Pretty Things Spotlight: ScarlettCat

ScarlettCat was one of the first artists who caught my eye when I joined Etsy last year.

To this day, her sassy little vixens remain near and dear to my heart, as I too have always had an obsession with the gorgeous curvy-ness of the female form.

Her flirty, big-eyed, big-breasted girls are not only great eyecandy, they remind us all to always embrace our sexy fun fearless female selves! meeeeow!

"I'm drawn to subjects that have an outwardly childlike appeal, but perhaps something a little darker lurking beneath the surface..."

Spotlight: ScarlettCat

* Tell us a bit about yourself I'm Scarlett, a self-taught Aussie artist living in Melbourne with two demanding cats and an easy-going boyfriend. During the day I work as a senior copywriter in an advertising agency and at night I draw and work on my Etsy shop. I've learnt mainly by studying the work of my favourite artists - Mark Ryden's amazingly detailed paintings, Audrey Kawasaki's haunting girls and Fafi's sexy little vixens. I opened an Etsy shop for my art and cards in 2007 and I've just started selling my art, hair clips, mirrors and buttons at Gallery 696 in Melbourne - a wonderful gallery that gives newcomers the exposure they need.

* What inspires you? I'm always inspired. And I have to be - in advertising you're only as good as your last concept, so I have to make sure the reservoir of ideas in my head is constantly topped up. For my art, I find a lot of inspiration in magazine images. I'm a bit like a teenage boy when it comes to collecting pictures of gorgeous women! Of course, my interests lie in their clothes, eye shadow, lippy, cheekbones and haircut. I'm like a pack rat when it comes to collecting images. My bookshelf is piled high with children's books and art monographs. And I have files of visual reference that I've been collecting since I was at high school. As well as the parade of models and actresses they contain pages of pictures of flowers and insects, umbrellas and armchairs, rabbits and teacups, all waiting to be used in an illustration. I enjoy collecting these things as much as I enjoy illustrating them.

* Apart from creating things, what do you do for fun? I'm obsessed with brunch and good coffee. Every weekend my boyfriend and I head out to one of the local cafes and potter around- we always do the quiz in the paper together! We also both spend plenty of time with my best friend from high school, her hubby and their darling baby boy, who's a constant source of inspiration and amusement. I read voraciously, love watching movies and (at the risk of sounding like a complete nerd!) I do a cryptic crossword every night before bed.

* What has been your most memorable moment selling your art? I've only been on Etsy since April 2007, and I'm still over the moon every time I sell something. The fact that people want my art in their home never ceases to thrill me! Hitting the top sellers list early this year was also a wonderful (and so far, unrepeatable!) surprise. I'm also very lucky to have quite a few regular customers and I just love seeing the same people coming back to my shop. I'm getting to know which customer will be interested in which piece and I really enjoy the customer service aspect of running an online store.

* Any advice for fellow artists... Keep at it and network like there's no tomorrow - persistence and a dollop of shameless promotion never hurt anyone! And get your work 'out there' any way you can. When I first started drawing regularly, I'd put my latest picture on my wall at work and it was the best thing I could have done. People would come in and talk about what I'd drawn or give me pointers and suggestions to make it better. It's much harder to improve if you hide your work away and never let it see the light of day!

* Anything else you'd like to add about yourself or your work. I create my art to make people

(including myself!) happy. It's meant to be light and fun and enjoyable and playful - and I hope it makes people smile!















Etsy Shop: http://scarlettcat.etsy.com
Blog: http://scarlettcat.blogspot.com