Rebecca Salinas Art

a bunch of works in progress/ doodles/1 year patreons??

Hello! here's some stuff I've been working on this month. getting back into enjoying painting again slowly. feeling good about my three 8x10" paintings on paper for class (critique in a of couple days!!).

I've been trying to draw when I don't fee like painting. I'm excited about learning screen-printing and will likely buy the whole setup later on for home so I can print my own clothing designs.

I'm a psychology minor, so I'm taking cross-cultural psych this semester and I feel so good reading/learning about such an interesting subject.

Also welcome new patreons!! 💓 everyone, please let me know if you change your shipping address or if your rewards aren't reaching you. I've been getting one or two returned letters each month so I just want to make sure you all get them! I'm the one packing each letter, so small mistakes can still occur even after I triple check everything 😖

Also I'm super excited that some patreons are coming up on a full YEAR of supporting me?! :00 I'm going to be making a special enamel pin only for those patreons in celebration! (*＾▽＾)／

(the pin will be sent out individually as the 1 year milestone is reached)

thanks for reading my ramble!! hope you have a good day! (♡´𓋰`♡)

-Becca

Noodle Bowl and Atlas Plums

Hello! For January rewards, I will be sending this Noodle bowl design as a 5x5" magnet and it will be available to y'all for free to download, print out and color at home! (link below)

The first 50 people to color the sheet, make an instagram post and tag @friendly.noodles and @rebeccasalinasart will get a free sticker of the noodle bowl design :)

I finally got to do some lino block carving with another Atlas design too 🥰 I will probably make a limited print series available for purchase (like I did with the "HOW DARE" design). I'm so excited to block print again!

free coloring page here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17HNyn0k1n48D6bT6aZs_tOb5oQuKe58D/view

the winner announced! and my final book project

The winner of the giveaway is Derp Derpington! I used a random number generator and they were the 8th commenter on the previous post :)

I would love to do more of these patreon giveaways in the future.

I'll be packing rewards today and by pure chance, I'm able to give out TWO holiday cards to everyone!! :0

Please let me know in the comments if you prefer certain items for future rewards: stickers, prints, cards, magnets, or anything that ships flat in an envelope!

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Patreon giveaway!

I wanted to thank you all in a more special way, so I will be giving away this painting of holiday chicken Noodle. All you have to do to enter is comment below on this post :) I will select a random winner after Dec 1st! I won't mention this giveaway anywhere else, so that it stays Patreon exclusive ❤️

The painting is 2x4" acrylic on illustration board. I will send it along with your December package if you are signed up for those rewards!

I'll be adding some new items to my Etsy shop soon with these new designs this week.

I also wanted to show some sketches I've been doing. I tried to digitally draw/color the Atlas one too, but it just didn't look right.

Happy Holidays and thank you for your continued support!

-Becca

making a tunnel book

for my final in book arts class, I'm planning on making a tunnel book of raining cats. this one was very quick so I'll want to spend more time planning out the final. I really like experimenting with my painting imagery in this way, using an xacto knife to cut out the drawings

bedroom painting

I had a lot of panic attacks recently and it was very difficult to complete this painting, and I even had a one while I was reading my artist statement during critique for this painting. I thought it could be my weakest painting just from how I was feeling making it, but it was by far the most successful painting of mine this semester to my professor (Amer Kobaslija-- check out his work from a google search). I was very surprised by the positive reaction from critique, mostly from the sort of headspace I was in 😅

I wanted to share how I was feeling during my process and how stressed I have been. Whenever I have a panic attack I usually fear another one coming on and it just becomes a loop of having one panic attack after another. I feel okay now and able to think & talk about it without causing another panic attack. But phew was it exhausting and scary at the time!

Happy Halloween from Needles & us! 🎃

My first book! and CatCon news

I finished my first book today! (I still don't consider that ABC book finished)

I may make limited copies. It would require quite a bit of effort to make each one with just me to do the printing, cutting, folding and sowing of the pages together. These books are different from normal books, they're more like art books. So we'll see about a limited run!

I've been waiting to officially announce that I'll be part of CatCon 2020! This is my first time being part of any convention, let alone the world's largest cat convention. Usually they would host it in LA, California but this year it is an online event: CatCon from your Couch. Access is only $20 per device (no matter how many people are viewing the stream) and $5 of every ticket goes to help animals in need 🥰 catconworldwide.com

Atlas Art is my company name ❤️

In some other news, the past few weeks my part-time job only scheduled me one day a week. I transferred to a new store today that will give me more hours thankfully, but those previous few weeks really have impacted me.

