At 2 feet 7 inches tall and having broken over 500 bones by the time she was 10, Katherine Klimitas is still unstoppable. Born with a disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, this wheelchair-bound wonder has developed herself into a formidable graphic design artist, pet portraitist and someone so magnetic, Rod Stewart sought her out in the middle of a packed arena, to meet. Discover her story here.
EPISODE NOTES: Animals, Art & Rod Stewart - When Life Gave Her Lemons, She Made Some Beautiful Lemonade
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bark-and-swagger-pet-fashion-pet-life-radio-original--6669427/support.
EPISODE NOTES: Animals, Art & Rod Stewart - When Life Gave Her Lemons, She Made Some Beautiful Lemonade
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bark-and-swagger-pet-fashion-pet-life-radio-original--6669427/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Catherine Clemiitis is a wonder. Despite being born with the
disease known as osteogenesis imperfecta, which means bones that were
formed imperfectly and results in them breaking very very easily,
and despite being confined to living life prone for the.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Most part, she has created an.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Amazing life and is very very inspiring. One of her
talents is as an artist, and she paints beautiful pet portraits,
among other things. She's going to tell us more about
all of this, and you'll get to see some of
her work on the show page on Bark and Swagger
(01:06):
on Pet Life Radio, and I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
For you to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And we have something special for Bark and Swagger listeners,
so stick around because I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
About that at the end of the show.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Catherine is also the daughter of Bets and that's actually
how I found her. There is a lot to unpack,
so I don't want to waste any more time. We're
going to take a short break from our sponsors and
we'll be right back. You're listening to Jody Miller Young
of Bark and Swagger on Pet Life Radio Day tuned
(01:39):
grab that favorite beverage.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
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(02:07):
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Speaker 6 (02:29):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Welcome back to listening to bark and swagger on pet
Life Radio, and I am Jody Miller Young. Our guest
today is a very inspiring woman. Her name is Katherine
Clemiitas and she has a list of talents that she
has added to her resume, and all of this despite
(03:02):
a disease that causes her to break bones very very easily,
and has created a challenging childhood and adulthood that she
has overcome so we're going to welcome her, and we've
got a lot to unpack. I'm excited to have her here. Catherine,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Thank you, thank you for having me here.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It is my pleasure, my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I explained that you have a disease known as
osteogenesis imperfecta. Tell our listeners really what that is and
what that's caused in your life from when you were little.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Sure, so, ostiogonasis in probecta is also known as brutal
bone disease. People also call it OI for sure because
osio jonais in perfecta is a mouthful. It basically means,
like you said, my bones break easily and they grow abnormally.
So I am actually only two, but seven an electric
(04:00):
real shair for mobility. I usually have an aid with
me twenty four to seven or somebody with me twenty
four to seven. I had broken five hundred bones by
the time I was ten. I kind of stopped counting
at that point.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yep, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah. So it's a lot of bones, and unfortunately, my
nerve endings still work just fine. So it does hurt
when you break a bone. For any of you that
had broken a bone. You know this, it does still hurt,
and there's more to it than that. There's also I
have very severe scoliosis in my back, meaning that my
(04:39):
spine is not straight, so that causes a lot of
chronic pain. And there's some other organ because LI is
a collagen deficiency, which means in collagen is the material
that makes up your bones and your skin and your
muscles and your organ lining. And so when you have
a problem with your collagen, it's kind of across the
board problem. So there are some other issues, but the
(05:03):
main one is the bone breaking problem.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I want to jump to this because then I want
to sort of let our listeners know what was so
instrumental in you creating such a wonderful life for yourself,
and then we can talk about what that wonderful life entails.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Your mom is a homeopathic.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Vet, yes she is, and her name is doctor Adriana Sigrera,
and she was instrumental in making sure that you were
an independent person.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
And tell us a little bit about what that looked like.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Because not every parent would address having a child, giving
birth to a child, and unexpectedly being faced with this situation.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And how she rose to that occasion. Tell us more
about that.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yes, So my parents found out that I was going
to have a z IS two weeks before I was born,
so they had no idea until I guess the ultrasound
they did, and it was I mean, I'm sure quite
a shock, you know, and quite difficult. But my mother,
my mother is if you know my mother, she is
(06:16):
a very realistic and direct person. She will tell you
like it is every time, and very rarely does she
give slack to anyone. And in that way, she's much
like her own mother and so, and she's had some
major injuries in her past, and her mother was just
(06:36):
as strict with her as she is with me. And
so basically she never let me feel sorry for myself.
I mean, throughout my entire childhood, I was never entitled.
In fact, she did such a good job that on
days when I had multiple broken bones and should not
(06:56):
go to school, I begged to go to school, like
I wanted to go to see and she's like, no, no,
you can't. You can't know with three different broken bones,
it's not gonna work. And of course I did it.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
We don't want people to think that she was an
abusive parent, because she loves you loves you.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
But of course, and you know, the thing is, if
I had not gone to school with broken bones, I
would have never gone to school. I mean, it just
that's just the way my life was. You know. I
often had something bandaged or wrapped or you know, had
to be moved a certain way or whatever. But I
had to learn the function with that. It's just it's
just the way it is. Otherwise I would have never
(07:36):
done anything. So the other thing that my parents did
was they put me in mainstream schools, which is really
important because I don't have any mental disabilities, so a
school for special ed was not a good place for me.
I was very smart and I love school, and I
(07:56):
you know, I didn't have to learn how to walk
or crawl or any of the physical things that babies
learned first. So I learned to talk. And I told
my dad one day, at like just under a year old,
that we were driving and a brainstorm had just passed,
(08:18):
and I pointed at the sky and I said, Dad,
the storm is going away and the clouds are dissipating.
Speaker 7 (08:26):
And I did I did, Oh my god, because he
was like what Tom had been trying to keep me
busy that week and she was teaching me about clouds,
you know, and so that was just something that I
had learned that week, so I repeated it like any kid, right.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So specialized schools were not a place for me. So
I was always in a mainstream school, which of course
made it a little challenging because I couldn't do all
the things my friends could do all the time. You know,
I couldn't go play sports and go and pe. And
there were many birthday parties I couldn't attend because they
were you know, not accessible or whatever. But you know,
(09:07):
we got through. There were there were field trips I
couldn't do, so my mom came up with a different
one that taught me the same thing but in a
different way. And usually the school would let me bring
one or two friends with me on that field trip instead. Amazing,
So I mean it worked.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, Your mom said to me that she wanted you
to be able to be an independent person when she
wasn't around, you know, And I don't mean that she's
gone from.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
This earth, but when you grew up, and she didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Want you to have to be confined in your world.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
And I mean, certainly to an extent, I am and
that's just the same.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yes, But you have developed your mind incredibly, You've developed
your talents incredibly, and I want to talk about that
because art, from a very early age became a passion
for you and a tremendous outlet for you.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Tell everyone how that started.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
When I was young, as I said, I was bored
a lot, and I was really smart, and my parents
were constantly trying to find things to occupy me because
you know, I was driving the nuts, you know. I
mean you'd think of a regular kid who is running
around touching everything, Well, I would say, move me here,
(10:31):
to give me that show me that, you know, and
somebody to do that with. So U was driving them insane.
