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Pattern by Proxy

aspen sojourner magazine cover, holidays 2019

Isa Catto translates her nature-inspired watercolors into sunny fabrics. This Aspen painter has found new ways to share her beloved prints.

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Regular studio happenings, new pattern designs and gardening at 8K.

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Mar 24

Cottonwood buds and blue sky. Daily color journal.

Mar 23

The snow keeps coming and our bird feeders resemble a rave at a popular nightclub. Hundreds of birds swarm the bird feeders from dawn to dusk and I never tire of watching the different species, personalities and colors. I was watching a purple finch from the studio deck and took note of how extensive its feather color range is. This daily color journal is making me realize what I previously took for granted and what a gift looking is.

PS: It says house finch and I have yet to correct it to purple finch.

Mar 20

Another from my Poetry in Motion series inspired by TS Elliot’s Four Quartets — “The Past has another pattern and ceases to be a sequence.”

I found a vintage Mexican calendar in a flea market and held onto it for years knowing it would slot into place sometime, somewhere. I placed “la revolucionaria” over a built up surface which I collaged, then sanded back down again several times until I got the perfect texture. I love that she accessorizes with bandoliers AND hair ribbons.

I have had a few inquiries about this series but I haven’t posted them on my website yet. We are in the process of a new website overhaul so we are waiting to upload newer work.

These are for sale, just DM us or email studio@isacatto.com for details.

Mar 13

Inspiration 🌷Painting 🌷Pattern. This weekend I was at a lovely family wedding sporting several of my hummingbird scarves and I always get asked about the process from inspiration to inception. So I decided to throw together the transition on video.
I never get tired of watching hummingbirds so I decided to keep them afloat in one of our signature patterns — the flowerkisser comes in gray, red and yellow.

Mar 8

Some of you who follow me know that I am documenting the daily color in my Colorado landscape on stories. This is one.

A few of you have asked for the inspiration along with the color study, but this was a bit grisly for show and tell.

“Our” resident lion has been busy of late. I stumbled on the remains of one cow elk in the wilds behind our house. The lion had stashed her body, then dragged it into an open meadow. I approached the carcass with care and only after the lion was done (binoculars are key in this kind of timing, though the lion only dined out of my view.) I then waited for the rest of the cleanup crew of coyotes, eagles, fox, vultures and magpies to arrive before making a closer inspection.

I was struck by how many shades of red and pink still clung to the stripped skeleton and how vivid the colors were against the snow and hide. And how something so macabre could deliver fresh inspiration. I hope this cow’s end came swiftly.

I have yet to see a lion but always see the evidence of their presence on the game trails I walk on,. When my dogs stop and don’t push forward, I follow their lead. Philosophically I appreciate any reminder to be humble, but I am not sure my heart and adrenals do.

Am contemplating on what to do with some of my favorite studies into notebooks, bigger paintings, maybe textiles. Any other ideas?

Mar 2

I’m on the road in New England doing college tours with our youngest and remembering how rigorous a NE winter is.

I found a 1949/50 copy of Life Magazine in an old box of my parents and found an article on Williams College. When I flipped through it I spotted my father’s back in a lecture hall. Everyone else was also wearing some form of plaid or fisherman’s sweater. Clearly the standard attire to ward off those brutal northwestern Massachusetts winters. My father was the only student from San Antonio, Texas so it must have been quite the climate shock. He did mention once that he got tired of everyone asking him as a freshman if he had a horse and a ranch. He did not!

This mixed media is a response to this line from a famous poem: “There is a dark invisible workmanship - that reconciles discordant elements - and makes them move In one society. “ Any ideas who authored it?

As for the composition — I started with my father’s image and the rest fell into place. It’s a simpler arrangement than I normally do so maybe I’m headed in a new direction.

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