Once again, Christmas is over and it's time to unveil a painting I've been working on as a gift. This one is of two cats. The final painting is on masonite board with a clay coating and it's been waxed so it can be displayed without glass.
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| Barry and Ruth 6"x6" |
What took so long, you wonder? It's such a small painting, but a lot went into getting it to be gift-worthy. First of all, they are black cats and they hang out together. Not a lot of definition; not to mention that I don't know cats that well. I spent some time trying to figure out "cats," their shapes and how they look and feel. I sketched a variety of poses in different media including charcoal, ink and rainbow pencils.
I started with gesture lines...
...and then tried for their soft fuzzy texture.
I tried different styles and backgrounds....
...before feeling confident enough to move to the final, masonite support. Here's the runner up, which I ultimately rejected in favor of the final (at the top of the blog post—remember back then?). I thought they felt a bit devious here.
So, that's probably more cats than you ever want to see. Have a happy new year and I can assure you that the new year will be bringing far fewer cat paintings from me!
The shortcut to painting cats is making any kind of blob and then figuring out where to put the ears, and actually they could go most anywhere. Maybe a tail if you want to go all elaborate.
ReplyDeleteAt first I liked the last one best because of the action, the one cat trying to upstage the other and not minding at all jamming its ear into the other's face. Are they boys or girls? It makes a difference you know. Maybe not. But now I realize that the first one is best because that is the way you see them more often, staring at you like you are putting on some wild and crazy show,
I assume the gift has been given, How was the reception?
One's a boy; one's a girl. The recipients seemed to like it; no reaction from the cats.
DeleteI like the textures on the Masonite. Do you just buy this or do you have to prepare it. If you get Ken’s vote, who am I to disagree.
ReplyDeleteYou can just buy it. I don't have the package anymore as I bought it a few years ago, but it's by Ampersand and it's called Aquaboard or Clayboard or something. It's labeled as suitable for watercolor. However, it's more like highly-textured Yupo than actual watercolor paper. It's not good for layering and it can be taken back to white. It's fun, though--with the benefit that you can wax it and not have to frame it for display.
DeleteI think that I have some. In fact I think I painted something on it recently. Yeah, the starters shack on my December 9 post. I like it quite a lot because you can easily correct mistakes quickly without damaging the medium.
DeleteLove the kitties, both portraits! Those big eyes are adorable! I think I still have a couple pieces of the aqua board. I didn’t like doing watercolor on it — too much texture as I remember. I got some acrylic markers - I might try using those on it.
ReplyDeleteTrue about the texture. I'm almost afraid it's abrading any good brush I use. I like the acrylic markers idea...or maybe oil pastels. Hmm...I used up my little pack, but is it worth getting more?
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