So my mom gave me my first water color set
when I was five, and it was, you know, a
cheap cake watercolor set that you would get a five
year old. And I blew through that set in a
week and all the computer paper in the house, and
(10:55):
she realized that I really liked doing art. As I
continue to do it, it turned out that I was
actually pretty good at it as well. I mean, certainly
I was still young. I was still five six seven,
you know, but four of five six seven year old
I was decent at it, so she and my dad
got me enrolled, of course art in school, but then
(11:18):
also I had private lessons with a variety of teachers.
I had summer camps, like every art summer camp within
a twenty mile radius, and it was great. And she
would even do play and sculpture with me sometimes and
it was a lot of fun. But when I was
about I would say eight, nine, ten, I would go
(11:40):
to work with my parents.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I was going to say this early on, relatively
early on developed into a pet thing, too, did it did?
Speaker 4 (11:48):
So I would go to work. Let me preface this
too with I have never not had a pet. Okay,
I have never not had multiple pets in my house.
And the daughter to veterinarians, Yes, it doesn't happen, right.
I currently have five dogs who hopefully will be quiet
for the I've got.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Three, so don't worry about it. Mark has.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
But you know, so I would go to work with
my parents, especially on the weekends when I wasn't in
school and being bored. I would bring my paints and
sit in the waiting room and paint the client's animals
just because it's something to do. And before long the
clients were actually asking me to paint their animals, or
they give me pictures of their animals, and then they
(12:32):
started paying me to paint their animals. And as you know,
a ten year old and a free teen, when you're
making money and you're pretty yeah, I mean that's awesome.
Now to catch plenty two with that was my mom said, Oh,
you're making money, then you can buy all the things
you want. It's not your birthday or Christmas, so.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Agent God bless mom, it is.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
It is.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
But you know it's really good because it taught me
to manage money when I was a kid, you know,
and so today running my own business, that's a really
great life lesson. So have learned.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yes, absolutely, so you you did these pet portraits and
you actually have one.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Or two with you, Plus you'll be able to see
more on the Bark and Swagger page of the Pet
Life radio site.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
This is Lexi. These are both my dogs, Lexi, the Shelti. Yeahsy,
she has a palmeran fapy On mix.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
It's really good.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
When you see them on the Bark and Swagger page,
you're going to notice that Catherine captures the soul in
these animals, the eyes, the expressions, And I've asked you
about that, Catherine, like, what's your process when you take on, uh,
you know, commission to do somebody's animal.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
So usually the process, uh, somebody asked me to your
pet portrait. I've get pictures from them. I you know,
I prefer to get two to four pictures. Sometimes if
the animals passed away, I can only get one. It
just you know, it just depends on what they have.
And then, you know, I usually ask them to tell
(14:17):
me a little bit about the pet. But a lot
of times I don't even have to ask because that
comes with the requests and everybody wants to talk about
their pets, right, And so you know, I learned a
little bit about them. Of course I never meet them
nine times out of ten. But it's kind of like
when you look at a picture of a person, you know,
(14:37):
you can tell a little bit of their personality, and
you can tell, you know, kind of whether or not
they look like a nice person or not a nice person.
And I think it's the same. I think it's the
same with animals. You know, you can tell enough, right,
And so I do all of my paintings with the
pretense that I love all dogs, so I think they're
(14:58):
all nice. So yeah, so I get pictures and then
we do a little bit of paperwork and I paint
their animal and then either get it to them or
ship it to them, and yeah, that's pretty. And I
work only in watercolors. I've done. As I said, my
parents got me into a lot of different media as
(15:21):
a child, but this is just what I've always gone
back to. Watercolor is just it's just what I like.
And I like working with other media just for fun,
but not as a profession. This is my wheelhouse.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
So yeah, I mean, you're a graphic artist. We're going
to get to all that. But you also have a
passion about painting wild animals.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I do. I love I love all animals. I love
painting all animals. One of my favorite things to do
is to go to the zoo and just watch animals,
just because I mean, I think it's just fun and
it's interesting and it's interesting to see their behavior and
how they act, and again you learn about their personalities.
(16:03):
So I kind of from a business standpoint, my business
is kind of cut into two areas as far as paintings.
So there's pet portraits, which is much more like a
job because it has to be exactly like the picture right,
has to look like that person's bet. But when I
paint wild animals, I get to have a little more
(16:26):
artistic license and kind of do what I want, change
the background change, you know, if I paint an egret
and I put the feather in the wrong place, as
long as it looks good, nobody cares, yea, and somebody knows,
you know, So it's a little more relaxing. But I
also think that those paintings and put them on products
(16:48):
and sell products through my website.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And you have an Etsy store too, but we'll talk
about that later.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, Now you told me one of your like all
time passions is live music. Don't tell the story. We're
gonna do that after our short break.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
But how did you get.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Into live music and when did it start? What are
some of your faves?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Well, my parents always listen to music. So my dad
played guitar, never banned or anything, but just just for fun. Yeah,
and he wrote songs, he wrote a lot of parodies.
We'd throw this Christmas party every year and he went
to a show every year and it was a lot
of fun. But you know, I grew up listening to
Elton John and Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac and you
(17:37):
know that that era. My dad also really liked country music.
I had several aides when I was young that liked
country music. So that has kind of always been my favorite.
I'm a country person. I don't know, I've always connected
with it. Well are some of my favorites right now?
I'd have to say I love Little Big Town and
(17:59):
they just put out a new album them They're great.
I love Chivralia, and I love Luke Bryan. But you know,
I also still love Rod Stewart, Nelton John and Leewood
Mac and.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah growing up too.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Yeah, I mean also, I live in New Orleans, so
what Yes, you know, the music seeing is incredible. Absolutely,
you know, we get great music just on the streets.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
So you do you do?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
And I went to my first when I was ten.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
So how do you manage a show like I eat
the crowds and everything else? How do you manage that?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I go with people I trust. That's that's the biggest thing.
I like to be in the crowd because when you
go to a concert, it's an experience, right, So if
you're sitting in the back and you're not you're not
interacting with the crowd or the performer, it's not nearly
as fun. So I like to be in the crowd
as close to the stage as possible, But I go.
(18:55):
I have one friend that I travel with a lot.
