Happy 2015!

Here's wishing all my visitors a Happy New Year and all the best for 2015!

2014 was a mixed bag for me. I'm hoping 2015 will see things improve. I'm leaving you with a photo of the Charlevoix Bridge Drop , an annual event in my hometown to herald in the new year. I think I'll be skipping the festivities this time. It's going to be very cold and windy so I'm staying home, warm and cozy with a nice pepperoni pizza and a good movie.

 Photo Courtesy of Walter Barkley

To all my visitors. Thank you for a great year and your support. I hope you are enjoying your holiday.

Kitty Kocktail ~ drawing

This project may be beyond my expertise as a painter but I want to give it a go anyway. I've never painted a clear glass anything before but there's always a first time.

I met this adorable little kitten this past September at the hair salon I frequent. One of the hairdressers had rescued him and brought him to work because he needed to be feed every 1-2 hours around the clock. He was so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand and he was such a sweet kitten. The stylist that was caring for him had taken a photo of him in a wine glass and she showed it to me on her cellphone. I never forgot it so when I arrived for another hair appointment last week I asked permission to use the image for a painting. Thankfully she still had the photo and gladly she agreed. I know I've drawn this too small already and need to enlarge it. I'm not known for my steady hand so we'll see how well I do. I may have to paint this more than once to get it right.

Mama Luv

I just completed my latest cat painting and I'm pretty happy with it. Shame that my blues appear more red violet in places but I was happy to get a halfway decent photo at all today. It's so gloomy.

I saw Karina's image of a mother cat with her kitten on PMP and knew I had to paint it. Shy kitten, protective mother...a short story, if you will. It speaks to a part of the mother and child bond that exists in both the human world and the animal kingdom, but a very important part. To quote Stephen King, "There's no bitch on earth like a mother frightened for her kids.”
 

Little S-Kittles

The title popped into my head while I was finishing this painting and I think it works. It's been almost a month since I updated my blog so I thought I'd paint some kitties and post them. I have another feline painting ready to go, too.

I was inspired by a photo a friend posted on Facebook, Tracy Meadows. Tracy rescued a litter of kittens recently. He said he found them under his porch and the photo he posted was just too darn cute to pass up. I asked him if I could use it and he obliged. The actual kittens are all a smoky grey so I decided to take a lot of liberty with my palette. And this is my favorite palette....golds and violets. I used DS Quin deep gold, DS Quin Burnt scarlet, DS Quin sienna, DS Carbazole Violet and DS Quin Violet. With these colors I can go just as vibrant or neutral as I want with no mud making involved. Hope you like.