Did you know black cats…

• Are adopted at slower rates than other color cats.
• Tend to be more abused than other color cats.
• Crossing your path are seen as good luck in Britain, Japan, and Ireland.

To help educate the public and eliminate negative attitudes towards black cats, National Black Cat Day was created.

Please join in and make some positive actions, such as...

• Posting pictures of black cats on social media and sharing what you adore about them.
• Helping animal shelters care for black cats and other creatures through your donations.
• Adopting a black cat and giving them a loving home.

It’s time to eliminate the stigma against black cats and celebrate them!

​Read Between The Lines: Collage + Writing Art Show returns!
 
Stop by Cancer Lifeline and enjoy an inspirational, multi-media collaboration of artists from the Northwest Collage Society and writers of Cancer Lifeline writing classes.  My collage, “I Got This!” is at the show.
 
The exhibit is located at the Dorothy O'Brien Center at 6522 Fremont Avenue North in Seattle, WA 98103.

Art and writings are on display from November 21, 2019 through January 16, 2020 with viewing hours for the public from Monday through Thursday, 11am to 3pm. The show is closed on November 28, December 24, 25, 26, 31 and January 1, 2020.
 
Enjoy!

Photos from the Read Between the Lines Exhibit

Amazon has a winner with its Spheres located at Lenora Street and 7th Avenue in Seattle.  Designed by NBBJ, it’s a lush, tropical paradise aimed to increase the productivity of Amazon’s employees by providing a beautiful place for working, eating, and relaxing.

With humid, 70+ degree temperature and over 40,000 plants, the Spheres offer a perfect winter mini-get-away from Seattle’s rainy and dreary days as well as a year-round respite from cubicle drudgery and concrete urbanity. 

They are also an artist’s dream for exploring a variety of colors, textures, and shapes; a botanist’s fantasy for beholding a great diversity of foliage; and a designer’s wonderland of clever seating and distinctive views.

Tasty food and scrumptious-looking donuts are available to inflame your appetite!

Tours book quickly, so if you know someone who works at Amazon and is willing to take you as a visitor, this will be your quickest way to get inside this marvel.
​

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​Kathryn is a published author and an award-winning artist. Her book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness is available on Amazon. Her art is available as canvas and fine art prints. Learn more at www.kathrynVwhite.com.

The 2018 Guild of American Papercutters' (GAP) calendar is now available and contains beautiful papercuts by a variety of talented artists.  Each month includes a unique artwork as well as information about the artist's inspiration.

It's a perfect gift for almost anyone on your list!

As shown in the above photo, I'm thrilled to share that I'm the December 2018 featured artist. 

More information on ordering the calendar can be found by clicking here.

Don't wait, place an order today!

                  Happy Holidays!

This summer, Path with Art is inviting the general public to contribute poems to a collective art project inspired by the prompt, We Are All Here.

In addition, Path with Art is sponsoring:

• Public banner painting parties in downtown Seattle’s Occidental Square on July 15 and August 19 during the hours of 3—5PM.
• Free, drop in poetry and painting workshops at the same place on Fridays from July 22—August 12 during the hours of 3—5PM.

Twice this summer, a jury of local poets will select a handful of submissions to serve as inspiration for artistic banners.  These banners will be displayed in Occidental Square (2016) and the Seattle Symphony (2017).

How does Cuca survive in a world that wants to see him dead?  

How does he thrive and ultimately share his artistry?

For a good laugh, follow Cuca on his journey today!

Click on the cover to learn more. 

Recent review posted on Amazon.com...

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White has met some of Cuca's NYC relatives and can honestly say that Cuca is one amazing cockroach.  Kathryn's most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Yes, my wish is that both Odin the Ferret and Rumble Tumble Joy move from finalists to winners!  Now that would make for a fantastic year. 

Will the Wishing Shelf grant my wish?

Winners are to be announced in April 2015.  Tune in to hear more...

Find out more about author and artist, Kathryn V. White at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

One of the things I like to do on my walks is play “I Spy a...Heart.” 

It’s fun to find how ingeniously this reminder of love can be right-in-front of us and yet easily passed by.  

I’ve found hearts in a window, painted on a bus shelter, and as paper fragments, rocks, leaves, rubber bands, or a bit of string.

With Valentine’s Day on February 14th—it’s a good time to celebrate all the love in your life.  

Just like I’ve found on my walks—it’s all around you.  

Increase its abundance by telling someone you love them, sending a heart-filled note, adopting a rescued animal, and/or doing something kind for yourself. 

Go ahead, help spread the love!

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Kathryn's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. She is sharing this book with a wider audience to help others heal their negative body image and increase their self-love.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Bloodied feet, constantly hungry, frequently in pain, these young dancers are disciplined and passionate about achieving their dreams.  Their family backgrounds include wealth, poverty, the American military, and adoption from an African war zone.  

