Tag: Okey

Okey's October: An Artwork and a Thought a Day

See all the “Okey’ October” artworks!

Okey-October-White-cat-drawing-BZTAT
"Okey's October" Drawing by BZTAT

“How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough,

cause I’m never ever giving you up.”

–From “Lullaby” by the Dixie Chicks

A year ago this month, a small cat entered my life. Not only have I fallen completely in love with her, others have too through the Okey’s Promise: Art for a Cause movement that she has inspired. In honor of the huge impression this small cat has made on many, I thought I should do something to celebrate Okey’s “Gotcha Day” which is October 30.

Okey’s life has been one of discovery and overcoming challenges. She has come a long way – a very long way – from being a terrified little parking lot kitty who had been mistreated by humans. She continues to be shy and skittish, but each day she takes a new step towards feeling safe.

In Okey’s honor, I am going to make an artwork every day in October, and post it here on my blog. As I have done with “drawing a day” activities in the past, each artwork will be available for bidding in an auction in the blog post dedicated to it. Along with each artwork will be a “Thought for the Day” that will offer some kind of encouragement about overcoming challenges.

All of the proceeds for the auctions will go towards the Okey’s Promise: Celebrating the Human – Animal Bond project. The project is my second Okey’s Promise: Art for a Cause project to raise awareness about the links between animal abuse, domestic violence and child abuse. My recent Kickstarter fund raising campaign for the project fell short of its goal, so I have had to start over with the fund raising. You can contribute here if you would like to support the project outside of the auctions.

To make it a little more fun, I am going to have a special contest! Everyone who bids on one of the Okey’s October artworks here on the blog will be entered into a contest for a free artwork! You don’t have to win a bid, just make a bid. All bidders will be entered into a random drawing for a special artwork at the end of the month.

We will start with a drawing of Okey herself for today. The image is above. Here is the info about it:

5″ X7″ Prismacolor Pencil Drawing on black paper by artist BZTAT

Comes with an acid free mat ready for an 8″ X 10″ frame

Leave bids in increments of $5 below in the comments section.

Minimum Bid $40 USD

Shipping: $8 USA $18 International

BUY NOW OPTION: You can buy this piece now for $75 as long as no bids have been made in the comments below. Simply write BUY NOW in the comments and send a payment of $75 + shipping via the ChipIn widget in the right sidebar.

Highest bid at 10:00 pm EST on Sunday 10/2/11 wins the piece.

Winning bidder: make payment of bid + shipping to ChipIn widget in right sidebar.

Please allow 4 weeks for USA shipping.

My new muse and other schtuff

Okey white cat painting
Okey

When I first met Beezie, the cat from whom I got the name BZTAT, I knew I had to paint her. And I did. Over and over and over again for the entire 19 years of her life. I still paint her. Over and over again.

I love painting all of my cats, but there are certain ones who really capture my artistic imagination.

Okey, is like that.

Her image is as intriguing to me as her personality is. There is just something about her that really makes me want to draw and paint her. Over and over again.

So, be prepared. There will be many, many Okey paintings to come. I hope that folks enjoy them as much as I will enjoy painting them.

I painted her the other night because I just needed to paint something for fun and free with no expectations. After doing all the January drawings, it has taken me some time to get back into painting.

You may have noticed that I have not posted much here lately. Part of that is due to computer problems that I have been having. Some of it, too, has been because my creative focus has wandered a bit. The winter here in Ohio has been brutal, and I have sorta retreated inward a bit. I am working myself out of it.

I have been working to catch up on projects that have been on the drawing table and easel for awhile. Painting the Okey picture kinda loosened me up a bit and got me back into the swing of things. I hope to share the other projects with you soon!

In the meantime, I hope you are staying warm and keeping your artistic adventures flowing!

 

Encore! More New Art for February!

Okey White cat digital
"Okey"

I was pretty amazed at the response to my January “Drawing a Day” drawings, and I am actually kind of sad that it is over. I wasn’t sure how it would go, and I actually anticipated that I would have some drawings that would go unsold. That didn’t happen, though. Every single drawing was sold, and some had some pretty intense bidding wars!

Thanks to all of you that bid on the artwork and made the month of January pretty interesting for me. I suffered through a nasty head cold and a bout with shingles during January, so it was good to have something to motivate me and get me out of bed.

But now what?

It was so much fun, and folks got into it so much, I was tempted to keep it going for February. But, truthfully, I wasn’t sure how long I could.

I do want to keep the creative enthusiasm going, however. So here is what I am going to do.

I can’t guarantee an artwork EVERY day, but I am going to try to keep posting new stuff FREQUENTLY and make it available for you to buy. Some will be up for auction, and some will just have a listed price. Some will be drawings. Some will be digital images with a touch of hand coloring to make each one original. Some may be small polymer clay sculptures. And some may be — who knows?

I have had a number of great suggestions from folks:  “draw squeaky toys!”; “Make a ‘Daily Brew” drawing!”; “Make pictures about LOVE for February!” Crowd sourcing artwork ideas is kinda cool, so I am going to try to touch on all these themes somehow. Do you have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments or send me a tweet or Facebook message.

You can subscribe via email or reader (see right sidebar) if you want to keep up with the latest postings.

Today’s artwork is an “I-mage”, an image created on my Iphone. I love to take photos with my Iphone and play with them in different photo editing apps. Please don’t ask what apps or filters I used, because I always forget. I go through several different processes before I am done and never remember each step. That’s part of the adventure.

This I-mage is of my rescue cat Okey, who is such an inspiring muse to me, and whose story has inspired many people around the world. You can purchase a hand colored print of the image (image size approx. 5″ X 7″ matted for an 8″ X 10″ frame) for $50 + $5 US shipping or $15 International shipping. Simply use the button below. There is no auction for this piece – anyone can purchase one.

The hand coloring will be minimal marks or shading added with a Prismacolor pencil in keeping with the overall color scheme present in the image above.

Thanks for joining me on my artistic adventure!


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