Auction Ending Soon! Original oil painting, C. Twomey, "Southern Homestead"

"Southern Homestead" by C. Twomey, custom framed 8 X 10" original oil

Please CLICK HERE to be taken to the auction! Ends today.....

Recalling mid-century (or earlier) southern hospitality and charm, this original oil painting by Catherine Twomey captures the delightful warmth of an original homestead on an early fall day in Virginia. The classic porch front architecture, the tin roof, the welcoming rocking chairs - these details transport the viewer to another time, a simpler place.

This oil on archival linen board is custom framed in a stunning, weathered gold "floater" frame, giving the illusion of floating in space and depth. The oil is 8 X 10"H. The frame is 11.5 X 13.5"H and 1.75" deep and ready to hang.

Auction Ending Late Sunday: "East Fall Blue Ridge No.4"

Auction Ending Late Sunday: "East Fall Blue Ridge No.4"

"East Fall Blue Ridge"

At Auction until late Sunday! Click HERE.

This 8 X 10" on archival board oil painting is from a series, the first of which won the nationally acclaimed "ArtInPlace" competition and was reproduced into a 12 X 24' mural along a busy highway in Charlottesville, VA. Can't get enough of the Blue Ridge mountains, especially in the fall. This view is from Skyline Drive, looking towards the east around sunset in the fall. I've painted it four times now, and that's still not enough! This particular painting is more luminous than previous works, as the technique evolves.

"East Fall Blue Ridge Gliding" on Tour

East Fall Blue Ridge Gliding

Can't get enough of the Blue Ridge mountains, especially in the fall. The Earlysville, VA area is in the foothills, not far from Skyline Drive. 

This 8 X 10" oil painting will be available for sale on the Arts Rivanna Tour this Saturday, Sept. 13 and Sept. 20. Additional information available here:

https://www.facebook.com/artsrivannatour
Hope to meet you there.

Arts Rivanna Tour - Please Join Us!

Bleak House Barn No.6, 4x6", oil on linen board

I'm taking part in an upcoming studio tour, so hope you can join us!:

A R T S  R I V A N N A  T O U R : 
September 13th & 20th, 2014; 10 am - 5 pm

Contact: Judith Townsend
434-978-7937
judy@judithktownsend.com

Start the Tour here: 3023 Colonial Drive, Earlysville 22936
Take 29 North; turn right on Route 649 (Proffit Rd.);
go one-half mile; turn right on Colonial Dr. 
to 3023 Colonial Drive, Earlysville

"Moxie As Human" Porcelain Sculpture

Moxie As Human

It's difficult to not think of my rescue dog Moxie as not human, so I decided to sculpt her as such. I see her as a sassy retro bouffant chic with attitude - like the ones I knew in high school that always knew where the bones were buried. And well she does. Approximately 10" tall, fired in porcelain. Moxie was rescued from a high kill shelter in North Carolina, and is lab, shepherd and chow. Maybe. 

And I have to mention - last week we had a black bear in the yard. Ms. Moxie ran right up to him and stood there barking in his face. Took him about one minute before he lumbered into the woods, happy to escape all the noise. Thanks, Mox.

"Moxie As A Human" Sculpture

MOXIE As A Human

As I'm recovering from foot surgery, to keep from losing my mind I have finally finished up a sculpture done in the spring. 

The concept is somewhat bizarre, but that's alright. The day before she was to be killed at a high kill shelter in North Carolina, we rescued the sweetest, foxiest most adorable pup. We named her Moxie, and she's owned us ever since.

Moxie is as smart as they come. We think she's chow, shepherd and lab. I knew I had to incorporate that personality into my art. She just barked "sassy retro girl" and that's what she became, in clay. From the bun on her head to her flashy Egyptian tail, there's no messing with Moxie. She sits like that all the time, with that right-at-you stare that lets you know she's got you.

I think I'd like to work on more of these, it was that challenging.

Thank goodness for dogs.

Award Winning Artist Auction: Twomey

Spring has sprung and the bug has bitten. 

This original oil painting is now at auction at:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/217851

Daffodils Coming and Going, Catherine Twomey 8 X 6" oil on archival linen board

These daffodils are from my garden, and after the harsh winter were some of the first bulbs to bloom. Welcome they were! The darker yellow one was fresh the first day, but kept changing position as it aged, so I solved that by softening the petals and giving them a whimsical flightiness. I cherish the vase; it's art deco elegance compliments everything it meets.

This oil is original, on 8 X 6" archival linen board. It is unframed. This is how the painting would look framed:

Thanks for your interest!

Award Winning: "Beaver Skull 1" Auction Ending

Auction ending today! Visit the auction for bidding on this fine specimen:

Beaver Skull 1

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/208077

Please visit /catherinetwomeyart/p/about.html to learn about my international awards and history.

Found a beautiful beaver skull in an antique shop in Cleveland, Ohio. I just had to paint it. There was life behind the empty eyes and frightening teeth. Even the cast shadow had a mystery to it that begged to be rendered. 

It was interesting to be able to balance the skull so it was freestanding. Going to keep going with this anatomical work for a while; it's very satisfying.

The original is oil on 8" X 6" archival linen board. This is how the painting would look framed:

Thanks for your interest.

"Beaver Skull 1" Twomey Original Oil

Just finished this, which will be offered at dailypaintworks.com at auction (#auction) starting tomorrow, Saturday March 15:

Beaver Skull 1

Found a beautiful beaver skull in an antique shop in Cleveland, Ohio. I just had to paint it. There was life behind the empty eyes and frightening teeth. Even the cast shadow had a mystery to it that begged to be rendered. 