Thank y'all so much for your love and support, you don't know how much me and Atlas and Noodle truly appreciate it!

-Becca

(p.s. we're also very close to having noodle and atlas t-shirts 🤩 we ordered a small amount to see how the quality will be and try them on for ourselves first)

ABC book progress

I turned in my book for my book binding class, though I had wanted to paint it fully before cutting and folding it. My professors insist that it's done as it is-- and I get what they mean, because painting them would transform it entirely and lose those precious drawings. But I still want to paint them all. It's a project I need to finish on my own time. I want to film painting all of them for a series of tiktok videos perhaps :)

Acrylic paintings aren't good for books. The pages would stick together over time. I can use a fixative spray for this book, but for future books I should use gouache or watercolor paint so the pages won't stick to each other. I don't have a good set of either of those paints currently though.

I learned how to do a few traditional Japanese book bindings with needle and thread.

I'm excited to possibly release a limited book art series. ☺️ They would all be carefully hand cut, folded, and sown.

One sheet Accordian Book (rough draft)

I'm taking Book Binding alongside my painting classes this semester and it is very exciting! Today we learned a few methods for 1 sheet accordion books. You fold and cut 1 sheet of paper a certain way to create it. This one in particular can be read like a normal book, read the opposite direction like a Manga (using the both sides of the sheet of paper), stood up like a sculpture, and flattened all the way out back to its original sheet form to reveal a bigger picture on both sides!

During the lecture, I immediately thought to create a an ABCs book but using internet cats. I'm very thrilled to be creating my first book!

I may release a limited edition series of the book once it is fully fledged. I'll still be learning different types of books as the semester goes on, so we'll see which type of book I decide on making copies of later on!

September Patreon rewards preview

the new avocado Noodle sticker and HOW DARE magnet will be next month's rewards! I will package & ship them out by September 3rd ☺️

I also wanted to share this digital painting of Needles in progress from last night ✨ oh and Dipsy Noodle from today!

Thank you for your support!

concept ideas

someday, I'd love to illustrate a comic or a small book about my cats Noodle & Atlas. I've been having fun sketching pictures of them in this style, and I'll continue practicing it in my free time.

I've no idea when I could properly start the project, but I'm thinking when I make the pages I'll only upload them to here on Patreon as I go~

wishing you all the best in these trying times!

Becca

August Patreon sneak peek

Holographic Noodle stickers coming to you in August! ($8+ tier). they will be only PART of what is coming in next month's Patreon packages 😊❤️

these Noodle stickers are a limited release!

60 Commissions in 1 year

In a year's time, I've done almost 60 commission portraits. I have only two left to go since I stopped accepting new ones. 🙌

These portraits ranged from 2x2" marker drawings (1-2 hours each) to 11x14" acrylic paintings (6-8 hours).

Going forward, I know I have limits to what I can do. This much commission work has been stressful and great weight hanging over me, actually preventing me from enjoying painting many times. I would feel guilty wanting to do my own paintings because I had so many people waiting for their portraits. But I wouldn't be in the mood to paint something for someone else, and I end up not painting at all.

I am grateful for those who have messaged me these past months asking about commission portraits and are just waiting for me to open up some spots. I'll be taking a break from commissions for awhile, and then only accepting one at a time.

Life Updates: May 2020

Hello! I'll be doing two giveaways to celebrate reaching 5K followers on Instagram and 6K likes on my Facebook page. See my posts on IG and FB later today for details. 

I'm almost done with current custom portrait commissions! I took on WAY too many late last year/early this year. I've only got four more to go, before it was about 30 individual portraits. A huge weight has been lifted. I really want to enjoy doing each piece, but having so much to do ultimately stresses me out and I dreaded painting them/drawing them until I singled one out at a time. Plus, I felt a constant guilt that I was taking too long even though every client has been kind and understanding. So! I'll be limiting the number of commissions I take monthly. I'm so close to being able to take on new commissions!

Something that will throw a wrench in my plans is that I have to move out of my current place. The owner is selling the house. I really didn't want to move until I was done with my degree in about a year. I'm currently looking for new rentals, but it's even harder with my precious baby boys (Atlas & Noodle). I get frustrated searching for things online already (like scholarships, gallery opportunities) so I really don't like this process. Thankfully I have someone to help me. I'm hopeful there will be good outcomes to this situation. 

