Blog | Cathy Anderson

History preserved in photography

Long before smartphones and social media, a community photograph was an event. Someone would spread the word that the photographer was coming. Families dressed in their best clothes, children tried their hardest to sit still, musicians carried their instruments, and neighbors gathered together in front of the largest building available—often a church, school, or community hall. These three photographs appear to capture one of those moments. The American flags and patriotic bu

Cathy Anderson

5 days ago2 min read

Can Artificial Intelligence Save History?

Every once in a while, while scanning another box of old negatives or glass slides, I come across an image that makes me stop. This was one of those moments. As I placed this century-old glass plate negative on the scanner, I wasn't expecting much. The plate had been broken years ago, leaving a large section missing from one corner. Time had added scratches, stains, fading, and countless imperfections. At first glance, it looked like another photograph that history had claime

Cathy Anderson

6 days ago3 min read

This is an unusual post about color pencils

This is a really common (and legitimate) practice, and Kird Barken looks like a textbook example of it. Here's how the pipeline typically works: Lately I have been using a brand of pencils, Kird Barken, that I purchased from Amazon. I really like them. The colors are bright they don't crumble and they sharpen well. So I did a deep dive ....read below so you can share my surprise about the origination of these types of pencils: (essentially these types of pencils are man

Cathy Anderson

Jul 263 min read

The Adventure of Building My Own Website

One of the most rewarding—and occasionally frustrating—parts of creating my website has been learning to build and refine it myself. Every page represents not only my artwork but also countless hours of experimentation, problem solving, and discovering how Wix works behind the scenes. There are days when everything falls into place, and there are days when a single mysterious problem can consume an entire afternoon. Yesterday was one of those days. I spent hours trying to tra

Cathy Anderson

Jul 232 min read

Why You'll Find Different Images Here Than on Fine Art America

Visitors occasionally ask why some photographs appear on my website but aren't available on my Fine Art America print gallery. The answer is simple: while the two sites complement one another, they serve very different purposes. My website is my creative home. It brings together original photography, restored vintage photographs, digital artwork, mixed media, travel images, works in progress, and the stories behind many of the images. It is where I can share projects that int

Cathy Anderson

Jul 202 min read

A Passion for Preserving the Past

Nearly twenty years ago, I stumbled into the world of vintage photographs quite by accident. At the time, I was working in a demanding and often stressful career, and searching through boxes of old photographs, slides, and negatives became an unexpected escape. What began as simple curiosity soon grew into a lifelong passion. Each image represented a moment that could never be recreated—a family celebration, a quiet country road, a neighborhood now transformed, or an ordinary

Cathy Anderson

Jul 172 min read