is a perfect 100%--with 454 positives. It's fun. It's time consuming. But rewarding. My user name has been ggirl1969. Not original, but Ebay won't permit me to change much. Shop name change to good old Puppycat Photography/Shop/etc. would make things less confusing, but like I said, they won't let me. So, I've been tossing around the idea of selling on Etsy. For a year. Created a fancy big banner today. (For some reason 3 years ago I changed my shop name to Puppycat and mouse. And now it's stuck) I do seem to stick with the 'puppycat' theme-so that's safe. I would love to continue to sell items on eBay, they are super duper easy peasy to navigate and set up sales in a snap. But the fees are too high for me now. 10% fvf. No tanks. Right now I'm going to figure out my ETSY shop. I've added links from my blog/website/instagram/'facebook'-but, the thing is, the FB link is actually my feedback seller rating from Ebay. Etsy will not permit me to customize links. Customer ratings are PRECIOUS!!!!  So...there you go. I hope this doesn't confuse customers too much. Ultimately I am a seller of old goods such as vintage items. Cool collectibles. Old paper. And just about anything that is 20 years and older. OMG-1999 is the 'vintage' cut off year. Huh. Hopefully my lovely looking banner will shine and stand out. My product photography will look better than ever. And I hope I can just take the time to get the hang of this smoothly and successfully. I really LOVE picking items and reselling them to people who just adore the stuff I collect. Ebay made it easy for me all these years. And now I want to say tanks and goodbye. Hello ETSY.

Same pets. Different year. Just love them.

Happy 2019!

Christmas presents from the past

One of my absolute favorite toys I received for Christmas from ‘santa’. Fisher Price circus train. My vintage collection of toys and decor is pretty eclectic and I love it. I love elephants as well. But of course not in a circus but rather in Africa. I suppose one day I should go on an African safari to just shoot animals. With a camera. The image above is my dad and I. Playing on the shag carpet with Christmas toys. I’m thankful my mom took this. I’m thankful she was always there to document our lives growing up both in USA and Norway. I miss my dad. So many people close to me are gone. But still, never forgotten. These photos make my happy. I hold on to those memories and continue to document my everyday life of people and animals and then the stuff. 

New Years word of the year is ‘create’. Someone said it and I feel it too. Keep creating. What makes you happy. What gets you up in the morning. Life move fast. If you don’t stop to look around, you might miss it. Love that. 

S

Pet portrait painting process.....lengthy indeed, but incredibly satisfying in the end.

Norway. A different perspective

Spending two weeks in a different country on the other side of the world gives you a new fresh perspective on life. This was a vacation to reconnect with family and friends again. Eat a lot of delicious food. And soak in the fresh, clean Norwegian LUFT. Frogner Parken, the world's only statue park, created by one human, (super touristy-but hey, we're tourists) was a must on the visit list. Sagene, the oldest district of Oslo, where mom grew up and us kids visited every summer was nostalgic. Beautiful Kristiansand, the southern edge of Norway, where the ZOO lies, had to be revisited, even though most sections were closed, I went nuts with the nature shots. Troll shops, fish, chocolate, waffels, goat cheese and beer. Basically food, family and nature.
Norway, a beautiful country. A lovely culture. And marvelous food!!! Will need to bring lots of cash next time I visit (everything is expensive) but it's def worth it!

Creating crazy cat art even with writers/painters block

I like this Ginger friend. It started out as a bunch of colorful blobs and looked nothing like him. Things take shape and morph into something bigger and better. A little dark and mysterious. Would love to stick a bloody mouse in his naughty mouth. It's what cats do best. Eat stinky crap. This painting thing is a work in progress. I find great satisfaction in slapping globs of paint onto a canvas. Been bouncing back and forth with paint and photography. Always improving and learning. Obsessing over plants and flowers along with pets as my subjects. Currently finishing up painting from an old vintage slide/photo. There is a rooster in it. And he will be lovely. But I stop for weeks at a time and freeze. No snapping of pictures. No picking up brushes. The block. It eats at ya. Makes you feel guilty. This particular piece at the time (painted in a day believe it or not) made me happy and I feel good about him and am excited to be slapping on even more globs to make interesting and eye catching pieces! Time is precious and nothing feels better than creating art. LOVE!

Kodak slide transparancy restoration

Old photos are truly what I love to pour my creative energy into. Restoring to protect and preserve for future generations is crucial. So I'm investigating a new film scanner for this. I could just send them rather quickly and cheaply to LEGACY BOX. But, I'm much more interested in the creative control. I'm pretty certain they pop slides into a machine and press a button and whammo- you've got a box of 'forever goodies'. Kinda like the PHOTOMAT back in the day. Most people aren't picky simply because they are not artists and don't think thoughtfully about the story and details (curves, hues, noise and tone) of an image. And that's great for that company to succeed. I thoroughly enjoy controlling all aspects of these images. This guy above is my dad, Jack. Photographed by my mom, Anne-Lise. Honeymooning to VEGAS across I80 driving this thing. SHWEET. The file size is large enough for printing up to 40x40. And I have another 200 to go. This is a satisfying project I'm working on and also painting from these color slides. Stuff that trips my trigger. Walter T. Foster books (delightfully enjoyable) are teaching me how and I'm loving every moment.
Photography and painting.
Obsessed.
Love.

Happy 4th of July!

Stumbled across this golden gem while organizing my thousands of images. Innocent and true. These are some of the essentials we all want in life. My little beautiful patriotic American girl. Love.