Cat signs.

Signs of the Cat

Cat signs.

Cat signs.

After producing a few signs back in August I’ve updated each of these four designs just a bit, adding a little color here and there and keeping the designs the same size.

Just doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. I like the look of the stenciled wood signs that are popular right now and I’ve been planning on making a few. When my neighbor took out an older stockade fence I looked at that pile of weathered wood, just the perfect weight and color for little signs…I gave the wood and the paint and the designs a try and I am on my way.

Here’s a little bit about each sign and the changes I’ve made to the design. If you click on the image you can go to the product page and read more about the design including the reference materials.

Peace, Love & Cats

On “Peace, Love & Cats” I thought the whiskers were too weak to balance with the rest of the art so I made them thicker and attached them to the cat face.

Peace, love and cats

Peace, love and cats

I painted signs years ago, before I bought my house, and before everyone went digital: big sheets of plywood for work sites, window banners, even a few trucks and buildings. I joke that’s how I saved the down payment for my house. And I still love to paint them.

Cats are Like Potato Chips

A friend had this phrase on a refrigerator magnet decades ago. I always loved it and researched to see if it was copyrighted or if I could find the origin. No luck, so I decided to use it. This design had originally had four cats, which I liked, but in order to make all the designs the same width I designed it with three cats.

PS: Potato chips have always been my favorite snack, too.

Cats are like potato chips, it's hard to have just one.

Cats are like potato chips, it’s hard to have just one.

Because of that I began painting these signs freehand with outlines I traced on the wood and that worked fine with the first pieces of wood I used that I’d chosen because they were nice and smooth. However, in real life, most of the wood is not smooth but has rough finishes, stamped patterns from being cut, and splits and holes from nails and weather.

Home is Where the Cat Is

When I was handpainting this sign I painted around Mewsette’s eyes, leaving them the wood color. Since I’m stenciling it’s awkward to try to get those little bits of stencil to stay in the right place, so I stencil over the entire shape and then paint the eyes in with a brush. In this case I used a light cool green, which is the color of Mewsette’s eyes, but it’s too light. Her eyes will be a color, and I think I’ll go with a bright green.

Home is where the cat is.

Home is where the cat is.

Now the larger areas on the signs are stenciled, and the text is hand-lettered. I try to find a smooth area for the text for each sign.

Home is Where the Cats Are

On the original sign I painted the heart black, but knew I’d want it to be red, and so it is.

Home is where the cats are.

Home is where the cats are.

The wood is 3.5″ wide so the signs aren’t terribly large. I worked out all the designs so they were the same width, 10″, just to make cutting and finishing the wood that much easier. The back of the wood is slightly concave so each sign has a sawtooth hanger in the center of the back.

Click each of the images to go to the product page and read more about the design including the reference materials.

Here I am being supurrvised by a few of the models.

What would I do without them?

You can find these signs and more in my gallery of handmade gifts on the Signs and Posters page.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.

 

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