We actually met. We met stalking sugar Land at a concert.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
But anyway, we'll have to hear more about that.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, but we became lifelong friends that day, and we
traveled to Colorado, we traveled to Wisconsin. I mean, we
traveled all over following our favorite bands.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
But she can handle the crowd, you know, I know
she is aware. I have an aunt that's extremely aware,
has taken me many times, and then a few other
select friends. But yeah, there's certain people I go with
that I trust.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It's just such amazing for me.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And I'm sure people listening to to hear this, because
usually what you'll hear is someone that has a disability
or a handicap. Right, their dream might be to go
to a concert, right, so they'll get to go to
maybe one concert in their life, or maybe two concerts
(20:04):
if they're fortunate. But you, like so many of us
growing up, you know, you like for a groupie, for
the bands you love, following them, seeing them play in
all sorts of cities around the country, and that, to
me is just such a beautiful, beautiful thing that you
were able because of your spirit, your smarts, the parents
(20:28):
you had, and the people that you had around you
that you trusted to have these experiences that normal kids have.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
And I just love that. I love that, It just
you know, it just swells my heart.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
We are going to take a short break, but don't
go away because when we come back, Catherine has a
very cool Rod Stewart story. And then there's that sugar
Land story. I'm not going to let you get off
the hook on that one. So oh, grab your favorite, refresh,
your favorite damage, get cozy, and will be right back.
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Speaker 6 (22:22):
Let's talk Past, Let's cone pett talk about.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Life Radio, Headline Radio, Petlfradio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Welcome back. You're listening to Bark and Swagger on pet
Life Radio. I'm Jody Miller Young and we're here today
with Catherine Clemitis, who is an amazing woman, an artist,
a graphic artist, a live music fanatic, and a really
cool person. So, Catherine, you've got a really cool Red
(23:01):
Stuart story.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I do tell us about this.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I do so. Actually, let me tell the sugar Land
went first Okay, it kind of sets up. Okay, so,
oh goodness. This was in two thousand and nine, so
thirteen years ago. My aunt, who I mentioned, takes me
to concerts sometimes. My aunt took me to Jazz Best
to see sugar Land. Jazz Best is a jazz Well
it's not a jazz festival. It's a huge festival, yeah, jazz,
(23:29):
but it is a huge festival in New Orleans every
year that spans two weekends, and we have entertainers both
locally and then internationally.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
A big international, huge yes.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
And so suber Land was there one year and I
beg my aunt to take me because I love them,
and she did. And then after they're set there's the
way the festivals set up the buses park where people
can get to them. And so we went around back
of the stage and kind of sat outside the buses
with a group of people and stop the band. Basically
(24:06):
they let you go back there. Oh yeah, well the
way it's done, I mean there's a barricade, but you
I mean, you know, you can see the bus and
they can see you, and you know. Yeah, but we
did not end up meeting them that day. However, if
they ever listened to this interview, they will say, oh,
we know who she is because we have met them many, many,
(24:28):
many times since. So my friend and I met that day.
She's from Alabama. She's a little bit older than I am,
but was a nurse now works in housing reality and
so we both work for ourselves, which is great because
when we do travel, we're able to make our schedules work.
(24:49):
And so fast forward. We've been traveling together since two
thousand and nine now and about four years ago Rod
Stewart was at Jazz Best and she and I always
been Jazz Best together at least one weekend because it's
our our anniversary, right, So and so that was the
weekend we decided to go, and we did the whole
camp out early, get a good spot, you know, front row.
(25:11):
It was one hundred and thirty degrees outside. I mean,
I had the second books un Burden of my wife
that day. It was super hot. But he finally came
on at four o'clock and he kept like just connecting
with us, like he would sing to us. And I
didn't know as many lyrics as I wish I had
at that time, but I know them now. But anyway,
(25:33):
at the end of the show, he pointed at me
and her and said do you want to come backstage?
And we were like okay. So the security guard takes
us around back and it turns out that he was
having a goodbye party for one of his backup singers.
She was moving on to Broadway or something, so that
(25:54):
was her last show with the band. So there was cake.
He's like, would you like white wine, red wine or tequille?
I mean, you know, like very It was great. We
met some of his family, met his band, and then
my friend Christy, who thank god she had to wherewith
all to do this. But she pulls out one of
my business cards and said, hey, Katherine's a graphic designer
(26:17):
and she loves to design for the music industry, which
is true, and I work for a lot of local
musicians here and you know, haha, if you ever need somebody,
call her Sarah rod Stewart. And he goes, well, actually,
I have an album coming out in a few months
and I need some album art for it. Do you
(26:37):
want to have a go at it?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
I was imagine that, Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Yeah, So at this point it's getting dark, we need
to go home, you know all that stuff, and I'm
sure he wanted to go relax at that point, but
he says, you know, my manager will get with you
on Tuesday and she'll give you all the spects. And
at that point, I'm thinking this has never happened. I mean,
this is like there's no way, right, Yeah, well it did.
(27:03):
It did happen, And I worked for him through his
manager for about three months. We went back and forth
on different design ideas, different design directions, and at the
end of the three months it came down to two designs,
mine and somebody else's, and he did go with somebody else's.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
But that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And it was the other the design he went with
is the polar opposite of mine.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Like it's so they just they picked a different direction.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
He just picked a different direction and and it's something
he's never really like. The look of this album is
something he's never done before. But anyway, which album is it?
Blood Red Roses? Okay, it came out four I guess
four years ago. But anyway, he paid me, which was
incredibly kind, you know, for my time, of course, as
(27:56):
he should. And well he gave us tickets to is
one of his next shows. We got to go backstage
and talk to him again, and since then he's camped
us several tickets and I actually just painted his dogs
this year. You can see that on my Instagram.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
So you're bff snow, I know it was.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It was incredible. I mean, and you know, you meet
these people and you hope they're kind, you know, and
you hope they're everything you want them to be. And
he is the perfect example of that. I mean, he
is such a nice The other the last time in May,
we went and saw him and we went backstage and
talked to him after the show, and he just sat
(28:37):
down and talked to us for thirty minutes about his life,
about his dad, about his music. And it was such
a real conversation with a man who is like he's knighted.
I mean, you know, it was incredible and he's an
incredible person.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Amazing. That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Well, we're gonna go a different direction now too, because
we're going to go back to pets and dogs specifically,
you and a neighbor of yours created a really fun
project about breed specific dogs, Read all about Us, Yes,
tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
This is our book, Read all about Us, and it
features sixty four different dog breeds in it. Some common,
some not so common. And so, as I said, I
put my paintings on products to sell to make money,
and because it's nice to be able to bring art
into your home a different way. Absolutely having to buy
(29:41):
an original.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Absolutely things that people can actually use every day.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
And it's often more affordable to buy you a tribute
rather than an original piece of art, right, yes. And
so I would do these spars and festivals and people
would say, well, do you have a pillow with a
pug on it? Or do you have a blanket with
allow on it? And I'm like no, because I paint
people's dogs. I don't just paint random dogs. And so
(30:06):
I said to myself, Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I'm
going to have to paint the most common, the most
common breeds I get asked for, and I'll put are
you ready, I'm ready? And so I said, okay, I'm
going to just do these four by six paintings. You know,
they're not big, they're you know, I can scan them
and blow them up if I need to. They're relatively fast,
(30:28):
you know, because they're so small, and I'm just going
to do it. Well, the plan was to do like
eight or ten it's turned into sixty four and it
was hard.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
You're just an overachiever, Catherine.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
I know, I just like it people in school too.
