Catch me at the ETSY! show in Brooklyn this weekend!

I am so excited to have two pieces on display this month at a special exhibit called "ETSY!" that will be opening in Brooklyn, NY this Sunday, December 2nd at Pocket Utopia and running through December 23rd!

Here are the details:

Etsy!

(photograph above by Irene Suchocki)

A selection of artists from the hand-made artworld from the online site by the same name (http://www.etsy.com/).


Susan Angebranndt
Megan Bogonovich
Tiina Burton
Peter Cunicelli
Abby Glassenberg
Dan Grzeca
Hal Hahn
Janice Lagard
Cathy Nichols
Erin Partridge
Corey Ramsey
Shannon Rankin
Irene Suchocki
Karen Switzer
Kim Westad
Xusah

December 2 – December 23, 2007
OPENING, Sunday December 2
3:00 – 6:00 pm

POCKET UTOPIA
1037 Flushing Avenue
(Just off the Morgan L, Bushwick)
Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment
Call: 917-400-3869

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present a selection of artists from Etsy, an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade. Etsy was launched in 2005 with the vision of building a new economy and presenting a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.
Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.

In the ETSY Storque!

I'm so happy that the kind admins at ETSY have picked up this adorable listing of "Technicolor Holiday" ideas which included my "Peace on Earth" painting! It really puts me in the holiday spirit!

This was a nice treat to see when I logged on to ETSY tonight after a long day of painting. Only two days of work left before I will finally deliver my pieces to the East Village Collective. I can't wait to get them out of the apartment. Poor Annabelle can't even play in her 'room' anymore because it doubles as my studio. She can only sleep in there in her crib or risk crawling over paintings in various states of completion. I feel like a bad mommy. But she has lots of fun pushing the dining room chairs around and stealing papa's remote control in the meantime.

Peace.

'Comfort and Joy' Show Opens December 7th

Please join Marisa Haedike and myself for our 2-person show in Woodstock December 7, 2007 through February 1, 2008 at the East Village Collective Gallery. We will be unveiling about 20 new paintings between the two of us (probably more), so it should be very lively! If you are in the New York area, please stop by. We would love to meet you! Please visit the link to the East Village Collective for more information and driving directions. The opening reception is on the evening of December 7 from 5-9 PM.

Something was missing...

After many color variations on this painting, I finally realized that it needed something else. I'm much happier with the piece now that it includes this big tree with the little tree carried inside it (and flower with flower inside it). I think it better fits with the poem's theme.

And I'm really liking brown, blue and yellow lately. I think those will be the colors of my new living room. We purchased a "mocha" couch yesterday, and now I'm searching for pillows on ETSY. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

This painting is currently available on my website at http://www.cathynichols.comwww.cathynichols.com. It will soon be going to the Ten Women Gallery in Venice.

Art Appreciation

I love when the internet can connect us with both pictures and words -- and yesterday I received a comment from this great artist above, Darryl Berger. I'm lucky enough to own one of Darryl's small pieces, and he has a print of my "Spun" painting in his studio (upper right).

Darryl is a Canadian artist and a prolific writer. Here is one of my favorites from his collection.

You can learn more about Darryl and his work on his blog, red-handed. Great stuff!

Never Throw Anything Away

I've titled this entry "never throw anything away" because the orange background for this piece was almost tossed in the trash. This is the underpainting that preceded "it's Okay To Be Different" .... the one that I tucked away on a ledge in the studio in frustration yesterday morning. But today I woke up with visions of an orange garden! I love when that happens. Sometimes I really do think that the paintings are expressing something that is meant to be communicated, and that's why we so often end up with a lovely work that we hadn't intended. This one is also slated for the December show, but prints will be available on ETSY tomorrow.

It's Okay to Be Different

Here is another piece that I completed today. I started out trying to paint an orange painting, but this is, strangely, what came out. It's my new favorite. This one is now on sale as a fine art print on my ETSY store. The original is for the Woodstock show.

New Original Paintings On Sale Now!

"Never Let You Go." 8x8 inches on wood panel.

Well, I've finally updated my website with some of the new paintings I've been doing! There are also quite a few originals not listed for sale because they are slated to appear in my December show at the East Village Collective. I've decided to do paintings on wood for the Ten Women Gallery in Venice (and through my website) and paintings on canvas for the Woodstock show. I'll be sharing this show with Marisa Haedike from Creative Thursday, by the way. It should be LOTS of fun!

"Dreaming with the Fish." 8x8 inches on wood panel.

To see more of my new original paintings, please visit www.cathynichols.com.

I've Been Busy...

Hi out there all of you kind souls who continue to read my blog despite my recent neglect. I've been painting up a storm (we had a babysitter for a whole week!). We have been looking for a house lately, and I've noticed that almost all of my new work has to do with "home." Here are two recent paintings (more coming soon).