As you watch their awe-inspiring performances, you’ll be rooting for each of them to win one of the elite scholarships and contracts that can help ensure their entry into the professional world of ballet.

Click on the DVD cover to watch Bess Kargman’s award-winning, box office hit documentary.  (Affiliate link)

See more by checking out my Pinterest board of David Zinn's street art.

Support this wonderful street art artist and buy his book today!

Alas, tea time is unavailable, though you can visit it in your imagination and still enjoy a quiet respite from the noisy traffic of bordering streets.  Water features, a gazebo, benches, and abundant blossom beauty make this a must-be spot.  And even lovelier—the entire garden is a pesticide-free zone.

Don’t wait!  The blooming season of these marvelous roses is short.  Be sure to sojourn here soon.

Every Sunday from January through November, there are free walking tours from 1PM to 2:30PM at the University of Washington (UW) Arboretum.  A volunteer leads each tour which starts at the Graham Visitor Center. Each month a different area of the arboretum is featured. Directions and maps can be found here. 

In March, my dog and I enjoyed a tour which featured the tour guide’s favorite plants.  Not being a botanist and not wanting to take notes, but just enjoy the walk itself—I cannot tell you the names of any of the species that she pointed out.  Incidentally, they all seemed to have difficult names to remember, spell, as well as to pronounce.

What I did learn:

*  The UW Arboretum is 230 acres.  The land is owned by the City of Seattle and the plantings are owned by the UW.

* As a species, magnolias go back 58 million years.

* Beetles existed before bees.

* Cherry blossom tree trunks have horizontal striations to their bark.

* Seattle is not such a great place for cherry blossom tree health because it is so wet and damp.

* Horse and buggy races used to be held on the main thoroughfare—Azalea Way.

* New trails within the arboretum will be created as part of the light rail system sited on the UW’s main campus.

* There are promiscuous flowers in the Winter Flower Garden.  (Yes, some difficult to remember name so I can’t include it here, though I do include a photograph of the flowers in the slideshow at the end of this blog post).

As described on the UW Arboretum's website, April through June tour topics include the following:

April is the month to see Rhododendrons in bloom.  Arboretum weekend walks will feature some of the over 1,800 Rhododendron species in the UW Botanic Garden collection. The April tour title “Rum Dum Rhodies” honors the Rum Dum Rhodie club who practiced hybridization in a friendly spirit of competition.

May is when most plants are in blossom and so the May tour title is "Flower Power." Arboretum weekend walks will wind among the many flowering plants in the arboretum. Tour guides will discuss some of the flowering plants as well as teach visitors the workings of flowers through fun experiments and discussions about pollination.

June is a perfect month to check out the Pacific Connections Garden with a tour title of the same name. Tour guides will take visitors to see plants used for various display gardens of Chile, China, Australia, New Zealand, and in the northwest. The tour will also include a walk through the newly planted New Zealand forest area to show off new acquisitions and see how the forest is faring.

Information about other events at the arboretum can be found here.  

So make some time to visit the wonderful UW Arboretum.  Whether with a tour guide or not, it’s the perfect place for ambling, picnicking, or just sitting on a park bench enjoying the arboretum's vast beauty.

Are you bored with the same old doodles you draw on napkins, notepads, and meeting agendas?

Do you feel anxious or stressed and need a cheap, easy outlet to release these emotions?

Do you want to do something creative and satisfying?

Try Zen doodling!

You just need paper, pencil, and a pen or marker.  The paper can be cheap or more durable and expensive like watercolor or drawing paper.  You can use a regular ball point pen, but Sharpie markers in fine and ultra fine sizes or the waterproof archival Sakura Pigma Micron pens tend to create more durable and pleasing lines.

At the top of this blog is a photograph of two Zen doodles I recently completed.  The steps:

1) With a pencil, I placed a dot on each corner of my journal page. I did the same with the paper tile.  

2) I connected the dots to form a rectangle or a square (though you can do this zen doodling in any shape such as hearts, circles, and squiggles).  

3) I then started playing with a variety of shapes and lines to create  sections as well as micro designs within sections of my rectangle and square. 

4) Sometimes I used pencil to create the designs and then went over them with the Sharpie marker.  Sometimes I just used the Sharpie marker directly.

As you doodle, you become focused and relaxed.  It's like the wonderful “flow” state that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

Need some doodle design ideas to help with your creations?

Check out these books. (Affiliate Links)

Mail Art-- it's everywhere! 

Haven't seen any besides what I've posted in terms of creating your own from scratch or emailing a cool e-card with museum art?

Want to receive or give a gift of creativity?


Kat Eye Studio hosts post card swaps--visit her site and join the "Liberate Your Art Post Card Swap."  According to Kat, this swap "encourages you to create, share, and liberate your art out into the world, where it can do its greatest good."  You'll need to sign up soon to be part of the fun!

Also, check out postcrossings and The Post Card Press for more ideas.

The bottom line--bring delight to the mailboxes of the world and YOU!