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Kate Collins is an English artist whose ideas come from her love of the countryside and decorative objects.

*Gawthorpe Hall in Lancashire England, egg tempera*

*Wild Mexico,* ceramic painting in lustre on a tile

Collins’ work has been described as ‘naive’ by commercial galleries, but she sees it as ‘outsider’ art. I consider her work to be very skillful while retaining a spontaneous, playful feeling.

While she experiments in different media, many of her paintings are executed in egg tempera (my favorite medium) or oils.

Above is a watercolor painting and is one of the most beautiful depictions of swans in a pond that I have seen.

Collins’ ceramics are influenced by the vintage Fairyland ware produced by Wedgewood in the 1930s. The ceramics above are decorated with precious metal lustres and enamel.

Find more art by Kate Collins at her website and Instagram

Watch your inbox for the book COVER REVEAL in a special edition of Art Blotter Plus!

Art & Love: My Life Illuminated in Egg Tempera is the memoir of my quest to master the ancient medium of egg tempera painting, gain confidence as an artist, and find lasting love.

Sadly, painting has a taken a back seat to the book project, so I’m sharing a painting from yesteryear: Lovers with Colostomy…

*Lovers with Colostomy,* egg tempera on gesso panel

Here’s what I wrote about the painting in my memoir:

The first time I exhibited the painting, a woman came up to me and said, “I hate your painting, and your painting is me.” She told me she has a permanent colostomy, which she hates, and resented that I was romanticizing colostomies. But more often, the painting has been acknowledged for its message of positivity and tenderness.

*Slow Sanchez*, acrylic on asphalt, 2021, repainted in 2025 with volunteers!

An army of volunteers showed up on a weekend in April to help Amos repaint Slow Sanchez, a mural he painted in 2021 which had become badly faded.1 Above is a drone view of the repainted mural which has more colors than the original.

Here is an 8 second video of me “helping” (really just a photo op!) Other volunteers stayed for hours on both days!

Amos mural map!

Amos Goldbaum Website

As always, I leave you with a…

Accentuate the Positive is a 1944 song, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. 23

-Lora

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FOOTNOTES

In 2022 the 16 slow streets in San Francisco were deemed permanent by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency.

The Great American Songbook is not an actual songbook — it’s the canon of American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 1920s to the 1950s. I love this poignant and clever vocal genre.

Lyrics of Accentuate the Positive:

You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate
His last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do,
Just when everything looked so down?

Man, they said we better
Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between
No, do not mess with Mr. In-Between!

I need some fun...🎈🌻😺

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