Meet Katherine Casso | Fine Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katherine Casso and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katherine, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
My baseline is happy, I think it is mostly because I am always laughing and finding humor in everything around me (and everyone). I try to make every day as entertaining as possible, the world is never in short supply of humor and I have an excellent imagination. Happiness is about experiencing moments with the people I love and being thankful for even the most mundane experiences (like enjoying the smell of a freshly brewed cup of morning joe). I am also very fortunate, I have an awesome family, extraordinary friends, and a wonderful man in my life who all support me and my art and I never let myself forget that. Being happy is more about rolling with the punches and growing with the flow, I am a really easygoing person. I also use a free app called ‘Daylio’ every day for the last 673 days (and counting) that I found out about after taking ‘The Science of Happiness’ course online (which is also free through EDX/Berkeley). It makes it easy to log your mood, and what you did that day, and you can add pictures- it really helps me focus on the best parts of my day and I can look back on all of my memories. I also log the progress of my paintings which is really fun to see how they start and end. I focus on the small things that people often overlook- every single day I feel like I am the luckiest person on earth, It is hard to feel anything other than happy if you are just glad you woke up.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started painting during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to ease my anxiety and endless panic attacks. I found that looking at pictures of animals, particularly of people’s pets, brought me so much joy and I was inspired to memorialize them forever by painting them. I prefer painting animals because I love their various expressions and soulful eyes. I have never been much of a people person, I am one of those who would rather see your dog or cat pictures versus your new baby ones. I also love painting oceans, there is a calmness that the waves bring that is similar to petting an animal. My paintings take me a long time, I do each one layer by layer which is great for my OCD- it really gives me something to focus on. The painting I am working on now is still not complete and I have put at least 120+ hours into it already, it is a labor of love and I am a perfectionist when it comes to my art which I think is why it appeals to a lot of people. I want my art to look real but still like a painting so you have to do a double take and get really close so they can see I paint every hair one by one. The biggest lesson I have learned in the few short years since I started painting is that practicing every day really does help hone your skills and makes you so much better. Failing makes you a better artist and learning from the mistakes you make only furthers your success. I learn something new each time I do a painting, whether it is how to do something better or faster. I am constantly experimenting with different methods and there are so many free videos online that you can learn from. Don’t ever assume that you can’t learn something new or that you are not good enough. I often look back at my older pieces and instead of thinking how far I have come, I look at how great they really were for me not having any formal training. It is never too late to learn something new or develop a new skill!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is going to sound weird but I love LAX, my man and I get to the airport super early so we can people-watch and drink before we get on the plane, that is my number one favorite spot… But, I guess if my friend was visiting from out of town, and we were not meeting at LAX, I would bring them to ‘Ye Olde Kings Head’ in Santa Monica for a game of darts, some beer, and a snack. Since we are in Santa Monica we would walk around and check out the boardwalk for a while (until I had a panic attack from being in a big crowd). After I had my panic attack, we would head to a Total Wine on the way to the Cheesecake Factory Marina Del Rey where we would sit on the ocean-view patio and share some chicken potstickers and the bottle of wine I brought (assuming they don’t charge me a $20.00 corkage fee, if they do I will just put it in my thermos). If traffic isn’t a factor and I have a private driver (which it is and I don’t) we would go check out the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale. Assuming I still have said driver I would then head to Olvera Street where magically it would be ‘Day of the Dead’ and all of the beautiful shrines would be up to look at. We would then get some street dogs and head back home to see my awesome cat, Rasputin, and indulge in drinking more wine.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would not have started this amazing journey without the encouragement, love, and support of my closest friends who were my main cheerleaders and always had something positive to say- thank you Andrea and Akira! I am also extremely lucky to have a wonderful family who are never afraid to tell me when something could be better- I am a more meticulous artist because of them. My biggest supporters are also my worst critics but that has helped me grow into a more confident artist who settles for nothing but the best. My mom and dad always pushed me to be better because they knew I had it in me. They were also both right, practice does make perfect, and if you want to master a skill you need to stick with it and keep learning even after you feel you have mastered it. My Monkey (sister), has always been a huge supporter, the first painting I did was of her ‘fur baby’, Steven. She proudly hung it in her home as soon as I presented it to her, that really meant the world to me. Tookie, you are the love of my life and always support my dreams, you are the reason I started putting myself and my work out there, because of you I won first place in an art show that I wasn’t even going to enter. I never thought I would take up painting as a thirty-something but with all of my supporters telling me to keep going, I am forever grateful.

Website: www.ArtPal.com/artbycasso

Instagram: @artbycasso

Other: Email: artbycasso@gmail.com