Win a Free Pet Portrait!

Lucy: It's been forever since I've posted on our blog. But since I am the Artsy Catsy spokesmodel, our CEO Rocky has asked me to make an important announcement ....

Hear ye, hear ye, all pet lovers! My human artist Suzanne has started her own blog, Artistic Pet Portraits, and she's kicking it off with a big contest! The first place winner will receive a FREE pet portrait ($225 value) and the second place winner will receive Artsy Catsy products personalized with your favorite photos!

You could be the lucky winner, so go enter the free pet portrait contest now!

Now, I must get back to my spokesmodel beauty sleep ...

Portrait of Mu Shue

Rocky: I thought I'd share with you my human artist Suzanne's latest cat portrait, of Mu Shue Pooh King Cat, who went to the Rainbow Bridge last year. His Mama Laura commissioned the portrait so every day she can see Mu Shue watching over her from greener pastures ... You can see some of Suzanne's other portraits here, but this one is very special to us, since Mu Shue was the recipient of Artsy Catsy's very first fundraiser and a very good friend.

Also, I want to thank you all for your concern for my mom after I almost bit her hand off yesterday. Her wrist is much better this morning, no redness or swelling, thank goodness, and it is healing nicely. And I think relations have been restored between she and I ... although I was banished from her bed last night - she said she didn't want to be awakened by the Rocky bite alarm this morning!

From the Human Cat Artists

Our esteemed CEO Rocky has finally given me permission to post on our blog and introduce the human side of our business ... although he chewed off a good portion of my wrist while I was convincing him to get off the keyboard.

Despite Rocky’s sarcatsic comments, we humans are a vital part of this venture, and are being quite productive. Already today we’ve shopped for supplies, met with our accountant, and met with our webmasters to finalize the design and functionality of our upcoming e-commerce site, ArtsyCatsy.com. (Ivan, our IT Director, and the ever-present Rocky were helpfully in attendance -- Rocky shuffling papers and Ivan diligently drooling on our keyboards.)

We humans are also attending to the never-ending details involved in setting up a business … from incorporating, to arranging secure online ordering, to purchasing supplies. We're also rearranging our 15-room household to expand our workshops and studios … and through it all, creating one-of-a-kind unique artistic works for cat lovers. So, you see, our slates are quite full with setting up a business while functioning as indentured servants to a houseful of hissyfitters!

I invite you read our bios below, and should you ever wish to bypass the rantings of Felis domesticus to communicate directly with Homo sapiens, please email us any time at ArtsyCatsy (at) yahoo(dot)com.

Sincerely,
Sharolyn

Sharolyn – Artist / Writer / Cat Food Chef
(and servant to Rocky, Fracas, Callie and Lucy)
Cat lover Sharolyn (above, right) comes to ArtsyCatsy from a lifelong career in creative writing, illustration, gourd art, advertising, marketing and public relations. She has served as marketing director/consultant to national and international firms such as Sam’s Club and Signature Inns. Her ArtsyCatsy products include gourd art, greeting cards, jewelry, bookmarks, illustrations, candles, pillows, household décor and wall art.

Suzanne – Artist / Catnip Distributor
(and slave to Ivan, Oscar, Bitsy, Little Girl and Blackie Bear)
Cat lover Suzanne (above left) comes to ArtsyCatsy from a lifelong career in graphic design, fine art and advertising. She has contributed her skills to a wide variety of local and national media and corporations. Her ArtsyCatsy products include pet portraits, notecards, cat beds, kitty litter screens, limited edition art prints, punched tin creations and household décor.

Jason – Artist / Litter Pan Maintenance Engineer
(and valet for Somber, Atlas, Casey and Sibley)
Cat lover Jason Hobbs (above center) is the son of Suzanne Overton, and is an emerging artist of exceptional talent. His ArtsyCatsy products include original abstract cat art, limited edition prints, and abstract cat art emblazoned on a variety of cat-themed gifts, from cups to tee-shirts.



Tiffany Herring – Operatic Soprano / Cat Cultural Adviser

(and maid for FredBaby and Holly Golightly)
Cat lover Tiffany Herring, daughter of Sharolyn Herring, comes to ArtsyCatsy from a lifelong career in music. From her beginnings as an honors piano/voice student at prestigious institutions such as Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin Conservatory, she has advanced to her current position performing opera and teaching voice and piano in Rome, Italy. Tiffany, Fred and Holly comprise the European Division of ArtsyCatsy, and provide artistic and cultural oversight for the company. Her future contributions will include recorded CDs of music for cats.

P.S. Tiffany's birthday is today, January 15. She is celebrating it in Rome with Fred and Holly, her good friend Cesare, a fine vino rosso, molta pasta, and a leisurely stroll along the Tiber. Buon compleanno, la mia figlia bella!

From Ivan, official CyberSiamese

I'm Ivan, Information Technology Director at ArtsyCatsy. Our CEO, Rocky, has been in a hissyfit since he was left to clean up the cat clutter after the office New Year’s Eve party. (Oscar, our Housekeeping/MaintenanceManx, got crocked on catnip and is still recovering.) So the CEO has delegated to me the task of premiering another of our human artists.

However, communicating in actual words is difficult for me, since I'm fluent only in KittyGeekSpeak. My lengthy tongue wraps itself most proficiently around acronyms ... I meow in MIME, hiss in HTML, purr in PNG, growl in GIF and hack up hairballs in HACMP. But this particular ArtsyCatsy artist, Suzanne, is my own personal human, so I’ll give it my best then I have to get back to eating the bugs in our system.

Suzanne is not only a TCPA (Talented Cat Portrait Artist), she also has the distinction of being an HPM (Highly Publicized Muralist.) Since it speaks for itself, I’ve uploaded some of her work: And here is a portrait by Suzanne of ArtsyCatsy's own Director of Corporate Espionage, Bitsy, with her significant othercat, Ugly: Suzanne also illustrates cat greeting cards and creates cat-themed gifts such as cat beds made from giant gourds, punched tin household décor items … even toilet tissue holders featuring, of course, cats. You’ll see it all soon at the grand opening of ArtsyCatsy.com ... so G2G (Got to Go) now and clear my cat cache.