But as I was doing it, I had a friend
come over who was actually my jewelry teacher when I
was growing up. It became a really very close friend.
And she happened to come over in the middle of
the I mean, I think I had like maybe thirty
(31:02):
of them done, and she's like, you know, you should
turn this into a book. I said, yeah, but I
don't want to write a book. I've already written a book.
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
We're going to talk about that too.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
It's a lot of work, and I don't feel like
writing a book. And so she's like, well, you know,
you could collaborate with somebody. Well, it turned out the
timing just worked out that my neighbor was taking a
leave of absence from her regular nine to flove job
and she loves to write and she's a great writer,
(31:33):
and she's like, well, i'd like to submit for you know,
to write this book. Because I was also talking to
somebody else that I did not know at the same time,
I said, okay, y'all both submit excerpts and let's just
see what works. And hers was great because it was
from the dog's point of view. It was very personal.
(31:53):
In the book. We we do put factual information, but
we also well I'm we Yvonne the Wady I made
the book with. She interviewed people who had these dog
breeds and so she would get quips and stories from
them that make the book much more personal. So like,
for example, the Saint Bernard, she talks about it eating
(32:16):
the couch, you know, I mean things like that, you know.
And it's a great little coppy table book. It's great
for kids wanted because they try to find their dog
or you know.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, and they get to learn about breathe maybe about
their own or exact their dog lovers.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Yeah, so kids, it's great for kids, great for adults,
great for dog lovers. So yes, that is available and
when you order through my website, yvon and I both
signed them.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So very nice, very very nice. Now you wrote another
book and your story this.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Is my story called Looking Up, and it began as
my college senior busis oh wow, yeah, So in at Loyola,
I went to Loyal University, New Orleans for your final project.
Basically as senior you do one project that spans the
whole semester, and at the end of the semester, your
(33:16):
class has to put on a show. So you're responsible
for the invitations and the media and the promotions and
the food and yeah, you're responsible for everything and how
the show gets hung. Like as a class, you have
to go into the gallery space and hang the show.
And I mean it's a whole you know, it's it's
a big deal. And what happens is the first night
(33:37):
they call it the soft opening, but they have the industry,
the local industry com so it's you know, it helps
you look for job connections and things like that, and
then it's open to the public after that. But we
were given the task to do a project only we
could do. That was the only that was it, Like,
that's the only guidance we got. And so we had
to present three ideas to our professors. They helped us
(34:00):
narrow it down and this was this is what ended
up happening. And then I had a local publisher afterwards
pick it up and publish it after I graduated.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Wonderful And this is your story about being born with
and growing up with this disease.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Yeah, and it's got a lot of photography in it,
and it's like ninety pages. Also a coffee table book.
You know, it's it's quick, but it's good.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
You also have a sense of humor in your writing,
you know you do, and so it shifts it from
being a oh my god, oh my god, oh know
to a really a real human story, you know, and
you can kind of see you through the pages.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
So well there, yeah, I mean, you know, there's there's
some of that oh my god, oh my god, oh
no in there for sure. But I mean there are
some really funny things that have happened to me because
I have AI, and I mean they're they're pretty money,
they're ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
They're going diculous funny you can think of that you
would want to share. Oh goodness, no pressure, it's off
the cuff.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
The one off the top of my head is alcohol related?
Is that? Okay? Does that matter?
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Okay? Adults are listening to the show.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
So my friend I travel with, Christy and I were
at a concert sticks actually okay, and it was at
a casino. So the concert ended at ten ten thirty
and we went to a very nice restaurant within the
casino afterwards. For dinner because we were starving. And we
get to the table, you know, and we're dressed for
(35:35):
a concert, you know, like I'm wearing a strapple shirt
with a full makeup, you know, like we're dressed for
a concert. And so we sit down. The server comes
up to the table and she looks at me and
goes and can I get you a shirly temple with dinner?
And I said, only if you add vodka to it.
(35:56):
And the woman, I mean, she just about fell over
drinks that night. She's not so bad, but she's like,
oh my god, I'm so sorry, so sorry, let me
bring you a drink venu.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You know, I'm like, that probably happens more than that one,
Oh it does.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I mean then as soon as you open your mouth,
they know.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
All right. I mean I gave lot children's venues all
the time and things like that. I mean that that
happens always.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Goes with the territory.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
So I want to tell listeners about a wonderful offer
that Catherine has made to you for us, and that
is when you shop for one of her pieces, not
your own pets portrait, that's separate, because that is you know, yes,
(36:46):
it's a custom situation, but her other products and art
on products, she is giving us ten percent off through
the holidays, so they make beautiful gifts.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
She's got great, great stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
There will be a link underneath this video on the
pet Life Radio YouTube channel, so you'll be able to
go to pet Life Radio on YouTube and just scroll
under the video and you'll see a link to her
Etsy store and a coupon code. It's spark Swag, bark Swag, right,
(37:19):
that's what we.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Did, right, yep, Barkswag.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, and you put Barkswagen and you'll get ten percent
off of anything in her shop. And if you want
to commission her for a pet portrait, there'll be information
there where you can reach out to her. And the
last thing that I want to talk about, which is
your day job, which you love, is as a graphic
(37:44):
artist graphic designer.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Just tell everyone, because you never know who's listening out there.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
What outside of album projects for Rod Stewart, what kinds
of projects do you do and that people might want
to consider you for CA And and then we'll talk
about where people can reach you so they can see
of your work.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Sure, absolutely so I do a lot of work for
small businesses. So any kind of branding, logo design or anything.
Uh branding so business cards, uh, letterhead you know, whatever
that in any kind of yeah, any kind of promotional
whether it's print or online. I do social media management,
(38:28):
so okay, right now I'm working with a couple of
nonprofits locally and I'm managing all of their social media
and all of their email correspondence and so that's that's
been busy. Yeah. So yeah, so I do a lot
of that. The only thing I don't do is code
for web but I have somebody I work with who
does so okay, he'll do web design and he is
(38:51):
a miracle.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Oh yeah, it's included in your reportsoire because you have
someone that you work with.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
Yes, so we we work on that as a team.
But yeah, it's pretty much whatever I personal invitations I do,
you know, basically whatever.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
All visual branding, marketing stuff. That's amazing. That's amazing. So
tell people where they can find you.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
So the easiest way to find me is on my website,
which is ka k Art, Nola and o la dot com.
You can also go to katheriniklemiitis dot com and I'll
send you the same place and I'm on sc I'm
on Facebook and Instagram, and actually on Instagram, I do
a lot of video of me painting, So if you're
(39:35):
seeing red painting, I do a lot of that on Instagram,
and you can also find me oh mykedn so yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Perfect, And that's Kaptaine with a K and klemiitis is
k l I am like Mary, I t like tom
As like Sam.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
So thank you so much, Catherine. It has been an
absolute pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you for
being on the show. Thank you, and thank you all
for listening. Thanks to our producer, Mark Winter. Mark, you
make us sound so good and we love you for that.
