Katya Guseva

As an introduction, I first saw Katya's work on her facebook page and loved her beautiful characters. I believe that each of them tells a story. I am so pleased to showcase some of her work here.

How did you become and artist?

Ever since I can remember I has always loved to draw and create things. When I became around 4-5 years old, my mom started to leave me alone in the house... she’d just leave me sheets of paper, colored pencils, plasticine and put on records with my favorıte fairytales. When she came back, she would find me in the same place, busy drawing something. It was my favorite way to pass the time, from then til’ now not much has changed. I still love to draw and sculpt.

Did you go to art School?

Yes, I finished Art School in Siberia, in my home city Tomsk.

Has anyone influenced you in becoming an artist?

I am so thankful to people who love me… to my parents for believing in me. And I am grateful to my husband for his generosity and giving me freedom and opportunity to create and not think about the material side of life.My passion for the art dolls started when while living in Moscow. I went to an exhibition at the Gallery of dolls "Vahtanov: where I was struck by the variety of characters each doll had. They were so different, interesting and at the same time incredibly realistic, comical and absurd. Most importantly  I was amazed that each doll had something magical. Each doll was carrying a small piece of someone's soul.

What inspires you now?

The characters of my dolls are inspired by my childhood memories, impressions of traveling to a different places and meetings with friends. It is a special language which helps me to express my thoughts and my attitude to this life ...

Can you tell us a little about your process?

I am very fond of papier-mache for its  strength and lightness. In the dolls I am using it as a base.  All the subtle details: the face, hands,I  make with self-hardening plastics. I like ‘Paper clay”, but mostly I work with an Italian plastic DAS. I also have a collection of textile dolls. I paint these works with acrylic, pastel, watercolor and oil. At the stage of "dressing up" I use everything that comes my way, wool, fabric, paper, dried flowers, etc. I think the most important tool for each artist is the Fantasy.

What kind of market is your art sold in?

My dolls are "dolls for adults," for those  who in despite of his seriousness, retained his child inside, and the ability to be surprised and enjoy the life. I am organizing my personal exhibition to join international dolls exhibitions all over the world.

Is there a site people can see more of your work?

My website its not ready yet, so mostly all my work its on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/KATYA-Fairy-tales/129125573789241

What do you love best about what you do?

In the making of art dolls I find an opportunity to apply one piece of work completely different skills, techniques and materials. That's the magic of animation that matters, creating an image, which then begins to live it’s own, independent life.I like to be honest with my self when I create something. Never lie if you choose to make art in this life, never pretend. It must always come from the heart. I'm the strictest critic of myself .Unfortunately life is not easy,so if someone looks at my rosy-cheeked doll fatties and forgets for a moment about their affairs and smiles, that is the best compliment for me and my goal has been achieved

Ready for Surtex

I have everything on my checklist completed to exhibit at the Surtex Show in New York. Heading out this coming Friday. The show starts on the 19th and goes through the 21st. My wall panels are getting shipped to my hotel my bags are already full of everything I am carting there. My appointments are made. I will be posting about my experiences here and on the Illustrator's Market blog. It will be really fun to meet so many other artists that are attending the show. A mix of business and fun.

Two Can Art Card Samples

This is the first product I have gotten samples of with a Two Can Art image on it. That is the collection I do with Noah,
my son. He painted all of these textures that I created a garden from.

Surtex is Coming!

For those that don’t know, Surtex is the biggest show of the year for art licensing. It is at the Javits Center in New York and runs from May 19th to the 21st. 

http://www.surtex.com

This is the first year that I will be doing a booth. (Patti Gay-Design #442) I have always been there with an agent in the past. I have decided to go out on my own. Of course prep for the show has been going on for a couple months now. There are lots of decisions to be made. Am I doing panels in the booth? Am I doing them in vinyl or paper? What app is best for the ipad to put my portfolio on? Am I advertising and where? What is the design for the press kit? What is the design for business cards and post cards? Fortunately, I have slowly been working my way through all of the decisions and am on track with getting everything ready. There is still a lot to do, but I am really enjoying the process as well.

I am really excited to be featuring the Two Can Art collection, which is the collection I do in collaboration with my son who is autistic. He paints all of the textures and I create images from the painted textures. I will also be showing new work in the Fun & Bright collection, the Realistic collection, the Simple Notions collections and the Amanda and Max collection I will also be debuting the Heartmade Inspirations collection.

