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A bright and vibrant digital painting of Wally, the real life cat.

Very much on the "to create" list here at Catberry Tails are fun and colorful ultra modern digital portraits of cats. This one is of Wally. The background is leftover from a digital textile collection of mine.

And the Chairman is NOT happy because of my massive deadlines that keep me from his community development.

The Chairman sits with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

The view of my computer screen as I juggle clients:

Photo of my iMac showing many colorful projects going on at once.

The Chairman is also not happy because we are expecting rain all weekend. He wanted to get his World Dominationmobile painted.

Perhaps I'll let him post his photos from the workshop he took on the art of using Bondo to repair his really beat up car. Poor little guy.

Stay tuned!

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A great deal of experimentation goes into finding your path as an artist. Because I do have the good fortune of making money commercially as a designer, I always have a lot of scraps of various projects laying around. When I have the time, I make little mini pieces of art.

Catberry_Collage2

...not much thought goes into these...just slap it down and move on!! And yes, those are rolodex cards. Many artists gravitate towards the metal vintage rolodex to display their small pieces of art. These are small steps that I can take in a busy schedule.

Catberry_Collage_Group1

A favorite phrase of mine has been

"How hard can it be?"

Well. Sometimes pretty hard. This new direction for Catberry Tails has been a huge undertaking and it's important to remember that small steps add up. They can add up to BIG changes. Or as the Chairman says:

"You created me. And. I. Am. Awesome."

I pulled this artwork out to review because many of these experiments led to painting large on fabric and creating the Chairman and his community. Which is a big change for me!

A bright modern art painting with a flower loosley stitched on it. A quote is on it that reads "Nothing is wasted...it all adds up."

Repeat after me:

Small Steps Big Changes

 

 

 

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

Ocean: a very LARGE bowl of water with the best ever kitty litter you can use for sand painting.

The Kreatrix and the Prof took Ginger and I to the ocean! It was part of our Catberry Tails Annual Retreat!

Remember this minor mishap?

The Chairman is using a backscratcher to try and draw designs in the kittly pan filled with sand kitty litter.

Because I was impressed with this:

A sand painting by Andres Amador.

Feast  your eyes, friends:

A sand painting made by the Chairman in the sand at the beach. It's a heart with Chair plus Ginger written in it.

Talk about romantic!

The Chairman and Ginger, two cute cat dolls stare out at the ocean as a flock of sandpipers runs through the wet sand.

I wanted the Kreatrix to get those birds in the shot to show Rudy, Melvin and Wally. They are HUGE bird watchers!

The Chairman and Ginger sitting in the sun on their beach blanket.

I will never be the same again. The Kreatrix says the ocean can do that to you.

Kreatrix pointed out all the stacks of rocks people had made.  She called it "the art of rock stacking." Just when I think I have this whole art thing figured out....

SO we collected some rocks and the gang has been stacking them all day. We are rock artists!

The cat doll community is stacking flat rocks collected from the ocean. They're doing a pretty good job!

Even Wally and Rudy tried to play.

Wally and Rudy, two real life cats, sit watching the cat dolls with their rocks.

Just when I thought I had the hang of it,  I googled rock stacking.

That Google! Can't tell you how many times it has burst my tomcat pride. Holy moly. I gotta get more rocks and learn how to do this!

Breathtaking display of stacked rocks.

Go check these guys out!

Unbelievably beautiful display of stacked rocks.

 

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Ginger has her own letterhead now! She is an adorable soft sculptured cat doll. Her letterhead features beautiful handwriting and a beauty shot of Ginger.

Or Big Butts and Curvy Tails

Hello sweet gumdrops! Ginger, feline reporter on duty!

During our first annual Catberry Tails retreat, I had the great honor of studying Body Parts and Whimsical Doll-making 101 from the Kreatrix. We were sooooo nervous because she gave us soooo much responsibility.

See this rascal?

Melvin, an adorable real life cat stares up at the camera as his favorite toy floats in the cats water bowl.

If you recall from a previous post he steals body parts and drags them around the house. Here he demonstrates the technique with his favorite toy. Yep. Into the water bowl.

We bribed Rudy to stand guard over the body parts and pattern.

Beautiful Rudy, a real life cat, sits on the table next to a lot of doll supplies.

Say hi to Denise. I call her Deni. She's my new BFF.  We all met her a few weeks ago.

Whimsical Cat doll made out of hand painted denim.

