About

PhotoMelange – a Fine Mix of Photos and Textures is a division of Susan Weller Design Studios, and the “sister studio” of Cat Hair Studios.

With a 30+ year career in advertising and marketing and my own graphic design firm I founded my first personal creative studio in 2004. That studio is CatHairStudios.com. In 2011 I that the Cat Hair Studios “brand” no longer fit the personal artwork I was creating. Even with my background in advertising I knew that working under the promise of one brand and delivering and entirely different product was not working in my favor! But as every busy professional knows… personal work takes a backseat to business. So it took me a while but I finally divided the studios. Below is the story…

In 2004 I purchased my first digital camera and began a journey. Where I started was photographing something I loved – Art Nouveau pottery and tiles. With those photos I created and sold stationery, greeting cards and note cards under the name Cat Hair Studios.

The name Cat Hair Studios came from the Art Nouveau tiles I made and subsequently photographed. The tiles were made using a process of coating the top of a pre-fired ceramic tile with a gesso paste, then letting that paste dry over night. At the time one of my cats liked to sit next to me as I worked. The gesso was a thick and sloppy and I guess the cat liked the smell or something!!

The tiles would be left out to dry all night. And it seemed that with every batch of painted tiles one would have a tiny cat hair embedded right in the middle of the tile. There was no way to remove it, the paste dried hard as a rock and in the trash it went — good thing I made more than one at a time!  

Once I began creating the cards and selling them I needed a fun, creative name for the studio which is when I thought back to my little cat issue and voila! Cat Hair Studios!! 

My cat became the mascot of the studio, he posed for website photos, even had a note card with is beautiful little face on it! Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, I still miss him very much, with him went my interest in creating note cards and greeting cards until eventually I stopped making cards all together. 

Fast forward…to something new and wonderful!

In 2008 I was designing a blog for my family to use and considered using Flickr as a place where family members could upload any photos they wanted on the blog. I had never really looked a Flickr before, I just knew it was a photo-sharing website.

Cat Hair Studios Official Troublemaker!

 So I took a look around Flickr and came across some beautiful and stunning images that used a one-of-a-kind digital texture to add atmosphere to the artwork. I was so taken with the artwork that I had to find out how they were making these images!!!

Now I am, and have been, a Commercial Artist/Graphic Designer for over 30 years. I’ve been working with Photoshop since it came out so I was no stranger to manipulating photos but how I totally missed this I don’t know! The only thing I can think is that it was not a technique often used in advertising which is where my concentration has been focused…but now I found it and I’m not going to let go!!

Since this new discovery creating artwork using digital textures and overlays has become a passion. It has rekindled my interest in photography, it’s awakened me to a whole new world of art, and it’s become a way to share my passion with other emerging or professional artists by creating textures and overlays for them to use in their fine art creations.

So as the new year approaches I thought it was time to close the door on the old studio name and open the door on a new identity with new images, new textures and new resources!

Introducing – PhotoMelange – A Fine Mix of Photography and Textures!