KATJAS WORK IN PROGRESS BLOG

Well, now that I have made my first two posts after my long vacation I feel that I need to write down a few words and show some photos. We had a really nice time and I didn’t work anything at all, which was what I wanted for myself. I felt that I really needed to take a real time off to reload my batteries for this year and the next. We have visited family and friends in Slovenia and went to swim a couple of times. The three weeks went by and the road back was very long, a 20 hours drive back to Sweden.

Many things are waiting and I have allot of work to complete and new ones to start. I’m still at the beginning of my career as a Portrait Artist and I know I still have allot of work to do. I got myself a mentor and she will help me with sales and marketing. I need to write down a mind-map and sit down with her, talking about which ways to take and which to exclude. The biggest problem with myself is that I want too many things at the same time . I have to make up my mind about which road to walk on at the moment and what to aim for. Anyways… here is a little something to remember by for the year to come…

Country road to our future house

Our future house

My husbands father's sheep

Bumblebee in the garden

Me and our dog Raider

Emily surrounded by puppies :)

Our friends Tosa Inu puppies playing

Our friends Tosa Inu male

While I was on vacation a client of mine was kind enough to send me some photos she took of her uncle opening his gift, which was a portrait I created for his birthday. It’s a watercolor pet portrait of Farley I painted a while ago. This is what she wrote:

Hi Katja,

I hope you are enjoying the summer.  I just remembered I never sent you the photos of my Uncle George opening up the picture of Farley.  He absolutely loved it!   My aunt and uncle hung said everyone who comes into the room compliments them on the beautiful portrait.  Thanks again!

Take Care,
Sarah Guidotti

Client's photo of painting

So I have been busy with things in general, not so much with painting but doing other things before I go to holiday. We leave for 1 month each time, and that’s a long holiday most people say. Today I have been painting the Polar Bear which was commissioned by Orsa Grönklitt. There is still allot of work left to do, but that will have to wait a few days until this layer dries. Its just so much easier to paint details and lighten areas up when the paint underneath is dry

I will go to my framer tomorrow, to collect the framed Sirri and Rashi. I want to send all the paintings before I leave. I will also continue painting the Cavalier King Charles spaniels tomorrow since the Polar Bear needs to dry anyway. I have promised to complete this painting before I leave too.

Well, I have made some investments for my little company, bought some great lamps (daylight lamps) for photographing my completed paintings. I though this will be less expensive in the long run for my prints, which I will continue painting after my holidays. First I studied and read allot of articles on the web about how to take photos of paintings, then I bought the lamps I needed.  I’m very happy that I bought a macro objective together with my EOS camera three years ago. This is the best objective for taking photos of paintings, many say and I experienced that myself when I tested to take some shots a few days ago. It’s just so expensive to go to a photo studio each time you need to take new photos of a painting, go figure

Polar Bear oil painting - step three

So I went to collect the framed watercolor painting of Farley and took some photos of it earlier. I think it looks awesome!

Framed watercolor portrait

Framed Farley

Framed dog portrait

Today I went to collect the Framed Coloured Pencil drawing of Dingo and Kassi. I created a photo of how the drawing would look Framed for my client, which she also chose right away. The only thing me and the Framer changed; was that we added one additional Mount under the lighter one. This changed my initial visualization photo a bit, but made the real drawing look even better. The client chose the more expensive glass from Nielsen Bainbridge UV60, which really makes a big difference from normal glass. That is truly visible in the photos below.

Framed Pet Portraits

Framed Coloured Pencil drawing

Framed drawing

Framed drawing

This is a new thing I have been working on, late in the evenings for a week. I’m very happy to introduce my “At the Framers place” Framing visualising tool :). This tool, which is made in Flash (by me) is a perfect addition for me and my clients to be able to visualise their final painting next to my selection of Frame Mouldings and Mounts/Mats them selves, right on the computer screen. The Mounts/Mats can be colored with selected colors in the tool. Its late, and I have been working all day so I  don’t think I need to explain that my eyes are squared. I just can’t write that much right now :). This is only a picture of the tool, so click on the link and it will take you to the Framing visualising tool >

Have fun with it!

At the Framers Place

Today we had a visit from the Family who came to collect their painting of Robin and Tuffe, we drank coffee and talked for a few hours. It was very nice to meet them. Its so rare to meet with clients as most of the packages goes through post, but this time I had this privilege.

This is Robin and Kent with their painting, unfortunately they didn’t bring Tuffe because they live pretty far away from us and wanted to go to other places before traveling home again.

Kent and Robin with their Painting

Robin and Kent with their painting

Today I went to collect the Framed Portrait and its looking great. The client choose between Frame number 1, 2 and 4b. Me and the Framer chose number 1 because the Frame made the painting look more beautiful and it suited perfectly. I photographed the framed painting and I’m posting it for the client to see before I ship it.

Framed portrait

Framed portrait

Framed portrait

Framed portrait

Today the first Giclée Print arrived and I opened the package with excitement. Its just perfect, I think its even better then the original. The Fine Art Print is of the Norwegian Elkhound I drew some time ago. The print has a watermark, is numbered and is signed by myself. Even though this is an Open edition Print its numbered and has a Certificate of Authenticity from both the company who created the Print and one from me.

The Company creates the Prints with the Digigraphie printer from Epson, so the Prints are in highest quality possible.

Print Art Giclée Print of Norwegian Elkhound

Some days ago I got en email from a client who just got the framed watercolor portrait of Dodger back from the framer. She also sent me a photo of Lilo framed, which she commissioned a while back. She used the same frame for both of them since they both hang next to ethoder. I´m very happy I got the photos, thank you! So here are the two dogs, Lilo and Dodger:

Watercolor portrait of Lilo

Watercolor portrait od Dodger