A Sensitive Soul Gone to Another World

“Sebastian” Painting by BZTAT

For my latest Okey’s Promise Project, I am using real animals and children as my models. I will be painting 10-12 paintings that represent everyday people and everyday creatures that have a story of resilience and survival.

I chose Sebastian, a gray and white tabby cat from the Kansas City, MO area as a model for a number of reasons. He was a 7 year old kitty who somehow found himself in a homeless pet shelter at a mature age when he worked his way into the heart of Amy, a volunteer.

Sebastian had a sensitive soul, and a sensitive stomach, as it turned out. He survived being homeless and being a harder to place cat. He survived ongoing tummy issues. He wrote about his adventures and the needs of other pets on his blog, and he helped get the word out about adopting harder to place animals.

And he became an amazing companion to Amy and her husband Lee.

Earlier this year, Sebastian survived another huge crisis when Amy and Lee’s apartment burned down. Luckily, he and Dottie, his companion guinea pig, and Amy and Lee, got out safely. But their home and all their things were destroyed. Sebastian was great comfort to Amy and Lee during those trying days.

Sadly, Sebastian, ever the resilient one, was not able to live forever in this world, however. He developed serious health problems last weekend, to which he succumbed last night. He was 9 years old.

My heart goes out to Amy and Lee. Amy and I have become great friends online and in real life. We share a love of animals and we understand how deep that love goes for people like us. I know how dear this creature was to her.

Amy has also been a huge support to me as an artist, and was one of the first people to commission a pet portrait from me. Ironically, that painting was destroyed in the fire, and I will soon be re-painting it for her.

Sebastian was only with Amy and Lee for 2 years, but that was enough time for a beautiful love story to blossom. I believe that the souls of animals live on, and I am certain that this sensitive soul is now in a good place.

Thank you, Sebastian for being the purrfect model. And thank you Amy for sharing his soul with me and so many others.

This painting is not yet complete, as it will eventually have drawings from children pasted into the background. Follow Okey’s Promise: Art for a Cause for further developments with the project.

June 11, 2012

Create-a-thon Mashup Auctions are LIVE!

ALL AUCTIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

The auctions for the artworks created in yesterday’s Create-a-Thon Mashup are now live!

Each artwork has its own bidding page. Please do not leave bids in the comments of this post. Click on the images of the artwork below for which you’d like to bid. Simply leave your bid in the comments on the artwork’s bidding page, and keep checking back to see if others have made bids after you. There is a “Buy Now” option for each piece. You can buy the piece now for the stated “Buy Now” price as long as no bids have been made before you. Simply write BUY NOW in the comments and the piece is yours for $125 + shipping.

Bidding will conclude on Wednesday, June 13, 2011 at 10 pm ET.

15% of the auction proceeds will be donated to the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild, an organization providing supports to artists throughout the state of Ohio.

Winning bidders will need to allow 4 weeks for shipping.

Thanks for your support of the auction. Happy bidding!

Click on images to get info on each artwork and to make bids.

PAINTINGS

"Doogie Destructo" painting by BZTAT

"Moonlight Sonata" Painting by BZTAT

"A Purrfect Pose" Painting by BZTAT

"You Are Being Ignored" Painting by BZTAT

"Wayfaring Westie" Painting by BZTAT

DRAWINGS

"Tortitude" Painting by BZTAT

"Sunflower Songs" Drawing by BZTAT

"Determined Turtle" Drawing by BZTAT

June 8, 2012

Create-a-thon Mashup!

My fans and collectors seem to like it when I do special events where I do a series of artworks and then auction them here on my blog. I have done “Paint-a-thons” and “Draw-a-thons” before, and I have done ‘Drawing-a-Day” auctions. I decided it was time to mash it up a bit and do something a little bit different.

This time, I am going to do a Create-a-thon Mashup!

What is a Create-a-thon Mashup you ask? Well, according to Dictionary.com, a mashup is: “a creative combination or mixing of content from different sources.” With that in mind, I am going to create a variety of artworks in different media, drawing on different sources, for a 12-hr time period.

In addition to the artworks created in the Create-a-thon, I will “mash up” an auction with the artworks created in the Create-a-thon, add in some already existing artworks, and make one big art event!

Here is how it will work:

I will create as many artworks as I can (paintings, drawings, collages, etc.) between 10 AM to 10 PM (EST) on Sunday, June 10, 2012. All of the artworks plus some already existing works will be posted for auction here on my website the following day (Monday, June 11, 2012). Bidding will conclude Wednesday, June 13, 2011 at 10 pm ET.
I will be posting photos of the works in progress throughout the Create-a-thon to Twitter and to Facebook. Follow the hashtag #bztatptg on Twitter for the latest.
I will donate 15% of all the proceeds to the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild, an organization providing supports to artists throughout the state of Ohio.
Winning bidders will need to allow 4 weeks for shipping.

The Create-a-thon is a great way to find some affordable bargains on original artwork!

I hope you will join me for this special event. I promise to have some new and fresh images that have not been seen before as well as some favorite themes.

Have suggestions for what you’d like me to create? Leave them in the comments below. (It would be nice if you plan to bid on works that you suggest. )