Inside My Artwork

To challenge myself this summer, I’ve been creating palettes that explore summer colors and rendering them into my signature flower abstracts. As of mid July, I’ve created a total of sixteen original florals. Each one is its own story, manifesting a celebration of both bright and muted summertime hues with an occasional sprinkling of metallic… read more

As artists–heck, as human beings–it is easy to stay with what is most familiar to us.  However, stepping out of our comfort zones and challenging ourselves pushes us to become better people and better artists. One thing I’ve discovered teaching elementary art is that little kids are fearless in their creativity–always eager to try new… read more

  Flowers.   The loose brush strokes and fluid style in my abstract flower painting series captures the energy that resonates through Mother Nature as winter recedes and the earth begins to burst with new growth.   For the Indigo Blue Flower Series, I wanted something modern yet classic–and more unexpected than basic black.  Indigo… read more

Ahhh…spring is in the air. And with it, the urge to redecorate is strong.  As the days get longer and spring gets seductively closer, I find myself drawn to fresh color combinations to bring a new look and pop of color to my home decor.  It’s true you don’t need to spend a lot of… read more

Many artists have favorite go-to colors.  Mine are blues and oranges.  With those two colors plus white, I can create a palette which includes green-blues, yellows, and many derivatives of gray.   Take my two recent abstract paintings, for example.  Hard to believe I used exactly the same colors of navy blue, rust orange, and… read more

A couple of weeks ago I shared the first completed painting in my commission triptych of baby animal art for a nursery, along with this sketch of the next painting–a baby rhino.     Here is the completed 10″x10″ painting:   Baby Rhino, © 2015 Catherine Jeltes, Gallery Zoo Art. All Rights Reserved.   In… read more

Flowers rock.  Quite simply, they come in all shapes, sizes, colors, thrive in most any climate, and are in a constant state of transition.  They can be appreciated en masse as well as up close–with macro photography or even X-rayed.  How could I ever get bored?  My most recent art paintings are a series of… read more

Much of my time recently has been spent working on this charming painting series of zoo animals for a client’s nursery.  When completed, it will be a triptych (three paintings), two measuring 10″ x 10″ and the other measuring 10″ x 20″.    The first painting of the set is a baby hippo.  Because this… read more

Here in the Midwest, spring has sprung…and with it my artistic obsession for everything floral.  I am hard-pressed to remain in a blah mood when around flowers.  It is simply not possible.    As I await the magnolias, daffodils, dogwoods and hyacinths to shake off the last bits of their winter slumber, I am celebrating… read more

As much as I am full of active energy and often drawn to the busy, modern minimalism serves as my perfect balance.  Taking the transitions of nature and rendering them in silhouette form not only reduces botanicals to simple shape but also creates modern home design in bold neutrals of black and white.    In… read more

I adore pleasant surprises.  One of my most favorites is that unexpected gift which keeps on giving (cliche I know, but nonetheless true.)  This past fall, I was a volunteer in a program for a local chapter of Girls On the Run, a program that promotes developing and nurturing a healthy mind, body, and spirit… read more

As they say, spring has officially sprung here in the Midwest.  This time of year is a photographer’s flower market, and I intend to take full advantage of it!  My neighbors have the most magnificent magnolia tree that is the landmark of our backyards.  Living in the city, all of our postage stamp size lots… read more

If you saw last week’s blog post, you will recognize this turquoise splash painting, Poseidon’s Window, as having developed from a near floral abstract.  Originally, the balance of the composition seemed off, so I did what any artist might do:  I rotated it for a change of perspective.  Here the painting has a better balance,… read more

  Traditional Photography Or Digital? When I studied fine art photography in college, it was traditional:  darkrooms, film, and chemicals.  As technology advanced, I swore I would remain a purist–no digital for me.  Uh uh.  No way.  My honeymoon trip to Italy convinced me otherwise.  Not wishing to track rolls and rolls of film through… read more

    “Spirit Bird” was not created so much from inspiration as from compulsion.    As I was drifting off to sleep a couple nights back, an image of colors came to mind:  earth tones of greens, browns, and white, similar to some jasper stones I had been working with on a jewelry piece.  It… read more