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  Here’s a commission I painted over the summer for a friend to give to his wife. During their time together, they’ve had a total of eight cats. So the cats are all specific. The cat with the stars around him was named Ziggy Stardust. My friend picked the composition and colors from my older works, sent me a bunch of photos of his cats, and requested a few other details. They live up in the mountains, so I included some of their local flora and fauna. The little copper planet shimmers with mica pa...

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  It’s fair to say that at this point, I’m obsessed. This is the result of following an absolutely genius series of tutorials from Ruth Wilshaw. Of course, mine isn’t identical to hers, mine has a lot more mushrooms, but I never would have painted this spread if it weren’t for her fine instruction. #gouache #landscape #painting

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  Messing around with tiny circular landscapes in pink gouache. These show that you can use any hue to make a landscape and show depth. It’s really the values that matter most. These are each 3 inches in diameter. Which one is your favorite? #gouache #painting #landscape

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  I painted a bunch of little gouache paintings yesterday in hopes of learning some new skills. Most of them aren’t very good, but I’m happy with this one of a meteor shower. It’s smaller than a typical playing card; so it’s probably bigger on your phone than it is in real life. In addition to the gouache, you can see I also used a little white colored pencil for the glow. I learned that using an angled flat brush makes it easier to blend out the tails than using a round or liner brush. The flat b...

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  Yesterday I tried some plant studies in gouache on black watercolor paper. I have a garden book for reference that helped me choose, and I supplemented it with photos from the internet so I could see more than one view of each plant. I definitely feel like I leveled up with my skills on painting plants yesterday, and with some amount of efficiency as I filled this whole page in less than a day. Starting with a dark background really helped. #gouache #painting

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  After paining my third free YouTube video from Ruth Wilshaw, I finally bought myself a whole year of access to her entire collection of over 200 gouache painting tutorials. I love her fantastic style. I know I’m going to learn a lot from her, and I’m really excited about it. Yesterday I painted a whole page of plant silhouettes using one of her videos to help me, and then I used a book on plants to fill the rest of the page. So now I can paint a bunch of new plants. Then I did this tutorial. She...

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  View from Europa, a Moon of Saturn The number of cats on the moons of Saturn has recently increased by two. 8” square Gouache and mica watercolor on cotton paper #gouache #astronomy #landscape #painting #watercolor

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  There’s a stitch in beadweaving called peyote stitch because indigenous Americans used it to decorate their clothing for religious ceremonies involving peyote. The basic stitch is easy, picking up one bead on every stitch. You can stitch it flat or in the round, and with the use of increases and decreases, you can sculpt it into any form you can imagine. One innovation with peyote stitch is using different sizes of beads organized into diagonal rows. In this case, beaders call this version Cel...

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  I was quite pleased with my first draft in Crayola markers, but cheap craft supplies are typically made with fugitive dyes and pigments, meaning the colors fade over time, especially with exposure to light. It’s one of the things you pay extra for when you buy profession grade art supplies, lightfast pigments. So I thought I’d try to re-paint this scene with watercolor using better quality pigments that don’t fade, an upgrade from the markers I used in the first draft. This piece is 8” square on...

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  I’m pretty excited about my current painting. #painting #watercolor #gouache #spaceart

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  Cats on the Moon of Saturn Saturn has 274 moons, but only one of them has cats, that we know of, so far. 8” square paper including a narrow border Painted with highly lightfast (fade resistant) gouache paint and on hot press 300 GSM 100% cotton paper. #painting #spaceart #astronomy #gouache #mathart

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  There’s something about summertime that makes me want to sew clothes. I don’t know if it’s the warmth or all of the bright light, but every summer I like to take out my sewing machine and make some new clothes. This time, I dug into my old stash of cotton quilting, fabrics left over from my days as a quilter, and later, as a mask maker during the pandemic. This pair of pants is made almost entirely from 100% cotton fabric, mostly hand-dyed batiks, but the right front leg features a gorgeous pie...