Dude has a thing for her but she told me she wants to play the field for awhile. HA! I tell her:

"Take a look around, Sweet Pea, there's not much of a field yet! And the Chairman is UNSHOPPABLE,  girlfriend!"

We worked very hard on the whole curvy tail issue. Straight tails are NOT an option when we have to interact with humans. Seriously Kreatrix? We ALL NEED to have curvy tails. Remember this fiasco when the Kreatrix was overly stressed?

Catberry_Pose1a

Dude is the only one who wasn't embarrassed by this event. But then, that's our Dude.

Here we are making positootly sure the tails are curved. By the way, check out my expression. We all had a bit too much milk at the mixer earlier in the evening and this was late at night.

Three of the whimsical cat dolls are cuting out curved tail pattern pieces.

This part is scary, so look away if you must. I had to learn how to use a machine that punches holes with a very sharp tooth. All in the name of creating more stable/big butts.

Ginger, a soft sculptured cat doll, sits at the sewing machine.

The worst part being I had to trust Deni. This was her job:

Deni, the denim cat doll, controls the foot pedal for the sewing machine.

Yes, Babushkas, that is what makes the scary machine go. Oy vey and quiver me timbers!

But we all got the hang of it.

Ginger sewing along quite nicely at the sewing machine.

Kreatrix asked us to pose like we were passed out exhausted so she could show it to the guys...ya know, how hard we were working.

Three soft sculptured cat dolls are laying with one arm flung over their eyes.

P.S. We made changes to the look of our World Wide Web presence! We will probably change it again. And again. Until we get it right. So...TA DA!

Love to all my Babushkas!

 

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High End Product Design For Cats From Catswall Designs

Colorful feeding bowls from Catswall Designs. Very unusual and elegant..

We are all about design here at Catberry Tails! From working as a freelance designer in the packaging and textile markets to creating art and soft sculptured dolls, design is a huge passion for me. And whenever the design involves cats, I'm in heaven!

Catswall Designs consistently creates beautiful but functional products for cats. They especially design for the multi-cat household!

Four bowl feeding station in fun lime green from Catswall Designs.

Love the expandability of this type of feeding station! The simplicity of design. The elegance. The color. Very successful end result!!

Amazing wall mounted playground for cats. Very modern and cool looking. Catswall Designs.

I'm speechless. Don't want to show this to Wally, Melvin and Rudy. There would be no sleep for the humans until this was installed.

Here it is in a very modern home setting.

Wall mounted playground for cats in a ultra modern home setting.

And if you're worried about your cat getting enough exercise, check this out.

Cat exercise wheel that looks like a giant hamster wheel. Very modern and cool.

Confused? Give up? It's an exercise wheel! This video explains it all!

The Chairman and gang are pulling their notes together from the first ever Catberry Tails Annual Retreat! Join us Friday for our first peek inside their busy week!

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Ginger has her own letterhead now! She is an adorable soft sculptured cat doll. Her letterhead features beautiful handwriting and a beauty shot of Ginger.

I'm On Assignment!

Hello my Babushkas! Ginger, feline reporter here.  I have to look official and do a good job...so no giggling fits.

During our first ever annual Catberry Tails Retreat I took a class on blog posting. TA DA!! And I designed my own letterhead.

Look what the Chairman got me for Valentine's Day!

Ginger has her paw on two beautiful little red pillows stacked on top of each other. They are embellished with jewels and sequins.

Two, not one, TWO red satin pillows with all these sparklies on them. LOOOVE!

Up close of Ginger leaning on one of the beautiful red pillows.

A girl could get used to this. SIGH. SWOON.

We have been doing bunches of work and classes during the retreat but I am not allowed to tell you everything all at once. Dumb rule but I don't set them.  I'm supposed to build the suspense.

Ginger is leaning over a pattern piece. Scissors are laying nearby.

I don't imagine you are on the edge of your seats  from the above "suspenseful" photo of me. HOWEVER, you will notice there are scissors in the photo. Hmm. What do you suppose I will do with those. Huh? Wonder what...

OH! Happy President's Day!

Classic photo of Abe Lincoln with Ginger behind him doing a photobomb.

So how did I do my Babushkas?  More later...

Oh...this is from Wally. (Eye roll, eye roll, eye roll). Ok. He's cute. And he adores the Kreatrix.

Wally, the real life cat's face is embedded on Abe Lincoln's face.

