Hi! I’m Kathy Thompson in Greenville, South Carolina, USA.
I actually started painting wooden signs because of something I ordered on line (not through Etsy!) that was a major disappointment. It was, I thought, a small wooden sign with galvanized metal letters that spelled “HOME” with the O replaced by a state silhouette. My family and their significant others were widely scattered at that time, and I thought this would be a great reminder for them.
Imagine my dismay when the signs arrived and they were nothing but a vinyl sticker on a piece of MDF!
I thought, “I can do better than this!” which led me to the world of laser cut wooden shapes.
At the time we had just adopted our second English Springer Spaniel, and one company had a Springer silhouette in different sizes. I played around and shared my first dog sign with several Facebook groups for Springer owners. To my surprise, a business was born! Since Springers come with a wide variety of markings, I started painting signs, and then ornaments from photos people would send me. People loved the personalization.
I soon moved beyond just Springers to other dog breeds and then to cats, horses and even chickens and squirrels, learning to improvise silhouettes and even finding a local business that would cut designs from my drawings. I would love to eventually purchase a laser cutter of my own, but in the meantime I manage with purchased shapes and my trusty scroll saw and sandpaper.
My true love, though, is the painting…using blends of acrylics and glazes to get all the wonderful variations present in animals' hair and trying to capture their loving expressions.
Although I love all animals, my favorite breed to paint is still the Springer Spaniel, since I have one who is usually at my feet when I’m working. I firmly believe that they are the happiest dogs in the world!