After the show I’ll be writing an article about the experience and will also be featuring some of the other artists who are exhibiting at the show on my Illustrator's Market blog. Stay Tuned.

Illustration Friday topic is Wings

For the topic wings I thought I would put another Two Can Art Collection image up. My studio has a big wisteria vine right outside my window that the birds love. It's nice to see them flit about. This little chickadee is in a different setting. I love the orange-red berries against the blue texture. As you may have seen in previous posts the textures are all painted by my son who is autistic and loves the whole sensory experience of paint to paper. I use the painted textures to create images. This is one of my favorite images from the collection.

Two Can Art Fabric Collection on Spoonflower

If you haven't heard of Spoonflower, It's a great site to open a store for fabric. They also do wallpapers,and decals. I've put together 30 designs from the Two Can Art Collection. These are all patterns with images that I have pieced together from the painted textures of my son, Noah. He paints all of the textures and I create the images. Avery nice collaboration. Here is the store site if you want to take a look. http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/patti_.
Here's a look from the Two Can Art Collection.

Illustration Friday Topic is Ocean

Well we are back to the sea on this image. This is another of the Two Can Art images that I used my son's painted textures for. This image is also about the Great Barrier Reef and all of the life that it supports.

Illustrator Friday Topic is Edge

I did some research over the past few months on The Great Barrier Reef. When I think of the word edge it comes to mind. Due to environmental issues and global warming the reef is disappearing. It is on the edge as are all of the creatures that live there. Half of the Great Barrier Reef has died in the last 30 years. It is home to thousands of fish species and other creatures. The more I learn the more alarming the facts are. I think the reality of the situation is staring us all in the face. The big question is how do we as a human race make a difference?
This image is from the Two Can Art collection of images. The collection is a group of images that are a collaboration with my son, who is autistic. He paints all of the textures and I put them into images.

Illustration Friday topic is Snow

This is a piece I did a while ago in oils for a gift bag. My moonlit snowman. We don't get snow where I live now, but to be honest I think I saw enough of it growing up in the midwest to last me, and don't miss it much. It is pretty. I like to look at it in pictures.... I do have fond memories of making snowmen with my sister and brother as kids and of making elaborate trails in the field behind our house and making games using the trails.

Christmas Bags are in Stores!

I was picking up wrapping paper at Dollar Tree this morning and found 4 of my Christmas bags. They did some nice things with the gussets and interiors. I like the google eyes on the reindeer and penguin and 3-d mustache on Santa. Always fun to find things in the store!

Illustration Friday topic is Whiskers

Whiskers is the topic this week. Need I say more?

Over the years the cats that we have shared our home and lives with have kindly submitted to being models for my paintings. This is Amanda who has graced the pages of children's books in both realistic and stylized form.

This is Scotia, who was the sweetest cat that ever lived. All of the other animals loved him too. He had huge paws with extra toes and was the first cat I ever lived with.

This is Reggie. He was one tough cat. He had been the runt of the litter that was abandoned. He ended up being huge around 19 lbs. 

This is Leonardo. We had him from a young kitten. He was incredibly playful and loving.

This is Zoe who was very shy and very sweet. She was a model for this United States Humane Society Holiday Card that was commissioned. I loved doing this piece and was very pleased that it received several design awards.

All of these guys were in the pages of this Golden Book. I thank them all for the joy and warmth that they bestowed. 

Illustration Friday Topic is Tree

Okay, I know I used this image for a previous topic, but it fits the topic tree so well. It did take me quite a while to paint so I figure it gets to be up again.....right? I live in an area full of monumental redwoods. It still awes me that they have been around for so long. If they could talk the stories they could tell. There is a park nearby with a huge grove you can hike through and there are stories of those who came before us that stood beneath these same trees.

Illustration Friday topic is Sky

I thought hmm sky and October. What would work for that? Ah yes a friendly witch flying with her trusty purple bats against a cyan sky. I love doing Halloween images and this one was really fun. I did this painting in oils on board, but recently went into photoshop and added a few touches. Happy Halloween all!

Illustration Friday Topic- Water

For the topic water, I thought I would put up an image that I did inspired from a story from a member of my writer's critique group. The image illustrates one of the dangers in the water for elephant seal pups. I really love the effect that water has on objects. I am also really curious and awed by life in the seas, so this was a joy to paint. It is in oils on board.