"Home By the Sea" -- 8x8 acrylic & mixed media on wood panel. This one was inspired by a recent glimpse of my dream home... by the sea of course.

"A Home For Bluebirds" -- this is a 10x10 inch acrylic on canvas painting that I was inspired to do after trying out designmyroom.com. This website is pretty much the most fun I've had after midnight in a long time. It's a virtual decorator program that lets you choose a room, pick paint and add furniture that actually exists (albeit from Target).

Plus, well... it would be really cool to live near trees housing bluebirds (rather than 24 hour construction and ambulance sirens here in NYC).

These two paintings are available as prints on my ETSY store! From now until Christmas, I will also be including complimentary holiday cards with all purchases. :-).

Have I Been Watching Too Much TV...!?

It's been suggested that the couple in my painting, "I Carry Your Heart," bears a resemblance to David Duchovny and Natascha McElhone from Californication.

So, yes. I believe I HAVE been watching too much TV. But I really like that show -- especially all the shots of Venice and Abbot Kinney Blvd. I'm still waiting for them to do a shoot at the Ten Women Gallery!

i carry your heart with me

Before

AND

After

This is my first really successful attempt to completely alter a painting's color in Photoshop. After I finished this bright yellow, blue and orange piece, I realized that the poem felt more red and pink and romantic to me. So I changed the colors digitally. It was very interesting. I'm still not sure which one I like better. They both have different feelings. But either way, I adore the e.e. cummings poem quoted on their shirts.

Mommy and Baby Tree

This is one of the larger paintings that I've created for my upcoming December show at the East Village Collective in Woodstock. The title is "mommy tree talking to baby tree (even though they are separated)." It is in honor of my mom who lives 3000 miles away, and it's her birthday this week!! Happy Birthday Mom!

Prints are available at my ETSY shop.

anything can happen in an orange scarf

I completed this painting today. It's actually a mixed media piece using charcoal and acrylic on wood. I just loved doing the face in charcoal. Up until 8 years ago, I only did charcoal drawings, but I thought those days were over once I discovered paint. What fun to discover that the two can actually be mixed together! "anything can happen in an orange scaft" is now available as a print on ETSY. I will be selling the original at the Ten Women Gallery and through my website as soon as I load it up.

The Ten Women Blog is Born!

Finally, after much anticipation, the Ten Women Venice blog has been launched! For those of you not familiar with Ten Women Venice, it's the wonderful artists collective that I'm a part of in Venice, California. It's just a fantastic group of creative women who run an entirely cooperative, artist-funded and managed gallery. I proposed the blog a few months ago when visiting Venice because I thought it would be a great way for customers to keep in touch not only with the gallery itself but with the work of its individual artists. And, having been exiled -- I mean relocated -- to New York, I guess it makes me feel like I am still hanging out there... eating a sandwich from Stroh's Gourmet and watching the colorful parade of shoppers, strollers and schizophrenics on Abbot Kinney as I hawk my wares.

Out on a Limb

I finished this new little painting today. It was actually my first partial experiment with using Photoshop to enhance my work. I just added a few colors to the flowers, but it was so much fun! Of course, I have no idea how I did it, but it's always nice to experiment.

Anyway, I apologize for my extended absence from the blog, but I've been furiously working on large paintings for my upcoming show. As soon as it stops raining, I will photograph them to share.

September 27th -- Celebrating Creative Thursday!

This is my entry for the first annual "Creative Thursday" event, hosted by (of course) Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday. It's called The Romantic, and it's actually a study for a larger piece. I had to rush on this one because I wanted to paint it today, and I only had about 3 hours of babysitter time! :( It was SO hard rushing because I usually agonize over color choices and judge so much by my instincts. With this one, I couldn't take as much time as I would have wanted to make mistakes and fix them! But I like the final product (so far). Prints will soon be available on ETSY. And hey, it's not too late to post something creative to Marisa. She's sharing all of the Creative Thursday submissions!

Wow -- I'm in Domino Magazine Online!

I am just thrilled to be included in Domino Magazine's gallery featuring Nature Art from ETSY! I can still remember browsing through Domino's "New Botanicals" art feature and daydreaming about one day being included in such a list myself. I feel so honored to be in this list and am very grateful to Holly from Decor8 for her fondness of my little "Blue Bicycle" print. This is an especially lovely piece of press because my two good friends, Melissa Moss and Outi Harma are also in the round-up. That's pretty cool when only 15 prints are featured!! It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, the way that I always felt when "the girls" (also including Marisa Haedike) would get together for our wine and art talks every week or so in Los Angeles -- first to plan a group show ("darklings") -- and later because it was addictively fun. There is an energy between like-minded people sometimes that is larger than the sum of its parts -- a kind of standing wave -- and this is a force not to be underestimated. So hats off to the 'darklings' tonight and to our very light-minded art. :-)

"The Explorer" now in Women Artists Datebook 2008!

