CaitlynH

I have Art ADD and love to create using many mediums. Whenever I'm frustrated I always find myself going back to ATCs to ground me. I love working on a small scale and tend to produce my best work when working small. I love meeting other artists around the world and feel so lucky that they are willing to share their art with me. I live in California with my husband and two teenage boys. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats and usually have a pack of foster kittens running around. We bottle feed and raise kittens for a local no kill shelter. When our boys aren't busy with their scouts and music, we have a cabin in the mountains we like to get away to. Our boys are both very involved in music. Our oldest plays the horn in several orchestras and ensembles and our youngest is a percussionist also in several orchestras as well as marching and drum line. My art keeps me sane and I'm lucky to have a family that supports my creative endeavors. Lately, I've been trying alcohol inks and acrylic pouring. I ALWAYS go back to the ATCs when I'm having a bad art day. They just seem to help me refocus. I love using bright colors. I love using muted colors. I love a lot of color. 😄 I also adore anything that sparkles. I think EVERYTHING is better with a little glitter. 😉

I love classical music and classic rock. When I'm in my studio or car, I usually am listening to something orchestral. I find it keeps me calm. Music is a huge part of our lives. Our boys are both passionate about it and very active with their instruments. Our lives revolve around rehearsals and lessons. I wouldn't have it any other way though!

I LOVE to read. Lately, I've been torn between painting and holding a book, so I am trying audiobooks. They're ok, but I really love actually reading the words and forming the pictures in my mind. My dream job would have been to be a librarian. (I'm a teacher that's not teaching right now) I adore children's books and would get more excited than my students when the Scholastic Book Club orders would come. Shel Silverstein was a wonderful genius and I very much enjoyed reading his poetry from a very young age. I did a college project in my Early Literacy class about The Giving Tree. Such a beautiful book.i like c9ntemoorary fiction, thrillers, mystery, suspense, romance. I even like a little sci fi and history.

I have been into art and crafts since I learned to sew at about age 8. I also would be found drawing in my spare time. I continue to sew and have taught quilting lessons in the past. I also do pottery. I have a wheel and kiln and lots of pots I don't know what to do with! I LOVE creat8ng ATCs. I mainly do hand drawn and painted cards. Occasionally I do some collage and even mini quilt or fabric cards.

I have always been a huge animal lover. I've never in my life been without a cat. I've also had many dogs in my life too. I grew up riding horses and worked my way through college working at the university's horse unit. I helped with their breeding program and trained horses for them. I had two bad accidents two years in a row. First I shattered my right wrist and the next year I crushed a vertebra in my back. I had to leave horses for a while. I did ride a little more years later, but once we had kids, the risk was just too much, so I gave it up entirely. I find myself painting and drawing horses a lot, I think it's a subconscious sort of therapy for me. Now our family fosters kittens for a local no-kill shelter. It's a lot of work, but it's so much fun to have kittens running around all the time. My favorite are the bottle babies. We've gotten some so small they had to be weighed in grams. Currently, we have two rescue pups and two rescue cats that are permanent residents and are great at showing the kittens how to "cat".