Contemplation~WIP 1

Marcia Van Osten has graciously given me permission to use a photo of one of her beautiful Persian cats as inspiration for a painting. This is Phoebe deep in contemplation. I've substituted a real mouse for the toy mouse in the photo and drew my sketch directly on watercolor paper, in this case Arches #140 coldpress. I've found sometimes the more often a drawing is transferred the less 'life' is carried over. By the time it finally arrives on the working paper it's lost it's vitality. I realize some subjects would be very difficult to freehand onto the final paper but in this case I think I can get away with it.

Catnapping I~Digby Takes a Catnap

15" x 11" on 140# Arches HP w/c paper

Having gotten a little tired of painting frogs, I found myself wondering what to paint next. I was going through some of my older photos and found one I had taken of Digby, one of my own cats, taking a power nap on the sofa. I love it when cats feel safe enough around me to sleep belly up. It's a cat's way of demonstrating true trust.


After I decided to use this photo as a reference I was stuck for a palette. I had never painted a white cat before and had no idea what colors to use. Except for the nose, I wound up with mostly cobalt blue deep and DS Moonglow, an old favorite of mine. Actually a white cat could be approached colorwise just like any other white subject because white tends to be very 'colorful' if you really take the time to observe it.


I also tried out my new masque pen and wasn't impressed at all. It tended to blob and even blew bubbles at me out of the tip a few times. Very hard to control the application, too. Maybe there's a knack to it I don't know about.


I do plan to paint this again...maybe several times. I was inspired by Jean Haines's cats(see link to her website on my blog list)and her wet and loose approach complete with blooms and drips.


Note: I have a nice new bottle of acrylic gesso(!)so I'll be playing with that again soon.