CASA ARTISTA, CATHY’S ART (#32): One day painting with alcohol ink may be to watercolors, what acrylics became to oil paint. Cathy uses alcohol ink on Yupo, a synthetic, non-porous paper. The ink moves on the paper until the alcohol evaporates, leaving behind vibrant, brilliant colors. Cathy wrote the first, and still the best book about the technique. It is now in its second printing as a hardcover.
An artist that Cathy knew from the teaching circuit was buying acrylic paints at her favorite shop in North Carolina. The owner showed her several small bottles of a new alcohol-based ink developed for crafting. Sandy decided to give it a try. “Tiny Village”, her 4” x 6” first attempt, is in Cathy’s book and as far is we know is the first ever alcohol ink painting.
Cathy taught classes around the country before we moved to SMA, and at Lourdes Rivera’s Manuk Galería in Fabrica Aurora. As more artists try alcohol ink and become familiar with the technique, the results are stunning. Cathy’s sister, Christy Alden is an accomplished pastel artist. “Rocky Mountain High” was one of her early attempts with alcohol ink.
A couple in Charlotte who had collected several of Cathy’s pieces, commissioned a 4’ x 6’ alcohol ink. Cathy wasn’t even sure if Yupo paper came in that large of size, and had to order a 10’ x 15’ roll. I remember when we cut the Yupo paper to size and laid it on the 4’ x 8’ work table in my shop. Cathy picked up an eye drop sizes bottle of alcohol ink and looked at me as if to say, “I’m not sure where to start!”
The large alcohol ink painting was a success and the couple who commissioned it were pleased. I unsuccessfully submitted the painting to the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest alcohol ink painting done as one piece. Even though she didn’t make the Guinness book of World Records, Cathy’s book made her somewhat famous.
I was working at Mainstreet Gallery, a cooperative gallery that Cathy belonged to in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Cathy’s book had just been published and I noticed a customer looking at Cathy’s alcohol ink paintings. As always, I took the chance to say, “Those are my wife’s,” hoping to start a conversation that might lead to a sale. I added, “Those are something new, alcohol ink.” She said that she had a friend that was trying alcohol ink.
When I suggested she might want to buy my wife’s book for her friend, she exclaimed, “You are CATHY TAYLOR’s husband?” Then she asked me to take her picture in front of Cathy’s work. While I was ringing up the sale of Cathy’s book, I got Cathy on the phone and handed it to the lady who said, “Wow, I can’t believe I am talking to CATHY TAYLOR!”
Alcohol ink was by no means Cathy’s first attempt at something new. When we moved from Florida to North Carolina, she realized that she needed something different than the Beach Cottage Collages that had sold so well in Sanibel. That was the start of her art using an all natural solvent, CitySolv, to blend colors and then draw into them with ink. Thus were born, “Appalachian Angles” and Mountain Maidens.”
Cathy started teaching classes using CitrSolv. When Cathy contacted the couple that had invented it and asked if they would donate product for her classes, she made great new friends. They not only donated CitraSolv, they sent Cathy gift baskets and asked her to write about what she was doing. This lead to an annual CitraSolv Art Contest that Cathy judged for several years and is still ongoing. Just Google Citra Art.
There is much more, but let me mention just two more items. First, Cathy’s Alphabet Print series consisted of eleven different topics, from shells to bugs, each with 24 images painted in watercolor, “xyz” was always one image. Of the eleven originals, each with 24 images painted in watercolor, she only had to repaint and cut and paste one image before the prints were made. This lead to Cathy’s Tee shirts, called “L,M,N,O,Tees”.
Second, her “Clock & Bell Tower” series made from discarded circuit boards. One year when we were in Colorado, we visited Cathy’s brother-in-law, Steve, at work. He was the CFO of a company that made circuit board, and gave us a tour. He walked by a room full of boxes and said, “This is where we keep the rejects for recycling.” Cathy started going through the boxes and asked if she could have some. We took two boxes home and Steve sent her a box for Christmas and her birthday.Pieces from the“Clock & Bell Tower” series were accepted into three national shows, and helped Cathy get her signature as a member of The National Collage Society and The International Society of Experimental Artists.
You can understand why our home is called Casa Artista