Meow Brow, Lil Bub, and Spoke Art

Tomorrow is the two-show opening of Meow Brow - New Work by Casey Weldon, AND Lil' Bub Art Show featuring a variety of artists depicting the darling Lil' Bub, cat sensation. Casey's work is stunning and I've been seeing hints of his feline paintings online and they look beautiful. This is a double show by Spoke Art and Bub herself will be there (you have to get tickets to meet her, much care has been taken to ensure her safety).

I did two pieces for the Lil' Bub half of the show. I have two cats of my own and I think I could draw cats everyday to my hearts content.

Adventuring Bubs

7 x 7 inches (image size)

Pen and ink wash

©Nicole Gustafsson 2013
SOLD

Lil' Bub and the Lightning Bugs

7 x 7 inches (image size)

Gouache, ink

©Nicole Gustafsson 2013

Available online at Spoke Art

To get all the information about Casey's show and Lil' Bub art show, visit Spoke Art's website for details.

New Print on Tiny Showcase

I'm happy to announce a new print at Tiny Showcase! I started working with Tiny Showcase a few years ago to produce affordable prints and love teaming up with them. Here is the latest print that dropped last night!

Cat Night Adventure

Edition of 100

Small boarder for framing - it is sized to fit a standard 5" x 7" frame

Printed by Tiny Showcase on heavy 290gsm natural white paper
$20 - Unframed
$130 - Archivally framed in Cherry.

Available for purchase here SOLD OUT

One of my favorite things from Tiny Showcase is that they donate a portion of the sales to the charity of the artists choice. I chose The Cat House here in Lincoln, Nebraska who works to provide a safe no-kill shelter and adoption facility for cats. $250 from the sale of my print will be donated to this organization.

New Camera!

I received a new camera for Christmas and I've been having fun playing around with it today. It's a bit chilly out so instead of going on an outdoorsy photo shoot I just stalked the cats a bit. Here is my favorite shot of Mochi who decided to curl up on a rug I had just moved (the cats always seem to think that when I move something it's just for them, but really I was just vacuuming).

The camera is a Samsung NX1000 (in white!), and while I've only played around a bit I'm really happy with it. I still need to hook it up to my wifi but I can automatically back up my camera to my computer or email photos to my family without even using a cord. I feel a little behind on the times, I didn't even know cameras did that now!

I'm looking forward to no longer relying on my iphone to update my blog. I relied a little too much on photo apps for my phone and while they're fun they don't have the best image quality. So here's to the new year with lots of new photos and projects!

Holiday Ornaments!

Every year I try to do something a little different with ornaments and this year I'm featuring animals in holiday sweaters. Even your pet friends like to get spiffied up for the holiday occasion! They are each hand-painted by myself and hand-carved by fellow Etsy artist "SuppliesbyWKStudios" who makes blank carved figures for painting.

Holiday ornaments are now available in my Shop!

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has a grand time trick or treating this Halloween. Toshi our Shiba couldn't decide which costume he wanted to wear. Pumpkin or Space Pup....it's a hard decision but I think he's more partial to being crew-member for NASA.

Cat's really don't do the costume thing (no matter how hard we try!), but they do love investigating pumpkins.

Our pumpkins after we carved them up. I went with a witch cat silhouette while Matt made a grinning pumpkin. Happy Halloween!

Cat Art Show - Benefit for the Cat House

Our local screen printing shop/gallery Screen Ink is hosting an event next month to benefit The Cat House - a no kill animal shelter and adoption facility here in Lincoln, Nebraska. I love my feline friends and was happy to make a piece for the show.

Here are a few process images from drawing to completed piece. I get asked quite often "how long does a painting take you", well..... it depends a lot on how well I know the subject, size, if things are going "well" with the painting layer. But this specific cat painting (3.5 x 5 inches) took me about three hours.

The final scanned image. This painting will be part of the show, and proceeds from gallery sales will be donated to The Cat House. So if your in Lincoln stop on by for First Friday in November at Screen Ink!

Zombie Show at Bottleneck Gallery

The undead are coming....this Friday at the Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn, NY! What better way to kick off the autumn season than a zombie show. Here is my contribution for the show:

Zombie Cats Just Wanna Have Fun

9 x 9 inches

Original Painting - Gouache & Ink on Rives BFK

© Nicole Gustafsson 2012
SOLD

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A portion of the proceeds will go towards American Red Cross. See the flyer for complete artist lineup!

Can't Beat Em, Join Em: The Zombie Show

October 5th - October 28th

Opening Reception: Friday, Oct 5th from 7-10pm

Bottleneck Gallery

Brooklyn, NY

Shop is open again!

I'm back from vacation! I had a grand time in Seattle and I'll be posting more about the trip tomorrow, but wanted to let everyone know that my online Etsy shop is open again.

