Happy Father's Day

Views from the 16th Floor

My office is located on prime real estate in Santa Monica: Pacific Coast Highway and some sand separate us from the ocean. It's pretty ridiculous when you enter the main reception area: Floor to ceiling windows line the entire west (ocean) facing walls, and you see blue sea for miles (or just a mile, depending on the smog that day). The other sides of the building look out over the city - north to Malibu and Pacific Palisades, East towards Brentwood and Santa Monica (and on a clear day, towards Big Bear), and South towards Venice - and I find these views to be much more interesting. While waiting for a job to print in our production room, I grabbed a few scraps of paper and doodled some of those views and thought I would share them with you. This is another one that would be cool if I had paint on hand because the colors make a big difference. Maybe I should start bringing my gouache set to work :)

"Sunset in Malibu"; or "View From Parking Garage"

Leaving work last week, I was taken with the view northwest towards Malibu from the 9th floor of the parking garage in Santa Monica. So I sketched it. This has potential to be a pretty cool painting; but maybe just a small gouache one.

In other news, I started a Facebook Page for my biz. So now I have yet another site to keep updated! Woo hoo! Check it out here and become a fan! Cat Scott Illustration + Design

St. James Court Art Show Poster

Every fall, there is a huge, beautiful art festival in Old Louisville called the Saint James Court Art Show. Every spring, there is a competition for the poster for the event, and every year, I think, "I should enter." But I never do - not living in Louisville, I tend to forget about things like that. Earlier this week, while finishing an illustration for Louisville Magazine (coming soon to a newstand near you!), the poster contest popped in my head and I hopped over to google to check it out.

The due date was 3 days away. I took it as a sign.

I have been diligently plugging away at it ever since I sent off the final illo to LouMag. I ran into some technical difficulties though: How could I scan or photograph original artwork for a 24"x30" poster (I always work bigger than the final printed piece)? And if I were so lucky as to win, how would I get such a large piece to Louisville?

So I decided to tackle this project in Illustrator. I've been digging Jessica Hische's work lately, so my piece was very heavily influence by her, as well as various Victorian/Art Nouveau artwork I found online.

Doing the handwritten text was the best part. First I sketched it out with pencil:

Then I filled it in with ink:

Then I scanned it and used the AutoTrace feature in Illustrator to make it a vector shape. I hate doing that part because it never looks quite right to me. It lost a lot of character when it was forced into vectors.

Overall, I really like the way the poster turned out. I included the famous statue that is in the heart of Saint James Court and some of the beautiful Victorian homes that line the court, and embellished the design with the ever popular Fleur-de-lis.

This piece was a challenge for me stylistically, and it is a risky entry.. most of the past winners have been pretty paintings of the statue with some super kerned out text. Let's hope the gang at St. James Court likes my approach!

Busy Gato

I have been quite busy and will remain busy the rest of the week. Here's a small sketch to whet your appetite.

Fleur de Lis

Fleur de Lis, Hi-Tec C and Acrylic in my Moleskin

When I was in Louisville, I saw this symbol popping up everywhere. It has long been a part of Louisville's history, but it recently became a main stream icon to represent the 'Ville. My dad, who seems to have become a Louisville historian in his spare time, explained to me where this symbol originated from.

Louisville was named in honor of King Louis the XIV. He was French. The French dig the Fleur de Lis.

Of course, he put it much more elegantly than that.

This lesson came in handy at the Smithsonian a few days later. We saw a 17th century violin called The Louis XIV embellished with fleur de lis. The more you know!

Jason at LAX

I ventured East last week with Jason, a.k.a. My Biggest Fan. First stop was LAX, and since it's vacation, why not grab a beer before boarding our 4 hour flight? While drinking cold, refreshing, delicious Sam Adams (alcohol always tastes best when you know your coworkers are sitting at their desks), I sketched my traveling partner.

I drew with a Hi-Tec C, .4 mm, while at the Chili's To-Go (there aren't a lot of options in the American Airlines terminal!) . Tonight, in the comfort of my living room, I applied color using GAC 100 and acrylic paint. I learned about this acrylic medium from Andrea Wicklund, and I'm glad I did. It really adds a lot of interest and complexity to a simple cross hatch pen sketch without covering up the line work, and it's fairly easy to apply a few washes while catching up on episodes of Flip This House.