My passion is living stylishly, animal rescue and health, So
tune in next time to discover the designers, home decorps,
(40:15):
rescue stories, and health experts with great stories to share
and important info to share. So until next time, when
fierce fashion calls, bark and swagger
Speaker 6 (40:28):
Let's talk bets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com.
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Catherine Clemiitis is a wonder. Despite being born with the
disease known as osteogenesis imperfecta, which means bones that were
formed imperfectly and results in them breaking very very easily,
and despite being confined to living life prone for the.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Most part, she has created an.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Amazing life and is very very inspiring. One of her
talents is as an artist, and she paints beautiful pet portraits,
among other things. She's going to tell us more about
all of this, and you'll get to see some of
her work on the show page on Bark and Swagger
(01:06):
on Pet Life Radio, and I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
For you to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And we have something special for Bark and Swagger listeners,
so stick around because I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
About that at the end of the show.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Catherine is also the daughter of Bets and that's actually
how I found her. There is a lot to unpack,
so I don't want to waste any more time. We're
going to take a short break from our sponsors and
we'll be right back. You're listening to Jody Miller Young
of Bark and Swagger on Pet Life Radio Day tuned
(01:39):
grab that favorite beverage.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Take a bite out of your competition. Advertise your business
with an ad in pet Life Radio podcast and radio shows.
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large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet
Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
(02:07):
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, Stitcher,
and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlife Radio dot com slash advertised today.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Welcome back to listening to bark and swagger on pet
Life Radio, and I am Jody Miller Young. Our guest
today is a very inspiring woman. Her name is Katherine
Clemiitas and she has a list of talents that she
has added to her resume, and all of this despite
(03:02):
a disease that causes her to break bones very very easily,
and has created a challenging childhood and adulthood that she
has overcome so we're going to welcome her, and we've
got a lot to unpack. I'm excited to have her here. Catherine,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Thank you, thank you for having me here.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It is my pleasure, my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I explained that you have a disease known as
osteogenesis imperfecta. Tell our listeners really what that is and
what that's caused in your life from when you were little.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Sure, so, ostiogonasis in probecta is also known as brutal
bone disease. People also call it OI for sure because
osio jonais in perfecta is a mouthful. It basically means,
like you said, my bones break easily and they grow abnormally.
So I am actually only two, but seven an electric
(04:00):
real shair for mobility. I usually have an aid with
me twenty four to seven or somebody with me twenty
four to seven. I had broken five hundred bones by
the time I was ten. I kind of stopped counting
at that point.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yep, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah. So it's a lot of bones, and unfortunately, my
nerve endings still work just fine. So it does hurt
when you break a bone. For any of you that
had broken a bone. You know this, it does still hurt,
and there's more to it than that. There's also I
have very severe scoliosis in my back, meaning that my
(04:39):
spine is not straight, so that causes a lot of
chronic pain. And there's some other organ because LI is
a collagen deficiency, which means in collagen is the material
that makes up your bones and your skin and your
muscles and your organ lining. And so when you have
a problem with your collagen, it's kind of across the
board problem. So there are some other issues, but the
(05:03):
main one is the bone breaking problem.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I want to jump to this because then I want
to sort of let our listeners know what was so
instrumental in you creating such a wonderful life for yourself,
and then we can talk about what that wonderful life entails.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Your mom is a homeopathic.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Vet, yes she is, and her name is doctor Adriana Sigrera,
and she was instrumental in making sure that you were
an independent person.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
And tell us a little bit about what that looked like.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Because not every parent would address having a child, giving
birth to a child, and unexpectedly being faced with this situation.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And how she rose to that occasion. Tell us more
about that.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yes, So my parents found out that I was going
to have a z IS two weeks before I was born,
so they had no idea until I guess the ultrasound
they did, and it was I mean, I'm sure quite
a shock, you know, and quite difficult. But my mother,
my mother is if you know my mother, she is
(06:16):
a very realistic and direct person. She will tell you
like it is every time, and very rarely does she
give slack to anyone. And in that way, she's much
like her own mother and so, and she's had some
major injuries in her past, and her mother was just
(06:36):
as strict with her as she is with me. And
so basically she never let me feel sorry for myself.
I mean, throughout my entire childhood, I was never entitled.
In fact, she did such a good job that on
days when I had multiple broken bones and should not
(06:56):
go to school, I begged to go to school, like
I wanted to go to see and she's like, no, no,
you can't. You can't know with three different broken bones,
it's not gonna work. And of course I did it.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
We don't want people to think that she was an
abusive parent, because she loves you loves you.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
But of course, and you know, the thing is, if
I had not gone to school with broken bones, I
would have never gone to school. I mean, it just
that's just the way my life was. You know. I
often had something bandaged or wrapped or you know, had
to be moved a certain way or whatever. But I
had to learn the function with that. It's just it's
just the way it is. Otherwise I would have never
(07:36):
done anything. So the other thing that my parents did
was they put me in mainstream schools, which is really
important because I don't have any mental disabilities, so a
school for special ed was not a good place for me.
I was very smart and I love school, and I
(07:56):
you know, I didn't have to learn how to walk
or crawl or any of the physical things that babies
learned first. So I learned to talk. And I told
my dad one day, at like just under a year old,
that we were driving and a brainstorm had just passed,
(08:18):
and I pointed at the sky and I said, Dad,
the storm is going away and the clouds are dissipating.
Speaker 7 (08:26):
And I did I did, Oh my god, because he
was like what Tom had been trying to keep me
busy that week and she was teaching me about clouds,
you know, and so that was just something that I
had learned that week, so I repeated it like any kid, right.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So specialized schools were not a place for me. So
I was always in a mainstream school, which of course
made it a little challenging because I couldn't do all
the things my friends could do all the time. You know,
I couldn't go play sports and go and pe. And
there were many birthday parties I couldn't attend because they
were you know, not accessible or whatever. But you know,
(09:07):
we got through. There were there were field trips I
couldn't do, so my mom came up with a different
one that taught me the same thing but in a
different way. And usually the school would let me bring
one or two friends with me on that field trip instead. Amazing,
So I mean it worked.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, Your mom said to me that she wanted you
to be able to be an independent person when she
wasn't around, you know, And I don't mean that she's
gone from.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
This earth, but when you grew up, and she didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Want you to have to be confined in your world.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
And I mean, certainly to an extent, I am and
that's just the same.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yes, But you have developed your mind incredibly, You've developed
your talents incredibly, and I want to talk about that
because art, from a very early age became a passion
for you and a tremendous outlet for you.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Tell everyone how that started.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
When I was young, as I said, I was bored
a lot, and I was really smart, and my parents
were constantly trying to find things to occupy me because
you know, I was driving the nuts, you know. I
mean you'd think of a regular kid who is running
around touching everything, Well, I would say, move me here,
(10:31):
to give me that show me that, you know, and
somebody to do that with. So U was driving them insane.
