Guest Artist of the Month - February 2010

It has been such a privilege, for me, to offer this Guest Artist feature on my Blog; not to mention fun :).

Some of you may already be familiar with my Guest Artist of the Month for February. But; for those, of you, who are not, please let me introduce you to Caterina Giglio.

Photos, here, are two samples of Caterina's art and the other is a personal photo! I knew she was as lovely as I had imagined.

I love Blogging and this is how I became aware of Caterina and her beautiful artwork. Please treat yourself to some time visiting Caterina's Blog.

She also has a second Blog which is called Dolce Shop where Caterina offers some of her beautiful artwork for sale.

I feel privileged and honored to have Caterina as this month's Guest Artist and here is my interview with her.....enjoy!:

M-Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you began your artistic journey.
C-My last name, Giglio, is Italian and it is pronounced Gee-lee-o, and translated to, lily. Consequently, the lily is my personal symbol and I collect Fleur De Lys. My grandparents were born in Italy and I think my personal style reflects my heritage and my love of beauty. I am primarily a self-taught, mixed medium artist, and I live in a lovely little community in Colorado. I was an Art Education major in school and dropped out, just short of 2 years, to make a living and tend to a family member. The day I turned 50, I made a decision to change careers and get back to my original intended life. I have appreciated each artful day and give thanks for this wonderful life; the creative life.

M-A lot of your art is nature inspired, which is what attracted me to your Blog (linked above). Does nature provide you with most of your inspiration?
C-Nature provides a great deal of inspiration for me. I am an avid gardener and I adore being in the garden, soaking up the beauty around me. I always think it is interesting to see how other artists respond to their enviroment. Nature is just so drop-dead gorgeous, that I cannot help but be inspired. I put the bird songs and the sound of the garden on my Blog to remind me of that beauty. One of my favorite quotes is from Frank Lloyd Wright, "Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you". I keep it on my inspiration board to remind me to look to the organic way of life. Nature sustains me, and literally feeds my body and soul.

M-Your art seems very personal and your words that accompany your pieces, as well as your photography, really makes for a beautiful marriage. What seems to come first when you create? Your words or the actual art creation?
C-That is such a great question! I generally have an idea for a new body of work or a sense of where I want to go in creating some new project. Often the photograph or drawing or antique ephemera will tell me more about where we are going and I just follow along. These bits of the past tell me stories. I think of it as deep listening. So the words and the creation dovetail.

M-Your Blogs are lovely. You recently opened up a separate Blog (linked above) for selling your art. I was very pleased to view the grand opening of it and wish you much success. Are you finding this more comfortable than selling on Etsy?
C-I have an Etsy account but, I got to thinking that I wanted to create my own shop, not a small space in a huge venue. In my former life, I was a retail manager and training coordinator, so it seemed a natural thing to open a shop of my own. The other reason for opening my second Blog/Shop, is the ability to go into detail about each piece and why I created them, which seems to be of interest to others. I just recently added PayPal so that takes care of credit purchases and the only problem I have is keeping it stocked. That is the kind of problem I always want to have!

M-Please use three words to describe your artistic style.
C-Okay....how about two words? Romantic and historian.

M-Are there a couple of art goals you have for this new year you could share with us?
C-I have several! But I won't give you the whole list. I have been teaching locally for a number of years and now feel that I want to try online classes. I am going to make that a definite accomplishment this year. Another goal I have for this year is to continue to seek publication and to spread my wings a bit by entering different calls. The last goal is to return to painting. I have been slowly moving toward mixing mediums and acrylics and I am ready to jump in with both feet! Thanks so much for this opportunity Marilyn!

M-You are so very welcome Caterina! It was my pleasure......thank YOU!

End of interview.