About

Titian Bettina Rutkin

I was raised in a family that has always been involved in arts & crafts and making things has been a part of my life since before I can remember. I love learning new things, working with my hands and finding inspiration in old things.

We moved to a rural corner of New England when I was little and growing up in the country has had a lot to do with who I am now. After going to college in NYC and graduating with a degree in fashion design, I moved to Los Angeles and have been in California ever since.

I love that my family is made up of a talented group of artists, everyone with their own interests. My father primarily paints, my mother illustrates. I have uncles that draw, paint, make jewelry, teach bookbinding, and more. My father’s father (aka Daddy’s Papa) also painted and the list goes on.

My hope for this site is to not only have a place to sell the various things I make, but also to celebrate and showcase the rest of my family’s talents. (See my mother’s painting on the home page!) I will be adding more along the way and I am excited to share - thank you so much for stopping by.

Bettina Gatz

Bettina Gatz, originally from Germany and known to her grandchildren as Omi, is my maternal grandmother and the source of my middle name. Here she is, painting en plein air in Pacific Grove, California in the early 1960s.

She was an accomplished woodworker and we grew up surrounded by her gifts; carved wooden lamps depicting fairy tales, wooden trunks painted with storybook scenes, the rocking chair and the couch in the dining room. On one visit with her, she whittled my sister and me each an outstretched palm sized cat and rabbit upon request. She also painted and illustrated, knit everyone a sweater, and was the best Christmas cookie baker.

Although Omi is no longer with us, her memory lives on in the art she left behind and in so much more. She’s very missed by us all. ❤︎

Below photos are some details from the trunk she built and painted for me when I was 8 years old.