Finishing Touches & Finding Momentum

🐱🍓 Two Cat Commissions, Officially Complete

I officially finished my most recent commission and will be sending both pieces off this week. I previously shared a glimpse of the first cat painting, featuring a tuxedo cat and strawberries. This past week, I finished that piece and then jumped right into the second cat the client asked me to paint.

Since these two cats have very different personalities, I wanted the backgrounds to feel playful, colorful, and specific to each of them. The second cat is highly food motivated and loves sunbathing, so I included Mooncake’s favorite treat, a Churu, along with little gold suns scattered throughout the piece.

Once both paintings were complete, I sealed the backs and stamped them with my cat stamp and Chinese name stamp. If you ever see those on the back of my work, that is how you know it is truly mine. One day it will also be proof of authenticity when I am famous ✨ :)

🎥 Learning to Film My Process

I’ve continued using my Meta glasses to video my work, and after testing a few editing apps, I settled on VN. I am finally starting to get the hang of it. It is still very much a learning process, but I can feel myself improving with each video, which feels exciting and motivating.

🎨👾 Looking Ahead: Monsters, Shop Pieces, and Balance

Because I focused on finishing this commission within a tight week while also juggling the business side of being an artist, I didn’t make much art outside of these cat paintings. Starting today, I’ll begin my next commission, but I want to balance things differently this time. My goals are to finish a few pieces to add to my shop, continue working on my large scale monster painting, and keep improving both my social media presence and my website, especially the shop section.

In my last newsletter, I shared that I was struggling with inspiration and artist block. This week taught me something important. Inspiration is deeply connected to how I take care of myself. I’ve been working out daily, waking up earlier, and eating healthier, and I can feel the shift. Feeling better physically has helped my mental health and brought back not just inspiration, but the need and urgency to make art every day.

As an artist, I was taught that my best work comes from dark moments, from trauma, from unhealthy habits. I am now learning that I can access depth and emotion while being healthy. Art has always been my rock, and now I’m learning how to nourish it by nourishing myself and my soul.

🎁 A Little Surprise Coming Soon

On a lighter note, I’ll be able to share a surprise commission I completed a few weeks ago in my next newsletter. I can’t wait to finally show it to you 💌

With love and color,

Rosalie