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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Mike's Cat WIP


Sorry to be so late with an update. I haven't been feeling very well for more than a week and didn't feel at all like picking up a brush. I'm finally doing better so I began working on Mike's Cat last night. I've gotten the sky and lake pretty much completed. Mike wanted to see lots of Moon reflection in the water so I changed up the format to allow for that. Easy enough to do and I actually like it. I'm debating whether to include the tip of the cat's tail that wraps around the Moon in the reflection. I probably will before this one is done. The bit of landscape on the right will need major tweaking as well.


I switched my palette up a little by replacing FUB with Cobalt blue deep. I'm not sure I prefer the Cobalt over FUB, though. This one will be a do-over so I'm forging ahead anyway. I'm using my blues to create a grisaille on the cattails and the fish. Right now it looks a little 'two-note' colorwise. As you probably noticed, the horizan line appears concave. Some is camera distortion and some is real. I used my square to check for level and found it to be 'off' just a tad. I used up my good artist's tape and had to rely on very cheap masking tape which apparently doesn't always go down perfectly straight. I'll know better next time.
Note to self: Add stars to the sky!

3 comments:

Anita said...

Billie - so sorry to hear you weren't feeling well. HOpe you are much better now. Lovely to see how this is coming on - its always so exciting to see a WIP and watch it develop. Lovely palette - the cobalt is working well. Looking forward to the next installment.

Jeanette Jobson said...

I would have sent chicken soup if I'd known you weren't well. :) I'm glad you're on the mend.

This looks great so far. I love the colours and the feel of night and moonlight. This will be fabulous when complete.

Billie Crain said...

Anita & Jeanette, thanks for the well wishes.:) I think my ails were due to weather changes and my touchy lungs. Just a fact of life for me.

Thanks for your comments on my new cat! I worked on it last night and added more color. It's at this stage that I become painfully aware that I'm flying blind with these fantasy pieces. I don't know what they'll look like until I put paint to paper. Even the pencil/charcoal studies don't tell me enough.