Today I received my much-anticipated complimentary copies of the Syracuse Cultural Workers' 2008 Women Artists Datebook, and they are just beautiful! My painting, "The Explorer" illustrates the month of December. Even if I wasn't in the datebook, though, I would buy one. Each month includes gorgeous full-color, glossy artwork and poetry by women artists. And the calendar includes lunar cycles, 13 native moons and holidays for many faiths. It's very inspirational.

"The Explorer"

Big Love

This is a new 8x10 inch mixed media piece on wood. I created it originally as a study for a larger painting on canvas, but now I'm not sure that I want to make it bigger. It's sweet and small. If I go bigger, I'm considering doing a blue tone. Still thinking.... and loving this gloriously fall-like evening!

Everything Blooming

Another new painting! I am feeling very red lately. Red red red. It makes me feel like dancing. :)

First Flowers

This is a new painting I finished a few days ago. It's funny, but sometimes life tends to follow the paintings rather than the other way around. When I created this image, I was thinking that the little girl had discovered the beauty of flowers for the first time and was in awe of their many colors. Then, yesterday, I took my daughter to Central Park, and she was beside herself with joy as she crawled around on the lush green grass.

(Prints are available at my ETSY store!)

Enormous Tiny Art Show

This weekend marks the opening of the much awaited Enormous Tiny Art Show at Nahcotta Gallery in New Hampshire! I will be exhibiting 6 original paintings. Sadly, I won't be at the show, but I did get the opportunity to meet the lovely Rebecca from Nahcotta while visiting LA. She came to the Ten Women Gallery to say hello and wrote up this sweet post for the Nahcotta blog. Since I live in NYC now, I'm just thrilled that she took a picture of me actually working a shift at Ten Women! I wish she and her boyfriend lots of luck in beautiful Southern California!

PS - Marisa from Creative Thursday is having her first ever group sale of never before offered original paintings tomorrow (Thursday, 9/13) . I think you need to add your name to her daily paintings subscriber list to get the time that they go up for sale. Check it out!

This one is called "Urban Bloom."

Back to Work

Yes, I am finally back to painting again, and you can tell by the big smile that I'm just thrilled -- even in that scary hairstyle and ripped t-shirt (it was so hot today in NYC that I took scissors to the sleeves today before putting it on).

I have finally started painting again, and I completed this piece, titled "Finding My True Home" today. The entire thing just came to mind in a few moments, and I think this is because I had been having many discussions about "home" over the summer. I do miss California, and France was lovely, but I suppose my true feeling is that home is really the place where you are loved. Even though my loved ones are spread around the country (and even the world). It's nice to think that they are always in my heart as well. With this in mind, there's a surpise in his painting hidden behind a door that actually opens. You can open the door and see the original painting at my Woodstock show this winter at the East Village Collective gallery. Fine art prints of Finding My True Home are available at my ETSY store.

A Few Good Things

Well... I had planned to paint today, but our babysitter got sick. So, instead, I took Annabelle to Moon Soup for some "Baby Rock & Guitar." We were both thrilled with the live guitar music, tie-died t-shirts and singing. I felt like I was back in southern California. This little establishment is a fine oasis of laid-backism in midtown Manhattan.

Speaking of blasts from the past, upon returning to the U.S. I noticed that two of my pieces had been chosen for the ETSY poster contest! Here is one of the winning posters. Thank you to the curator, Budanart, for including me in this gorgeous collection (my painting is "Sonnet 116", far right image in the 2nd row):

And here is the other poster -- a ferris wheel theme - featuring my "Aloft" painting (3rd row, 2nd from the left). Thank you, esdesigns, for including me in this great collection. It takes me back to childhood.

Now tomorrow, I must get back to work!!

Back from Vacation!

Hello! I'm finally back from my extended summer of travel. Before leaving for France, I had grand ideas of sitting down every night with a little creme brulee or an eclair and blogging about my fun times abroad. But, um, we didn't have internet access!! Well, that's not entirely true. We had intermittent access for about 5 minutes at a time that could ONLY be managed while positioning the computer on the far corner of the kitchen table and typing with one leg perched on a chair facing south. Eating the eclairs was a lot easier.

Luckily, though, I did manage to do a few paintings. These were scooped up by my boyfriend for our apartment, so none of them made it back to the U.S. :( I decided to do a fun experiment with abstract work. This is one of my creations. It's called "Creative Thursday" in honor of my friend Marisa of Creative Thursday because I did it in a few hours on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

And here I am applying the final touches in my little studio. I'm standing on a piece of waterproof fabric that is usually used for tablecloths. It worked perfectly!

