The Kickstarter campaign to fund my 2017 Literary Cats Calendar was successful! If you backed the project, thank you so much! XOXO
I’ll confess that there were some nail-biting moments, as we were still 18% away from our goal, with less than 72 hours remaining on the clock. Nonetheless, we managed to rally the troops and secure a dozen additional pledges, pushing us over the edge! We wound up being 111% funded ~ Wow!
We also reached our one & only Stretch Goal, after passing the $2K mark ~ so each person who pledged for a calendar will be receiving a bonus calendar free! (Kickstarter backers only)
There is a 14-day window “for processing pledges” (a.k.a. Kickstarter likes to hold onto the money for as long as possible), and then the funds will be released so that I can order the calendars, and also stock up on supplies for backers’ Rewards. I am expecting to order the calendars by Sept 12th at latest, which, given my previous publishing history with this company, would mean the calendars should be delivered to my door by the last week in September. :)
I have opened up pre-orders on my website, for anyone wanting a calendar ~ ordering now will guarantee you get as many as you like! I can always make adjustments prior to ordering, but once the calendars are delivered ~ my Kickstarter backers will come first, pre-orders will come second, and everybody else will take their chances. As it gets closer to the holidays, and people are in gift-buying mode, I expect these to not last very long. Consider ordering yours early!
I may or may not have calendars available for the Westminster Fall Festival, in which I will be participating as a vendor on Sept. 24th ~ 25th. I expect to have them in hand, and for sale in my booth, at the Apple Butter Festival in Berkeley Springs, WV ~ the second weekend in October. I also hope to get a few tiny originals done for that show as well. Edgar Allen Poe, anyone? ;)
On the art front, September & October will be crazy busy! Expect to see plenty of new pieces! If you are a Patreon supporter, that means more progress videos and pictures! Since August was a bit slow, thanks to the Kickstarter campaign requiring my attention, it will be nice to post WIP updates regularly on Patreon again. :)
I am working to finish *one last piece* to include in the calendar ~ hopefully it will be done this weekend, so I can pop it into January’s layout, and the calendar will be 100% ready for print.
“El Gato” Art Exhibit
One of my new Flower Fairy Cat portraits, “Miss Coneflower”, is on display at a cat-themed art show in Aberdeen, Scotland. “El Gato” is being hosted by Art At the Hall, an artist run group exhibiting at St.Peters Heritage Hall, on Station Road East, in Peterculter, Aberdeen. The former church, built in 1779, “houses exhibits and artefacts which relate to the local area”.
If you are lucky enough to live nearby, you can view the exhibit in person on Saturdays, from 2pm-4pm…. and have a pot of tea with home-baked refreshments! The artwork is also available for purr-chase online from their Facebook page, through October 29th. Yes, Anita ships worldwide! I’ve heard that several of the pieces have sold already! :)
“Miss Coneflower”, 8″x10″ frame included, displayed with my purple coneflowers.
Here is the “El Gato” exhibit album:
11th Annual Art For the Animals
The Art For the Animals charity auction, supporting Guiding Eyes for the Blind, will have its opening reception on Saturday, October 1, from 6:30 PM – 8 PM.
Hosted by the art supply and framing shop, Howards’ Arts & Frames, on Dual Highway in Hagerstown, MD… this is a local auction that I have been happily participating in since 2011. This year, I plan to submit 3-4 original portraits of Shakespeare characters, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. Each year, I try to do a different theme; last year, I painted three “Alice in Wonderland” characters.
“Romeo & Juliet” is already in sketch phase. Also planned: Hamlet, Othello, and Julius Caesar. Fortunately, all finished artwork is required to be 5″x7″ ~ which shouldn’t take long to complete ~ because the deadline for art submissions is in three weeks. LOL!
Flower Cat Portraits
Continuing with my Flower Fairy Cats series of portraits, I finished “Miss Foxglove”…. and she has sold already, but prints are available in my shop.
I will be doing commissioned Flower Fairy Cat portraits for Kickstarter backers next month, so expect to see some pretty combinations…. including a Bengal kitty, “Miss Orchid”, a Norwegian Forest cat, “Miss Hibiscus”, and a lovely black & white tuxedo called “Miss Black Eyed Susan”. ;)
Thank you for supporting my artwork, and I look forward to seeing you around the interwebz, or at a show soon!