Immediately following the consumption of our beers at the airport, we saw Jose Conseco at Chili's and Jason shook his hand. So by extension, I think this drawing should be pretty famous, or at least chock full of sterioids. It also validates our choice in restaurant, because famous people eat there too!

Spicy!

I'm back from my vacation and will have goodies to share from my journey soon. In the meantime, here is a little something I have been working on. The goal is to have pretty little labels for my spice jars. After I individually wrote each spice name and scanned it, I saw a lot of possibility for art pieces, so keep your eyes peeled for some colorful spice collages!

Nashville • Louisville • DC

I'm headed out East to visit My Biggest Fan's family in Nashville, my own fam damily in Louisville, and to attend a dear friend's wedding in Washington D.C. It's going to be an action packed 10 days. My excitement leaked out of my pen through planner doodles. The planner that I use - and have consistently used since high school - is the August to August Calendar. There are no other planners that make me feel all warm and cozy inside.

There probably won't be any posts until I return. I bet I could post from anywhere if I had an iPhone ... stupid iPhone is so stupidly awesome.

Happy Memorial Day!

On Being an Art Major at a Liberal Arts College

University of Dayton Campus Puzzle Map  |  16" x 9.5"  |  Prismacolor on Paper  |  $280 on Etsy

Note: This story has nothing to do with the drawing; please go to the Etsy link above to read more about the piece.

When I started high school, I headed directly to the Arts table and and drooled over all of the available classes for incoming freshman.  My high school, Sacred Heart Academy, had an excellent art program called the 5-year program (the 5th year was the after school AP Painting class).  My dad didn't let me sign up.  I had to get my "important" classes out of the way.

Once Junior year rolled around, I had space in my schedule and signed up for the "first year" art class.  I rocked it.  I won every first place award at the art show at the end of the year.  Senior year was a dream come true:  I had so much room in my schedule that I took at least 8 art classes (we were on a semester system).  Life was good.

Like every other high school senior, I was trying to decide What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.  I knew I wanted to do something art related, but I hated the idea of an art school.  I pictured people with dyed black hair sitting around cafes bullshitting about religion, philosophy, and politics while smoking cigarettes and sipping espressos.  Not my scene.

Graphic Design made a lot of sense for me.  I was good with computers (self proclaimed computer nerd) AND it involved art.  I managed to get on the University of Dayton's mailing list, and I liked the sound of their Visual Communication Design program.  I could take painting, drawing, color theory, design... for SCHOOL?  Awesome.

After a year, I switched to Illustration and started to hone my style.  But most of all, I worked my ass off getting good grades in all of the liberal arts classes that were required.  I partied on the weekends and hung out with people who liked to watch movies, play foosball, make stupid jokes, and listen to good music.  I graduated Magna Cum Laude with an award for Most Outstanding Senior in Visual Communication Design, won awards for my paintings, and entered the real world feeling confident about the future.

It took a trip to the Illustration Academy three years later for me to realize the kind of competition that was out there.  Suddenly, I wasn't an artist, I was just someone who was good at drawing.  Fortunately, I learned more there in a week than I did while getting my BFA.  Since then, I have been able to apply that knowledge in every piece of artwork I have made, and I consider myself an artist through and through.

I have always wondered how things would have turned out had I signed up for the 5-year program at SHA.  Would I have gone to an "artsy-fartsy" school?  Maybe on scholarship?  Would I have received a more art-intense education, entered the world of illustration doing full page assignments for Rolling Stone right off the bat? Maybe, maybe not.  I'm not trying to be dramatic - I wouldn't trade my experience at UD for anything.  I will never forget late nights in the painting studio laughing with my girlfriends, or warm spring days sitting out on a porch drinking Milwaukee's Best Light, or lazy afternoons lounging on the "Grassy Knoll" between classes.  Maybe I didn't get an intense art education, but I got a great education and had a great time.  Period.