Monday, November 12, 2012

Tell Us a Story: Artist Patti Gay and Two Can Art


I just launched my new Etsy shop - and am so excited about it! Many artists in this community have online shops and Etsy is a favorite place. If you want to connect find me here: etsy.com/shop/alexcolombo.

To top it all and to celebrate this new activity of mine I picked this quote: "Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein

The story I am about to present is about life and moving forward. Artist Patti Gay has been doing exactly that. Below is her story behind Two Can Art.

Artists Patti and Noah
"It's a collection of images that are a collaboration between myself (Patti Gay) and my son, Noah who is autistic. I believe that everyone has something beautiful to give to the world and this is the story of Noah's contribution. Noah loves to paint and creates wonderful textures using all kinds of techniques. He paints with brushes, sponges, hands and even bubbles. I have always loved what he has created and thought them beautiful. Having saved them for a while, there is now a wealth of textures compiled. I thought it would be great to take those textures and use them to create images. Two Can Art was born!

© Patti Gay
I scan in his paintings first. I do sketches for designs next, then piece together textured shapes to create images. The collection now has over 200 images and is growing. It's really interesting to also see how the collection is evolving as I get more comfortable working with the textures. It's a real departure from my other work under Patti Gay-Design. It's also fun to see how this is influencing that work. Both are represented by my licensing agent JMS Art Licensing. There are cards and gift bags that will be coming out next year with Two Can Art licensed images on them. I am really excited about that.

I'm also starting to branch Two Can Art into work for picture books and am in the process of writing a story for kids that will have Noah's great textures incorporated in the illustrations. I have a book agent, Ronnie Herman of the Herman Agency that will show it when it is ready.

© Patti Gay
Noah continues to paint and add to the library for Two Can Art. The next project we will do together is to make paper. The plan is to add these textures along with the painted ones to new images. I've got a couple screens ready to go, so that will be starting soon. I can hardly wait!

The very best thing for me about Two Can Art is that we are doing something together that we both love."

Patti also hosts a blog called Illustrator's Market where she features amazing artists.

Find Patti's work here:


Website: www.pattigay.com

© Patti Gay
© Patti Gay

2 comments:

Dianne Woods said...

Thank you Noah and Patti for this wonderful imagery. And thanks to Alex for sharing it on The Moon From My Attic.

kat mcd. said...

So inspirational! Love your work. It makes me feel happy.