jkatz

I love making art, mostly print making, drawing, and encaustic pieces. My work is generally highly detailed. My humor and interest in irony or absurdity often comes through in the pieces I make. I like to incorporate animals into a lot of my art, because I think they make the concepts I choose to depict a little bit more universal, rather than putting a specific human face to an idea. I am drawn to work that is technically proficient and well crafted.

I am a first grade teacher and a mother to a delightful six year old boy and his six month old sister. I don't have the time right now to devote myself to larger, more involved art work. ATCs are a great way to keep my drawing skills sharp. Most ATCs you get from me will either be hand drawn, or be hand drawn and collage.

I strongly value effort. Whether it is a class, an art project, training for a half-marathon, or maintaining relationships, I try to do the absolute best job that I can. Maybe it is the teacher in me, but I kind of expect highest quality effort from the people I associate with as well.

I really liked the Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. My favorite picture book is "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" Two of my favorite children's illustrators are Steven Kellog (inspired me to draw as a kid), and John Muth. He has excellent watercolor paintings.

I mostly listen to the stuff I bought back in high school, or college back in the 90's. Lately that means Nellie Furtado, Leonard Cohen, Fleetwood Mac, Flaming Lips, Camper Van Beethoven, Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie.

I don't watch much television. The only two adult shows I try to catch are the Big Bang Theory and Grimm. Other than that, I occasionally enjoy a cartoon with my son.

I used to like scrapbooking, but I got tired of it, or maybe I just stopped being able to find the time for it once I started teaching full time. I like playing with clay and ceramics when I have the chance. Casting jewlery was fun when I tried it, but haven't played with that method of art/craft making for a good 15 years. I made confetti eggs with the first graders, blowing out the egg guts, filling the eggs with confetti and painting the outsides to decorate them. That was fun. I painted a birdhouse two years ago.

Things I like:

Colors: Red, Blue, Green (especially lime green) Purple, Blue, Turquoise.

Animals: Rhinos, giraffes, zebras, Owls, Octopus, Elephants, Birds of all sorts, Armadillos (although, I have never seen one in real life. They look like warrior 'possums!) Pandas, Tigers, Cows, cats, goats, frogs, insects (as subject matter for my art, not swarming about me.

Scents: Fruity smells. Gardenia and jasmine.

Adidas stripes.

Unexpected positive feedback from a 6 year old that thought your lesson rocked.

Summer.

Vacations.

Hawaii. (Although I have only been there once.)

Furry baby animals.

Persistence, determination, ambition, personal bests, and a good sense of humor when those other things aren't quite enough.

Furry slippers.

Running, Biking, Swimming (although I am a novice, and not that skilled with the first two.

VW Bugs and Jeep Wranglers

Hiking.

Dressing up.

I loved my first attempt at surfing, at snowboarding, at water skiing, swing and salsa dancing, and I hope I get the opportunity to try all of these things again!

Things I don't like:

In general, swarms! Swarms of anything kind of creep me out. Ants, worms, baby spiders. Even if it were a swarm of WAY too many cats, like the people on the hoarders show on TV have, I would have a problem with that.

Spiders really bother me, especially the thick, athletic ones.

Dreary gray, rainy days.

Smoke.

Smoked Salmon and BBQ sauce.

Strangers that follow you on the street.

Beggars.

Robbers.

Rapists.

Creepy people in general.

Splinters and paper cuts.

Insomnia.

The sound of someone chewing with their mouth open.

Things I would love:

❤️ Text from newspapers, especially text other than English.

💚Paper with interesting textures. At least ATC size, please.

💛 Sheet music.

💜 Blank cards

💛Washi tape

💙 Flat, interesting metal objects that can be used in collage or mixed media projects.

💖 Watch faces.

💝Drawing pens or markers

💛Punched out decorative boarders that are at least 4 inches in length.

💙 Recipes to try that are pretty much fool proof. I am not that skilled at cooking...

💚 Super strong magnets.

❤️ Anything with a blue kitty on it for my 4year old son.