So my mom gave me my first water color set
when I was five, and it was, you know, a
cheap cake watercolor set that you would get a five
year old. And I blew through that set in a
week and all the computer paper in the house, and
(10:55):
she realized that I really liked doing art. As I
continue to do it, it turned out that I was
actually pretty good at it as well. I mean, certainly
I was still young. I was still five six seven,
you know, but four of five six seven year old
I was decent at it, so she and my dad
got me enrolled, of course art in school, but then
(11:18):
also I had private lessons with a variety of teachers.
I had summer camps, like every art summer camp within
a twenty mile radius, and it was great. And she
would even do play and sculpture with me sometimes and
it was a lot of fun. But when I was
about I would say eight, nine, ten, I would go
(11:40):
to work with my parents.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I was going to say this early on, relatively
early on developed into a pet thing, too, did it did?
Speaker 4 (11:48):
So I would go to work. Let me preface this
too with I have never not had a pet. Okay,
I have never not had multiple pets in my house.
And the daughter to veterinarians, Yes, it doesn't happen, right.
I currently have five dogs who hopefully will be quiet
for the I've got.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Three, so don't worry about it. Mark has.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
But you know, so I would go to work with
my parents, especially on the weekends when I wasn't in
school and being bored. I would bring my paints and
sit in the waiting room and paint the client's animals
just because it's something to do. And before long the
clients were actually asking me to paint their animals, or
they give me pictures of their animals, and then they
(12:32):
started paying me to paint their animals. And as you know,
a ten year old and a free teen, when you're
making money and you're pretty yeah, I mean that's awesome.
Now to catch plenty two with that was my mom said, Oh,
you're making money, then you can buy all the things
you want. It's not your birthday or Christmas, so.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Agent God bless mom, it is.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
It is.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
But you know it's really good because it taught me
to manage money when I was a kid, you know,
and so today running my own business, that's a really
great life lesson. So have learned.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yes, absolutely, so you you did these pet portraits and
you actually have one.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Or two with you, Plus you'll be able to see
more on the Bark and Swagger page of the Pet
Life radio site.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
This is Lexi. These are both my dogs, Lexi, the Shelti. Yeahsy,
she has a palmeran fapy On mix.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
It's really good.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
When you see them on the Bark and Swagger page,
you're going to notice that Catherine captures the soul in
these animals, the eyes, the expressions, And I've asked you
about that, Catherine, like, what's your process when you take on, uh,
you know, commission to do somebody's animal.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
So usually the process, uh, somebody asked me to your
pet portrait. I've get pictures from them. I you know,
I prefer to get two to four pictures. Sometimes if
the animals passed away, I can only get one. It
just you know, it just depends on what they have.
And then, you know, I usually ask them to tell
(14:17):
me a little bit about the pet. But a lot
of times I don't even have to ask because that
comes with the requests and everybody wants to talk about
their pets, right, And so you know, I learned a
little bit about them. Of course I never meet them
nine times out of ten. But it's kind of like
when you look at a picture of a person, you know,
(14:37):
you can tell a little bit of their personality, and
you can tell, you know, kind of whether or not
they look like a nice person or not a nice person.
And I think it's the same. I think it's the
same with animals. You know, you can tell enough, right,
And so I do all of my paintings with the
pretense that I love all dogs, so I think they're
(14:58):
all nice. So yeah, so I get pictures and then
we do a little bit of paperwork and I paint
their animal and then either get it to them or
ship it to them, and yeah, that's pretty. And I
work only in watercolors. I've done. As I said, my
parents got me into a lot of different media as
(15:21):
a child, but this is just what I've always gone
back to. Watercolor is just it's just what I like.
And I like working with other media just for fun,
but not as a profession. This is my wheelhouse.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
So yeah, I mean, you're a graphic artist. We're going
to get to all that. But you also have a
passion about painting wild animals.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I do. I love I love all animals. I love
painting all animals. One of my favorite things to do
is to go to the zoo and just watch animals,
just because I mean, I think it's just fun and
it's interesting and it's interesting to see their behavior and
how they act, and again you learn about their personalities.
(16:03):
So I kind of from a business standpoint, my business
is kind of cut into two areas as far as paintings.
So there's pet portraits, which is much more like a
job because it has to be exactly like the picture right,
has to look like that person's bet. But when I
paint wild animals, I get to have a little more
(16:26):
artistic license and kind of do what I want, change
the background change, you know, if I paint an egret
and I put the feather in the wrong place, as
long as it looks good, nobody cares, yea, and somebody knows,
you know, So it's a little more relaxing. But I
also think that those paintings and put them on products
(16:48):
and sell products through my website.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And you have an Etsy store too, but we'll talk
about that later.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, Now you told me one of your like all
time passions is live music. Don't tell the story. We're
gonna do that after our short break.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
But how did you get.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Into live music and when did it start? What are
some of your faves?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Well, my parents always listen to music. So my dad
played guitar, never banned or anything, but just just for fun. Yeah,
and he wrote songs, he wrote a lot of parodies.
We'd throw this Christmas party every year and he went
to a show every year and it was a lot
of fun. But you know, I grew up listening to
Elton John and Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac and you
(17:37):
know that that era. My dad also really liked country music.
I had several aides when I was young that liked
country music. So that has kind of always been my favorite.
I'm a country person. I don't know, I've always connected
with it. Well are some of my favorites right now?
I'd have to say I love Little Big Town and
(17:59):
they just put out a new album them They're great.
I love Chivralia, and I love Luke Bryan. But you know,
I also still love Rod Stewart, Nelton John and Leewood
Mac and.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah growing up too.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Yeah, I mean also, I live in New Orleans, so
what Yes, you know, the music seeing is incredible. Absolutely,
you know, we get great music just on the streets.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
So you do you do?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
And I went to my first when I was ten.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
So how do you manage a show like I eat
the crowds and everything else? How do you manage that?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I go with people I trust. That's that's the biggest thing.
I like to be in the crowd because when you
go to a concert, it's an experience, right, So if
you're sitting in the back and you're not you're not
interacting with the crowd or the performer, it's not nearly
as fun. So I like to be in the crowd
as close to the stage as possible, But I go.
(18:55):
I have one friend that I travel with a lot.