The Moving Sale on my Etsy turned out well! I have so much to be thankful for. I really love doing giveaways to give back to everyone who supports me. Also, I'm excited about June's mini print (for the crazy cats tier). I want to throw in something extra for y'all since June 1st is my birthday. Thank you for reading and enjoying my art. 

Best,

Becca <3

recent sketches + painting

I like sketching from life as well as from photos. I think it improves my drawings and paintings. Atlas, my cat, my sweet baby boy, is a somewhat easy model to draw when he is sleeping. He does move every 5 minutes though, because he can hear me scribbling away.

I draw myself by looking at a mirror. I hadn't done that in awhile since recently I have only been painting cats from photos. For my painting Self Portrait with My Cats, I struggled to paint my face. I had to practice drawing myself a few times in my sketchbook before I could continue that painting.

I like painting people too. I love painting funny faces/expressions, whether it is a person or a cat. I really love it when someone can laugh at my paintings.

Hope you are all well, I really appreciate you supporting my art!

Becca 💙

time lapse painting!

first time lapse for any part of the Raining Cats series, what do you think of it? I may make it public eventually but I wanted ya'll to see it first! I took about a week break from painting, I think I burned myself out before. Now I'm back in it! 

I may have waited too late to ask for the month of May, but which cat would you like to be made into a mini print next for the $8 tier? (from the ones I've painted before) 

Hope you are all safe and well! <3

surprising my love with this drawing soon

noodle doodles

I got a used iPad and started trying my hand at digital drawings. posting these here for y'all to see because I won't release them all publicly till I can figure out a t-shirt provider!

I just packed all the mini prints and I'm sending them out tomorrow! 😊 ($8/tiers) Thank you to all who joined, hope you'll stick around for next months mini cat print!

Stay safe,

Becca

for my $8+ Patreons

I'll be shipping out this little print (ships in 4.5x5.5 regular envelope) of Thurston Waffles for my Patreons whose cards were charged on March 1st. 💕 New or more recent Patrons whose cards will be charged on April 1st will get this pront alongside the month of April cat print. c:

This print will hopefully be available sometime in the future on my Etsy shop.

Thank you for your support!

a little heads up...!

I'll be doing a giveaway of a few prints of this painting before/at the same time I set up a preorder listing for prints. I'm excited! I think the painting is done.

about 70 hours was put into this painting. and it's not supposed to represent everyone's favorite cats of the internet or this cat is chonky-- they're just some of my favorites and some submitted to me that worked with the composition, and fit while there was still room.

I want to do another one. thank you for supporting me, because it means one step closer to painting for a living.

Time lapse video of marker drawing commission

I made this time lapse video of one of my commissions in November 2019, never uploaded to my instagram/ facebook page and still don't think I ever will. I think it took about 7 hours.  I hope you enjoy!

other series of work

I've been working on about 30 8x8" paintings based off of images from thiscatdoesnotexist.com

It's a very different way of painting and I'm really having fun experimenting with different materials, choosing what to express and what to leave out.

materials used: gesso, acrylic paint, block printing ink, japanese writing paper, charcoal, sharpie and cat whiskers.

finally, I found a use for my cat whisker collection! (collected off the ground, as they shed naturally like hair)

thank you for being interested in my work! I hope you have a good day!

under paintings for portraits

I always try to cover up the blank canvas right off the bat because it adds more depth as I work on top of that. here's a side by side comparison of a recent commission, the first attempt/layer vs. the finished painting!

the beginning sketches of my "send noods" Noodle sticker

I've been wanting to make a Noodle sticker like this for awhile. I suddenly thought to add "send noods" because a lot of people comment that on the Facebook cat groups I post in. I love how it turned out

Current paintings in progress

Portrait of my partner, gessoed up 25/50 canvases for the AI cats series, a few commissions hanging to remind me they need to get done as well.

New painting series - AI cats

I've started a painting series which will contain 50 mixed media paintings based on images from thiscatdoesnotexist.com

A computer program attempts to make a new cat from random cat pictures and the results are terrifying. These images are creepy and hilarious and it's just something I'm really interested to paint.

I'll be using acrylic paint, oil paint, woody's pencils, charcoal pencils, whiskers and fur in these paintings.

I'm super excited to have these displayed in a gallery setting towards the end of April.