Also exciting news from Etsy is that I can now accept payments directly thru Etsy. This means that you no longer have to use Paypal if you don't want to (but is still available if that is your preferred method). All in all, it just means more options for customers. AND it means that I am all set to receive Etsy gift cards for payment when they release them this upcoming fall.

Vacation Time!

Just a quick note to let you know that my shop will be on vacation mode while I'm off at PAX. It will reopen Tuesday, Sept 4th when I return. In the meantime I will leave you with some recent photos of my cats being catty.

Summer Sale!

Summer is in full swing (with full heat it seems) and I thought I would have a little summer sale in my Etsy shop.
Enter code "SUMMER" during checkout to receive 20% OFF your order! Sale valid July 16, 2012 thru July 22nd, 2012. MUST enter code to receive discount.

Click here to visit my shop!

To continue the summer theme here's a little photo montage of what I've been up to this last few weeks interspersed with cat photos of course.

Cinemagram

So I just caught on to the animated gif app called Cinemagram. And of course the first thing I tried it out on is my cat Mochi.

Woodland Shade Mini Paintings Now Available Online!

Gallery view at the Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln Nebraska.

Just quick note to let folks that the remaining mini paintings are now
available for purchase online through the Lux Center for the Arts.

Nicole Gustafsson Mini Paintings

$75.00 Each (+ shipping)

Image Size: 3.25 x 3.25 inches

Matted with single white mat, unframed
They will ship out (or are available for local pickup) after the show closes March 31st. 

Click here to view available works at the Lux Center for the Arts.

Happy Holiday's

Been a busy last few weeks...finishing commissions, wrapping presents...then unwrapping presents! Here are a few photo highlights of my holiday festivities (and yes I finally got an iphone and got on the instragram photo bandwagon!).

 Every nerd needs a 8-bit wreath to add that geeky cheer. (Available at Thinkgeek if you need to add to your 8bit collection)

 

 These are adorable mini sweaters my mom-in-law knit my guy and I for our x-mas tree. Modeled after the sweaters Ron's mom made Harry and Ron every winter, these are just so awesome we will probally keep them out all year round!

My family started out Christmas-eve with a gigantic appetizer spread. Part of said spread was a great cheese tray with lots of fun cheesy delights.

Mr Toshi here posing beautifully as he get's fed his favorite treat...banana chips! 

It's a tradition here at our house that whenever you leave your seat there will soon be a cat to take your spot. Here Kit and Mochi both went for my desk chair. Notice how they are both avoiding eye contact with me...thinking that if they don't see me they won't have to move it!

Here is a little sneak peek of what I am currently working on in the studio. This February at the Lux Center in Lincoln, I will be having a show featuring 50 of these mini paintings and other goodies. These little works are glimpses into the lives of the woodland inhabitants. Many tea parties and adventures to be had in the Woodland Shade!

Happy Friday!

Mochi and Kit wanted to wish everyone a Happy Friday!

Their agenda for the weekend: bird watching, shedding a few claws on their scratcher,
and enjoying a warm sunbeam.

NEW! Sculpted Pins/Brooches

Every once and a while I get a hankering to do some sculpting 3-dimensional work. This is one of those such occasions when brainstorming ideas for creations this upcoming fall/winter season

So making their grand debut today are my sculpted pins/brooches based on characters from my paintings. In case you didn't notice I am very excited for fall and Halloween!

 They are sculpted from polymer clay, then baked in the oven. Next they are hand-painted and sealed.

I wanted to do a sculpted version of Toshi our Shiba Inu, but then the cats felt left out so I did a Ragdoll/Siamese mix to represent our cat. I feel quite attached to these, little reminders of my pet kids... so I'm opening up a Custom Pet Portrait listing in my shop to cater to the pet lovers out there.

A variety of sculpted pins plus the Custom Pet pin/brooch are available in my Etsy Shop.

nimasprout on Twitter

Just letting everyone know that I'm also on twitter! You can also check out my posts on the right side of my blog. Thanks!

Happy Friday!

Mochi's work week was too hectic...he's glad it's the weekend.

Cookies!

I made some cookies this weekend. Since my recent experiments with a Red Velvet Cake tanked...I thought I would try Red Velvet Cookies instead. I got this recipe in the food network magazine. They were suppose to be a cookie sandwich with the filling inside, but mine puffed up pretty big so I just used the filling as frosting. Good with tea!

(Kit wanted to say hi!)

Giveaway Winners!

The cats have helped me pick (along with the random pick generator) the winners of the B-Day artwork giveaway!

1st Place - Susie Bertie
2nd Place - Jane Marie
3rd Place - About

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and for sharing your favorite hideouts! (Crawl spaces/stairways/closets, and the outdoors seem to be some of the favorite hideouts!)

If your a winner let me know your address and I can get your piece to you!!!

Cat + Cat

I like the comparison of Mochi my cat, to the small cat painting behind him. Behold their wide-eyed gaze!

("Cold Kitty" painting by MNT)