We actually met. We met stalking sugar Land at a concert.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
But anyway, we'll have to hear more about that.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, but we became lifelong friends that day, and we
traveled to Colorado, we traveled to Wisconsin. I mean, we
traveled all over following our favorite bands.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
But she can handle the crowd, you know, I know
she is aware. I have an aunt that's extremely aware,
has taken me many times, and then a few other
select friends. But yeah, there's certain people I go with
that I trust.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It's just such amazing for me.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And I'm sure people listening to to hear this, because
usually what you'll hear is someone that has a disability
or a handicap. Right, their dream might be to go
to a concert, right, so they'll get to go to
maybe one concert in their life, or maybe two concerts
(20:04):
if they're fortunate. But you, like so many of us
growing up, you know, you like for a groupie, for
the bands you love, following them, seeing them play in
all sorts of cities around the country, and that, to
me is just such a beautiful, beautiful thing that you
were able because of your spirit, your smarts, the parents
(20:28):
you had, and the people that you had around you
that you trusted to have these experiences that normal kids have.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
And I just love that. I love that, It just
you know, it just swells my heart.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
We are going to take a short break, but don't
go away because when we come back, Catherine has a
very cool Rod Stewart story. And then there's that sugar
Land story. I'm not going to let you get off
the hook on that one. So oh, grab your favorite, refresh,
your favorite damage, get cozy, and will be right back.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
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(21:30):
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Julianne Corbin calls attention to the difficulties unique to the
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(21:52):
towards coming to a place of peace and healing. For
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(22:15):
for purchase on Amazon and other major book retailers.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Let's talk Past, Let's cone pett talk about.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Life Radio, Headline Radio, Petlfradio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Welcome back. You're listening to Bark and Swagger on pet
Life Radio. I'm Jody Miller Young and we're here today
with Catherine Clemitis, who is an amazing woman, an artist,
a graphic artist, a live music fanatic, and a really
cool person. So, Catherine, you've got a really cool Red
(23:01):
Stuart story.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I do tell us about this.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I do so. Actually, let me tell the sugar Land
went first Okay, it kind of sets up. Okay, so,
oh goodness. This was in two thousand and nine, so
thirteen years ago. My aunt, who I mentioned, takes me
to concerts sometimes. My aunt took me to Jazz Best
to see sugar Land. Jazz Best is a jazz Well
it's not a jazz festival. It's a huge festival, yeah, jazz,
(23:29):
but it is a huge festival in New Orleans every
year that spans two weekends, and we have entertainers both
locally and then internationally.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
A big international, huge yes.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
And so suber Land was there one year and I
beg my aunt to take me because I love them,
and she did. And then after they're set there's the
way the festivals set up the buses park where people
can get to them. And so we went around back
of the stage and kind of sat outside the buses
with a group of people and stop the band. Basically
(24:06):
they let you go back there. Oh yeah, well the
way it's done, I mean there's a barricade, but you
I mean, you know, you can see the bus and
they can see you, and you know. Yeah, but we
did not end up meeting them that day. However, if
they ever listened to this interview, they will say, oh,
we know who she is because we have met them many, many,
(24:28):
many times since. So my friend and I met that day.
She's from Alabama. She's a little bit older than I am,
but was a nurse now works in housing reality and
so we both work for ourselves, which is great because
when we do travel, we're able to make our schedules work.
(24:49):
And so fast forward. We've been traveling together since two
thousand and nine now and about four years ago Rod
Stewart was at Jazz Best and she and I always
been Jazz Best together at least one weekend because it's
our our anniversary, right, So and so that was the
weekend we decided to go, and we did the whole
camp out early, get a good spot, you know, front row.
(25:11):
It was one hundred and thirty degrees outside. I mean,
I had the second books un Burden of my wife
that day. It was super hot. But he finally came
on at four o'clock and he kept like just connecting
with us, like he would sing to us. And I
didn't know as many lyrics as I wish I had
at that time, but I know them now. But anyway,
(25:33):
at the end of the show, he pointed at me
and her and said do you want to come backstage?
And we were like okay. So the security guard takes
us around back and it turns out that he was
having a goodbye party for one of his backup singers.
She was moving on to Broadway or something, so that
(25:54):
was her last show with the band. So there was cake.
He's like, would you like white wine, red wine or tequille?
I mean, you know, like very It was great. We
met some of his family, met his band, and then
my friend Christy, who thank god she had to wherewith
all to do this. But she pulls out one of
my business cards and said, hey, Katherine's a graphic designer
(26:17):
and she loves to design for the music industry, which
is true, and I work for a lot of local
musicians here and you know, haha, if you ever need somebody,
call her Sarah rod Stewart. And he goes, well, actually,
I have an album coming out in a few months
and I need some album art for it. Do you
(26:37):
want to have a go at it?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
I was imagine that, Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Yeah, So at this point it's getting dark, we need
to go home, you know all that stuff, and I'm
sure he wanted to go relax at that point, but
he says, you know, my manager will get with you
on Tuesday and she'll give you all the spects. And
at that point, I'm thinking this has never happened. I mean,
this is like there's no way, right, Yeah, well it did.
(27:03):
It did happen, And I worked for him through his
manager for about three months. We went back and forth
on different design ideas, different design directions, and at the
end of the three months it came down to two designs,
mine and somebody else's, and he did go with somebody else's.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
But that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And it was the other the design he went with
is the polar opposite of mine.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Like it's so they just they picked a different direction.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
He just picked a different direction and and it's something
he's never really like. The look of this album is
something he's never done before. But anyway, which album is it?
Blood Red Roses? Okay, it came out four I guess
four years ago. But anyway, he paid me, which was
incredibly kind, you know, for my time, of course, as
(27:56):
he should. And well he gave us tickets to is
one of his next shows. We got to go backstage
and talk to him again, and since then he's camped
us several tickets and I actually just painted his dogs
this year. You can see that on my Instagram.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
So you're bff snow, I know it was.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It was incredible. I mean, and you know, you meet
these people and you hope they're kind, you know, and
you hope they're everything you want them to be. And
he is the perfect example of that. I mean, he
is such a nice The other the last time in May,
we went and saw him and we went backstage and
talked to him after the show, and he just sat
(28:37):
down and talked to us for thirty minutes about his life,
about his dad, about his music. And it was such
a real conversation with a man who is like he's knighted.
I mean, you know, it was incredible and he's an
incredible person.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Amazing. That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Well, we're gonna go a different direction now too, because
we're going to go back to pets and dogs specifically,
you and a neighbor of yours created a really fun
project about breed specific dogs, Read all about Us, Yes,
tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
This is our book, Read all about Us, and it
features sixty four different dog breeds in it. Some common,
some not so common. And so, as I said, I
put my paintings on products to sell to make money,
and because it's nice to be able to bring art
into your home a different way. Absolutely having to buy
(29:41):
an original.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Absolutely things that people can actually use every day.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
And it's often more affordable to buy you a tribute
rather than an original piece of art, right, yes. And
so I would do these spars and festivals and people
would say, well, do you have a pillow with a
pug on it? Or do you have a blanket with
allow on it? And I'm like no, because I paint
people's dogs. I don't just paint random dogs. And so
(30:06):
I said to myself, Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I'm
going to have to paint the most common, the most
common breeds I get asked for, and I'll put are
you ready, I'm ready? And so I said, okay, I'm
going to just do these four by six paintings. You know,
they're not big, they're you know, I can scan them
and blow them up if I need to. They're relatively fast,
(30:28):
you know, because they're so small, and I'm just going
to do it. Well, the plan was to do like
eight or ten it's turned into sixty four and it
was hard.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
You're just an overachiever, Catherine.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
I know, I just like it people in school too.
But as I was doing it, I had a friend
come over who was actually my jewelry teacher when I
was growing up. It became a really very close friend.
And she happened to come over in the middle of
the I mean, I think I had like maybe thirty
(31:02):
of them done, and she's like, you know, you should
turn this into a book. I said, yeah, but I
don't want to write a book. I've already written a book.