France was just amazing, but I'm excited to start working again (now that we again have a babysitter for a few hours a day). I promise to keep in touch and to post my new paintings as they emerge. Hope you all had a wonderful summer!

A final painting before France...

This one is called "2 Songs," and it's a companion piece to "Secret Garden." I imagine that this scene is taking place behind the garden gate.

This is the last painting I'll be completing before setting up my studio in France this summer. I am starting from scratch, so it should be really fun! I am so thrilled to have a place to create while everyone around me is speaking French. Perhaps I can use my artwork as a form of communication. I hope so, or it it will be another vacation of smiling and frantically rifling through my French/English dictionary.

I look forward to sharing my adventures abroad! Please comment if you are reading ... I will be so happy to hear from you.

Secret Garden

Well, the crying has sort of subsided... and I managed to finish this new painting today. I've called it "Secret Garden," and it kind of reminds me of all of those locked gardens here in Manhattan. I always imagine amazing things happening behind the gates. The original is not for sale, but prints are available at my ETSY store.

Vaccination Blues...

Today my head is swirling with thoughts of new paintings, but I can execute none of them. Poor Annabelle had her 6 month check-up and shots today. And she is very unhappy now. Crying. Crying. Crying.

More crying.

For those of you without babies, take a moment to inhale deeply and appreciate the glorious, pure, blissful gift of silence. I celebrate this silence for you. Please do something amazing with it. Someone should.

4 Songs

Here's a new painting I just finished. This one was really fun to create because I splurged on some metallic "flash gold" paint for it at Benjamin Moore. I've never used house paint before in a painting, but this was so pretty that I couldn't resist. There's just a little touch of it in the left corner and on the middle birdcage. "4 songs" is available as a print at my ETSY store.

I'm Inspired...

"The Fall" by Anne-Julie Aubry

I am just in love with the illustrations of French artist, Anne-Julie Aubry. I hope to discover more wonderful French art when we go to France for 6 weeks this July/August. In fact, I'm going to be compiling a wish-list for artwork for our new apartment outside of Paris. We just need to figure out our colors. So far we have two orange couches. Who knows what treasures the others rooms will contain! :-)

"Day Off" makes the ETSY front page!

More importantly, my little painting is right next to my good friend, Melissa's beautiful painting, "Fruitful." Hers is really awesome -- and so timely as she is about to give birth to her first baby any day now! Yay, Melissa.

"Fruitful"

"Day Off "

And, coincidentally, I could really use a day off. The curator of this treasury (Janelle Utheim) must be psychic.

Featured on "Rare Bird Finds" Today

"Spun"

My painting "Spun," is listed as a "Fab 5 Friday" pick on the great gift shopping site, Rare Bird Finds. Yay! This is a really cool site with lots of interesting, unique items. My piece was picked by a great designer, Vanessa Brady, from Gerbera Designs.

Now if only the construction workers would stop interrupting Annabelle's nap, I'd be having a Fab Friday, myself!

Two New Paintings (the story continues)...

"where you go i follow"

8x8 inch mixed media on wood panel

"House of Music"

8x8 inch mixed media on wood panel I've just completed these two new paintings, and, while the originals are not available, prints are up and ready for purchase at my ETSY store ($28 each on velvet fine art paper).

What is your name?

This is a painting I completed today. It will be for one of my upcoming art shows, but I'm not sure which one yet. It's going to be paired with several other paintings that include bluebirds... the story is evolving. Actually, I don't even know its title -- but please let me know if you have any suggestions.

On a side note, I once was so excited to put up a new painting in a gallery that I wrote "still untitled" on its title tag. Someone thought this was the real name and purchased the piece (they apparently loved the 'title'). :-)

Happy Father's Day!

Today I want to celebrate a great father -- my boyfriend, Christophe! There couldn't be a more loving Papa to our little girl (and he does occasionally feed her and change her diapers, too).

We love you Christophe

Despite his busy schedule as a real estate broker - with his own company (CRENY) and father to his other little girl, Axelle, he still cuts all of my wood for paintings and prints. He even separated our living room into two rooms so that I could have my own studio. Here he is, building a wall for the room.

If you are traveling to NYC and need a furnished apartment, Christophe has promised to offer 10% off to my blog friends. Just let him know that's how you found him. :-)



And, of course, Father's Day wouldn't be complete without a special thank you to MY daddy who is also a new grandfather. Here he is at the train station getting ready to venture from his tranquil upstate NY sanctuary in order to meet baby Annabelle in big, noisy NYC.






To all of the fathers out there, thank you for everything you do! Have a wonderful day!!