It was interesting to be able to balance the skull so it was freestanding. Going to keep going with this anatomical work for a while; it's very satisfying.

The original is oil on 8" X 6" archival linen board.

Snowstorm Dappled Gray Horse

Went dog walking (leaping) through the snow yesterday. I'm lucky enough to have a horse farm in the back yard, and I came across this guy who just struck me as insanely beautiful against the snow heavy trees and pond. I loved how he just kept looking at me; I can never get horses to do that when I want them to....

To order prints of this and other work, please visit here.

Happy St. Pat's!

St. Patrick's Day Chicago, 1969, Marion Donahue Ryan Sigler in the Parade

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Here's my grandmother, Marion Donahue Ryan Sigler, happy as can be in the St. Patty's Day Parade, Chicago (State & Wacker) St. Pat's Day, 1969. That's the famous Marina Towers in the background (I think they'd just been built), along with thousands of her Irish-for-the-Day friends. Love the coat & green flowers! And yes, the Chicago River had been dyed a brilliant green, too..

Julia Sweeney's New Book!

My incredibly talented and brilliant cousin, Julia Sweeney, is having her book published April 2!!! And I guess I'm in it!!!! Yikes!!!!

Advance copies can be purchased at: ttp://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Thing-Your-Mother/dp/145167404X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358724669&sr=8-2&keywords=if+it%27s+not+one+thing+it%27s+your+mother

At Simon & Schuster. My book comes out April 2!

Charitable Works for African Children

Illustration of Normal Eyes of an African Child for Ocular/Eye Examination Just starting a charitable project that will help nurses in South Africa detect eye/ocular pathologies in children. Hope to visit Africa next spring and see the illustrations & copy in action. Here are normal eyes.

Marketing: Emerging Artist Tips 6.0

Introduction

Recently a young, fresh out of school artist/illustrator in New York City contacted me for advice about how to jump start his career. This is an on-going dialog about how to approach marketing your skills.

Random things can make or break your ability to get an assignment. It helps to prepare and control as much as you can. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but your personal image and marketing methods are often your first, and maybe only, chance to make an impression.

Q:

I'm getting so discouraged about the number of "not interested" responses I get to my attempts to get work. Do you have some more creative ideas for getting clients? I don't care if it takes some work, I just want something to come out of it.

A:

Realize that you will make many, many calls and contacts for every one job you get. It helps to hear this, and this is a hard thing to do, but do not take it personally if you don't hear back. As best you can, keep negative thoughts and emotions out of it. This is just business. You don't need 100 clients until you're ready to handle 100 clients. If you can establish a few well-paying, dependable gems, you're on your way. 

• Keep an eye out for online or print announcements (press releases) about people who are getting job promotions who might need your services in their new position. As in the previous marketing post, congratulate them, and start to imprint your images into their brains.
• Use corporations, publishers, ad and design agency's websites to increase your ever-growing and ever-changing (Potential) Contact List. For example, take this ad agency with offices in New York: http://www.wk.com/ . On their website, go to: http://www.wk.com/people . There's a page full of creative/media people, from their offices in New York to all over the world, some already using illustration on this page, that you can start contacting. Note: these people change jobs ALL THE TIME! They leave for greener pastures, get promoted, get fired, etc. so it's worth it to keep up with them and their changing contact information, otherwise you could be lost in the shuffle.
• Some of this best advice I ever got: develop a VERY THICK SKIN!

Marketing: Emerging Artist Tips 2.0

Introduction

• Recently I was contacted by a young, fresh out of art school "artist" who specializes in illustration. I put "artist" in quotes because he's currently working at a Starbucks in New York City and trying to succeed on the side. A hard-working, very talented person who just can't seem to break into the field, and finding that the information given in art school just wasn't enough. 
• Although it's been many years since I've had to start out attempting to become a successful artist, and though the tools have changed, the basic principles remain the same. I'm still marketing all these years later, so I'm going to occasionally post edited versions of the questions asked, along with my responses. 

Q: 

• "I get overwhelmed by how to go about getting clients and remembering who I contacted and when. Things keep falling through the cracks and I feel like there are opportunities I'm missing because of it. How can I get my act together and start to run like a business not a class I just need to pass?"

A:

• You need software or some kind of formal note taking to help you keep track of names, titles, addresses, phone, etc. It's the kind of thing that will tell you what you mailed to someone, and when, so you know when to make a follow-up call to the mailing to see if you can open a door or elicit a response. You MUST keep this updated. You'll be amazed at how quickly people change jobs, titles, cell phone numbers, etc. There is expensive and dedicated software out there to do this, but I have found that just setting up a table in Word or getting a program like Filemaker pro works just as well. 
• Whatever software you get, you have to use it to make it worthwhile! I would force myself to cold call, say, five or ten contacts a week (minimum) unless I was so overwhelmed with work that I wasn't getting any sleep. This is something that I had to do throughout my career. Cold calling and being more extroverted is not fun or easy at first, especially if you're shy and/or reticent. Believe me, I know, as that describes me to a "T". Often, it's the way of artists. For more information, I'll get into how to recognize and deal with this in depth later on.

A sample sheet from 2000 when I was marketing for medical illustration work. Life moves on! Every bit of contact information on this page has long since changed!