More later my Babushkas!!!!!!

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In Honor of Valentine's Day

The internet is full of pets who have heart patches in their fur. These are a few of my favorites that have been floating around the web for awhile now.

Up next is an animation from one of my favorite animators, Simon Tofield . His entire series, entitled Simon's Cat, is absolutely charming. Here is his latest one fresh off the assembly line for us this Valentine's Day.

And since love is often composed of an unlikely paring of two oddly matched individuals, I present to you one of the winners of the FRISKIES AWARD for best cat video of 2013.

To all of you who have supported us during these first months, please know that The Chairman and his entire community send their purrs and love to you today and always!

The Chairman and Ginger on a romantic Valentines background.

 

 

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

All the whimsical cat dolls are gathered for an official portrait in front of a giant hand painted mural.

We are heading into an important weekend! The entire gang has gathered for 5 days of meetings, classes, meals and work! But first we met for our official portrait.

Look at this background the Kreatrix painted for a show in New York City.

Colorful, huge hand painted canvas of whimsical houses surrounded by trees and grass and birdhouses.

This canvas mural is about 10 feet by 12 feet. HUGE!

Wally, Melvin and Rudy helped run the tech end of our photo shoot. Wally was the director of the shoot and constantly glared at Rudy and Melvin because they kept arguing.

Wally, a real life cat, lays on the canvas near the cat dolls.

Rudy and Melvin, real life cats, give each other the stink eye.

In the above photo you can see some of the tensions flaring with our tech crew.

Melvin, a real life cat, raises up on his hind legs to inspect one of the lights mounted for the photo shoot.

Melvin and Rudy did a great job hanging the lights.

Rudy inspects another light.

Meet our newest member! A brand new MAGNIFICAT!

A new Magnificat doll is introduced. It is gray and has an embroidered flower around its neck.

 

Our hand painted fabric rocks!

Closeup of a tweed heart patch on the chest of the Opie Doll Magnificat.

The heart patch on Opie the Magnificat's chest is made from a man's old suit. It had moth holes in it but the Kreatrix cut it apart and is making stuff with it!

Wally, the real life cat, inspects the dolls as they pose for their group photo.

As much as I get irritated with Wally. Kreatrix is making me tell the truth here. So let me rephrase that first sentence:  As much as I am jealous of the attention Wally gets from her and I shouldn't be because she loves us all...whatever. He did a good job directing our photo shoot.

Wish us luck! We get to take a workshop this weekend from the CEO on using something called Bondo. I signed up for the class hoping I'd learn how to be like James Bond. Ginger said Bondo is something that will help repair the World Dominationmobile. Either way, I win!

The CEO cat doll made from a mans suit coat.

And yes, Dude has a "thing" for the denim beauty sitting next to him. So far she's playing coy. Stay tuned.

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

The Things I Do For the Sake of My Cat Doll Community

Don't get upset but I helped the Kreatrix gut a stuffed bird to see how it was put together. I was mortified but she promised to sew it back together, which is what she's doing right now!

The Chairman helps pull stuffing out of an owl doll.

The Chairman wears white doll stuffing on his head and as a beard.

Kreatrix said I looked like George Washington. He must be one dapper dude!

Get a load of this new fangled foot we worked on this last weekend! My cat doll community is gonna rock!

The Kreatrix shows The Chairman a redesign on the feet for the new dolls.

The feet will bend up!

The Chairman shows how the foot bends at a right angle to the leg.

Rudy stared at us a whole lot and Kreatrix took way too many photos of the "pretty kitty". Hmmm. Whatever.

Long haired, beautiful ginger colored cat named Rudy sitting in a patch of sunshine watching the proceedings.

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

I Was Only Temporarily Embarrassed

While the Kreatrix is busy redesigning my community and working on marketing, she told me to come up with an artistic post for today.

I went through her bookmarks and found an amazing human who makes designs in the sand at the ocean. He calls himself an earthscape artist. His name is Andres Amador and his artwork is AWESOME!

A sand painting by Andres Amador.

Sand drawing by Andres Amador.

I was so inspired I thought I'd give it a whirl using this sandbox I found near the back door.

The Chairman is using a backscratcher to try and draw designs in the kittly pan filled with sand kitty litter.

Kreatrix found us and calmly asked us to wash up and just post this very cool video.

Please visit his website! Put on some peaceful music and watch the slide show on a full screen. He has set it up for you on his website.