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  Galaxy Gazing I recent learned that because we are at the edge of our Milky Way galaxy, the view of night sky in the northern hemisphere shows both arms of our spiral galaxy. I tried to capture that in this painting. Painted on 8” square paper including a narrow blue border. Painted with highly lightfast gouache and watercolor paint and on hot press 300 GSM 100% cotton paper. #painting #gouache #astronomy #landscape

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  Last night we colored postcards with markers. I will never not be amazed at how we can capture a sense of glowing light by adding color to paper, that somehow we can make paper look brighter by strategically making it darker. This is Crayola markers with a bit of acrylic paint marker. Now I just need to address the back and add a stamp so I can mail it to my cousin. #painting #landscape

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  Trying something new because sometimes you just have to madly paint an abstract field of blobby flowers. 5” by 7.75” Gouache and watercolor on cotton paper #painting #gouache #watercolour

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  My little garden was missing something. So I added Kepler. My sweet dog Kepler passed last weekend, and now there’s a big dog-shaped hole in my heart and home. He was almost 12.5 years old. We adopted him 8.5 years ago, and he was the best fuzzy buddy anyone could ask for. #watercolor #painting #gouache #dog

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  @aadmaa2 thank you. I hope you enjoy making art with the algorithms as much as I have.

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  Cobblestone Street This is my largest landsape so far. Gouache on cotton paper The image is 9” by 12” on 10” by 14” paper #watercolor #painting #gouache #landscape #dog

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  I keep thinking I’ve bought all the art supplies I’ll ever need, but then a new medium appears in a shiny colorful rainbow of colors, and I cant help but indulge. Welcome to my new 72 set of Jusart acrylic paint pens! There are dozens of sets of acrylic markers to choose from. I’m pretty happy with the set I got. It has a nice selection of colors and a nice case. They were among the cheapest per pen but with the highest reviews (4.8/5). There are smaller sets, and other brands sell sets with hu...

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  These diagrams show how to weave a puffy triangle beaded bead with peyote stitch and seed beads. If you want to make a longer beaded bead, using cellular automata on the sides, I recommend starting and ending that on the rounds of all blue beads. Nothing brings me joy quite like a new strand of matching beaded beads. After drawing the diagrams for the flat triangle beaded beads, I stitched a whole strand. This strand features 9 different beaded beads in graduated sizes and a rainbow of colors....

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  Weighing in at 105 pounds, please allow me to introduce to you Butters, AKA Butterscotch, Buddy, Butterball, Professor Chaos. Butters is a healthy, happy, charming, goofy one-and-a-half-year old purebred Labrador Retreaver with a little black spot on his butt. We adopted Butters on Friday, and got him to the vet on Saturday. He’s now up to date with all of his vaccines. He’s still intact. So we also made an appointment to get him neutered in a couple weeks. He slept in his crate the first...

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  I’m really excited about my current project because RAINBOWS! Also, now that I’m finally liberated from writing my book, I can work on other beading projects without the guilt that I should be finishing the book. (That hung over me for years; crafters’ constipation, anyone?) I already have my next four bead weaving tutorials planned, in various stages of completion. Two are just concepts with sketches, but the other two are much farther along. Here’s a sneak peak at the first one. Also happy Pr...

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  Kepler and the Striped Succulents 5” by 8” Gouache and watercolor on cotton paper #watercolor #painting #gouache #dog

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  Can I share some good news? I got my cats on the cover of MAA Focus. This is the second time my art has been printed on the cover of Focus. The other time was 20 years ago and a quilt. #mathart #watercolor

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  San Francisco Bay Area peeps: Want to come color with algorithms with me?Then come to my workshop at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco. Mine will be one of several simultaneous workshops at an event called “After Dark: Crafty and Calculating” where we explore the intersection of traditional women’s crafts and technology. After Dark is for ages 18+, and you need a ticket. Thursday, March 12, 2026 • 6 - 10pm. #sfba #generative #mathart https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/calen...

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  I found a new way to bind an edge on cotton jersey with hand stitching. The challenge is to find something that is easy to do, won’t stretch over time, and won’t curl. I think this one passes. This binding is not fast to do because it takes several passes of pinning and sewing, but none of them are particularly challenging to do. It finishes at 3/4” (19mm), so it doesn’t look too dainty for a man’s shirt. I’m repeating it on all the hems of the shirt I’m currently sewing. 1. Fold hem to outsi...

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  Many attachments available. Ink on Tomoe River paper #Painting

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  Two Cats in Yellow 6” square #Watercolor on cotton paper The cat distribution program has started. #cat #painting

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  Hey. #watercolor

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  Bunny’s World Let’s go fly a kite! 7.9” square Watercolors and pigment ink on cotton paper