Raven ~ complete?

I finally got this one done...I think. I hope she reads as a black cat because there is very little black in this painting. It's mostly Carbazole violet, Quin. violet, Cobalt blue deep and Moonglow. I only used the neutral tint to tone down the other colors. I cut it 1/2 & 1/2 with Carbazole violet to make my 'black'. Even Moonglow will go quite dark if used with enough strength. I did wind up playing with my color study and gave it a overall wash of yellow ochre. The results were pleasantly surprising and seemed to unify the entire painting without taking anything away or causing a distraction. I'm not sure yet if I want to go this route with the current painting.

Raven ~ color study

I've tried two different palettes and I think this one is the best. I did a couple of hasty drawings. The first I went kinda crazy. I used turquoise, green and a black I mixed from Burnt sienna and FUB. Not good. For this trial I did an under painting with various purples including DS Moonglow, one violet and cobalt blue deep. For the black I used straight neutral tint. I really love neutral tint. It produces a nice rich black and lifts easily. I went over my under painting with the tint after it was dry and lifted out my highlights/whiskers/etc. back to the under painting colors. Purple suits Raven. She was great at walking across my paintings, tracking whatever color she'd stepped in first. One particular painting that got the Raven treatment involved purple cat tracks. I still have that painting. I just can't seem to part with it. Also it happened to be a painting of another cat and that's when I decided purple and cats go together. A minor epiphany at the time. 

Gizmo Sunbathing ~ sketch

I decided I should get back to the inks for awhile so last night I prepped some waxed paper with black ink for faux batiks. I treated the paper with Krylon's 'Make It Acid Free' spray this afternoon and while I was waiting between coats (btw, I only apply one coat to each side)I sketched my cat Gizmo sitting in one of the front windows soaking up the heat from the sun. She's black furred so she really gets hot in a short amount of time and it seems to send her into a Zen-like mode. Her eyes are barely half open but I know she's looking at nothing and she remains perfectly still until the sunbathing session is over which isn't long. I took the opportunity to scribble a quick sketch on a scrap of paper with a black ballpoint pen. Now to look for inspiration for my next batiks!