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
We're going to talk about that too.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
It's a lot of work, and I don't feel like
writing a book. And so she's like, well, you know,
you could collaborate with somebody. Well, it turned out the
timing just worked out that my neighbor was taking a
leave of absence from her regular nine to flove job
and she loves to write and she's a great writer,
(31:33):
and she's like, well, i'd like to submit for you know,
to write this book. Because I was also talking to
somebody else that I did not know at the same time,
I said, okay, y'all both submit excerpts and let's just
see what works. And hers was great because it was
from the dog's point of view. It was very personal.
(31:53):
In the book. We we do put factual information, but
we also well I'm we Yvonne the Wady I made
the book with. She interviewed people who had these dog
breeds and so she would get quips and stories from
them that make the book much more personal. So like,
for example, the Saint Bernard, she talks about it eating
(32:16):
the couch, you know, I mean things like that, you know.
And it's a great little coppy table book. It's great
for kids wanted because they try to find their dog
or you know.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, and they get to learn about breathe maybe about
their own or exact their dog lovers.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Yeah, so kids, it's great for kids, great for adults,
great for dog lovers. So yes, that is available and
when you order through my website, yvon and I both
signed them.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So very nice, very very nice. Now you wrote another
book and your story this.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Is my story called Looking Up, and it began as
my college senior busis oh wow, yeah, So in at Loyola,
I went to Loyal University, New Orleans for your final project.
Basically as senior you do one project that spans the
whole semester, and at the end of the semester, your
(33:16):
class has to put on a show. So you're responsible
for the invitations and the media and the promotions and
the food and yeah, you're responsible for everything and how
the show gets hung. Like as a class, you have
to go into the gallery space and hang the show.
And I mean it's a whole you know, it's it's
a big deal. And what happens is the first night
(33:37):
they call it the soft opening, but they have the industry,
the local industry com so it's you know, it helps
you look for job connections and things like that, and
then it's open to the public after that. But we
were given the task to do a project only we
could do. That was the only that was it, Like,
that's the only guidance we got. And so we had
to present three ideas to our professors. They helped us
(34:00):
narrow it down and this was this is what ended
up happening. And then I had a local publisher afterwards
pick it up and publish it after I graduated.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Wonderful And this is your story about being born with
and growing up with this disease.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Yeah, and it's got a lot of photography in it,
and it's like ninety pages. Also a coffee table book.
You know, it's it's quick, but it's good.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
You also have a sense of humor in your writing,
you know you do, and so it shifts it from
being a oh my god, oh my god, oh know
to a really a real human story, you know, and
you can kind of see you through the pages.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
So well there, yeah, I mean, you know, there's there's
some of that oh my god, oh my god, oh
no in there for sure. But I mean there are
some really funny things that have happened to me because
I have AI, and I mean they're they're pretty money,
they're ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
They're going diculous funny you can think of that you
would want to share. Oh goodness, no pressure, it's off
the cuff.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
The one off the top of my head is alcohol related?
Is that? Okay? Does that matter?
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Okay? Adults are listening to the show.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
So my friend I travel with, Christy and I were
at a concert sticks actually okay, and it was at
a casino. So the concert ended at ten ten thirty
and we went to a very nice restaurant within the
casino afterwards. For dinner because we were starving. And we
get to the table, you know, and we're dressed for
(35:35):
a concert, you know, like I'm wearing a strapple shirt
with a full makeup, you know, like we're dressed for
a concert. And so we sit down. The server comes
up to the table and she looks at me and
goes and can I get you a shirly temple with dinner?
And I said, only if you add vodka to it.
(35:56):
And the woman, I mean, she just about fell over
drinks that night. She's not so bad, but she's like,
oh my god, I'm so sorry, so sorry, let me
bring you a drink venu.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You know, I'm like, that probably happens more than that one,
Oh it does.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I mean then as soon as you open your mouth,
they know.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
All right. I mean I gave lot children's venues all
the time and things like that. I mean that that
happens always.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Goes with the territory.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
So I want to tell listeners about a wonderful offer
that Catherine has made to you for us, and that
is when you shop for one of her pieces, not
your own pets portrait, that's separate, because that is you know, yes,
(36:46):
it's a custom situation, but her other products and art
on products, she is giving us ten percent off through
the holidays, so they make beautiful gifts.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
She's got great, great stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
There will be a link underneath this video on the
pet Life Radio YouTube channel, so you'll be able to
go to pet Life Radio on YouTube and just scroll
under the video and you'll see a link to her
Etsy store and a coupon code. It's spark Swag, bark Swag, right,
(37:19):
that's what we.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Did, right, yep, Barkswag.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, and you put Barkswagen and you'll get ten percent
off of anything in her shop. And if you want
to commission her for a pet portrait, there'll be information
there where you can reach out to her. And the
last thing that I want to talk about, which is
your day job, which you love, is as a graphic
(37:44):
artist graphic designer.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Just tell everyone, because you never know who's listening out there.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
What outside of album projects for Rod Stewart, what kinds
of projects do you do and that people might want
to consider you for CA And and then we'll talk
about where people can reach you so they can see
of your work.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Sure, absolutely so I do a lot of work for
small businesses. So any kind of branding, logo design or anything.
Uh branding so business cards, uh, letterhead you know, whatever
that in any kind of yeah, any kind of promotional
whether it's print or online. I do social media management,
(38:28):
so okay, right now I'm working with a couple of
nonprofits locally and I'm managing all of their social media
and all of their email correspondence and so that's that's
been busy. Yeah. So yeah, so I do a lot
of that. The only thing I don't do is code
for web but I have somebody I work with who
does so okay, he'll do web design and he is
(38:51):
a miracle.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Oh yeah, it's included in your reportsoire because you have
someone that you work with.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
Yes, so we we work on that as a team.
But yeah, it's pretty much whatever I personal invitations I do,
you know, basically whatever.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
All visual branding, marketing stuff. That's amazing. That's amazing. So
tell people where they can find you.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
So the easiest way to find me is on my website,
which is ka k Art, Nola and o la dot com.
You can also go to katheriniklemiitis dot com and I'll
send you the same place and I'm on sc I'm
on Facebook and Instagram, and actually on Instagram, I do
a lot of video of me painting, So if you're
(39:35):
seeing red painting, I do a lot of that on Instagram,
and you can also find me oh mykedn so yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Perfect, And that's Kaptaine with a K and klemiitis is
k l I am like Mary, I t like tom
As like Sam.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
So thank you so much, Catherine. It has been an
absolute pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you for
being on the show. Thank you, and thank you all
for listening. Thanks to our producer, Mark Winter. Mark, you
make us sound so good and we love you for that.
My passion is living stylishly, animal rescue and health, So
tune in next time to discover the designers, home decorps,
(40:15):
rescue stories, and health experts with great stories to share
and important info to share. So until next time, when
fierce fashion calls, bark and swagger
Speaker 6 (40:28):
Let's talk bets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com.
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