Oil Painting of Mrs Cat - Day 26

Finished - maybe. For today, at least. At this stage I generally stop, put the painting up on my studio wall somewhere and see if it annoys me while I'm working on other stuff. In a week or two I'll take it down, have a closer look and either do more to it or decide it is done and put a layer of retouch varnish on it.

Then it goes back on the wall until I decide to either do more to it (it it's crying for attention) or send it to a gallery. Depending on how long it's been it then gets a final coat of varnish or gets taken directly to the framer.

After that it depends very much on other people what happens - although I have a sneaking suspicion I might just keep this one for myself!

Stretch - Artgraf Watersoluble Graphite - Day 23

This was done with water soluble graphite from Artgraf, that comes in a little tin I bought at the Royal Academy last week. I thought that graphite might suit a picture of kitty with the grey winter trees behind her and I am fairly pleased with the results although as always with new media I can think of a few ways to do better next time. I used a chinese brush, which is my favourite for life drawing - I can really see this stuff being very useful indeed in the life class, especially if using pencils as well. The finished work has a lovely granulated, slightly sparkly look, which might suit a future project I'm thinking about. So although not entirely pleased with this drawing really glad I did it as I think it will lead to lots of other, better works.

Cat Statue - Day 21

Right from the start of the month I knew I wanted to do a little statue at some point. But I've never done any three dimensional making so wasn't sure what to use. Initially I thought I'd use fimo or clay, but then I saw some plasticine in the art store and since it was both much cheaper and less complicated it seemed like a better option.

However I may have bought too small a pack - this little statue is only a couple of inches high, so adding any kind of detail was pretty difficult, especially without tools. If I do it again maybe I'll use a pencil or something to draw on whiskers. Still, sometimes simplicity is a good thing, and thinking in three dimensions was a nice change.

Yawn - Day 18

It has been a busy few days and I am knackered. So, it seems, is Mrs.Cat, so this is a very quick drawing from us today. I was trying to get some energy into the drawing, use the pencil in different ways and so on, will have to have a look how well I managed tomorrow.

Ruben's Tiger - Day 15

Today I traveled down to London so had no time to draw the cat. Instead, I went to the Rubens exhibition at the Royal Academy and drew the tiger from his Tiger, Lion and Leopard Hunt painting.

The exhibition was very interesting, had loads of different artists so you could compare styles as well as having sketches and drawings - very interesting to someone trying to learn how to paint better. Also the lighting was good for a change - no problems with glare, lso for most of the works you could get up real close.

I'll be down here for the next couple of days, so will do my best to keep drawing cats - just not mine!

Valentine Kitty - Day 14

It's Valentine's Day and I thought I'd share the love a little to the cat. But I don't think she was very impressed by her rose and she tried to eat her ribbon. Oh well.

You Dancin? Day 13

This morning I got the ink and dip pen out to see if I could capture how kitty looks when in play mode - we did a little photo shoot last weekend and I've been itching to use these photographs.

I really wanted to get a sense of movement so thought I'd layer the drawings. The first two worked well together but I'm not so sure about the third (on it's own) drawing - but it is an experiment, and something I may try again or incorporate into a painting - we'll see.

For me it is also a relief just to draw in line - I know teachers really really hate people doing this and I know you don't get the sense of depth or tactile qualities that tone can give you but it is just so much simpler and easier and I think more suited to momentary things. What do you think?

Reach For The Stars - Day 11

After yesterday's drawing I had a wee think about what it was I hated about charcoal (the mess, the difficulty in getting different tones, the lack of accuracy) and on spotting a big thick bit of charcoal in the box thought I'd try a diffemore direct approach.

And enjoyed myself much much more.

Me and Mrs Cat - day 10

Have I mentioned how much I hate vine charcoal? No? That may be because I've been wise enough to avoid the stuff for the last few years - when I have used charcoal, it has been charcoal pencils and dust, and has been at an easel.

Using it in a small scale (about a4) on the couch was just murder - at one stage I had to open a window to shake all the dust off as it was just moving about the paper and not adhering. Gah!

Anyway, done now and I hope you like it - a wee picture of us together, even if she is clearly just putting up with me.

3 for the price of 1 - day 9

From the top, letraset promarker, neocolour paynes grey and white, without water added, and quink ink withfine sketching nib and brush.

Not the most interesting pose, but she was on the cough so I got to draw her live for a change. What interests me is how small these drawings are - I seem to have automatically pretty much made them sight-size. Mind you, not having all that much time before going to work might have influenced things. One of the things I love about drawing from life is that you just do stuff, use whats around, and don't over analyse anything - and often thats how breakthroughs get made. Although not this morning!

Which is your favourite?

All Black - day 7

Day 7 and I went shopping today for art materials - I realised that I didn't have any good, dark, 8b pencils - I think I must have used them all as I really, really loved these pencils once upon a time.

Now my hand has cramp as I'm really not used to this kind of intensive drawing any more, using a brush is so very much quicker. But being forced to take longer is possibly a good thing, I certainly felt that I was making more adjustments and decisions as I went along than I do when using watercolour so that it actually felt more like oil painting.

Next time, maybe a more scribbly, line based style - we'll see. There were a few other purchases which I'll use before the month is up - one of my aims this year is to broaden my drawing skills, both in what materials I use and how I use them - I hope you are enjoying my efforts so far.

Day 6 - Relaxed Kitty

Day 6 and I didn't have much time at all this morning. Kitty here was determined to be awkward, refusing to let me draw her on her chair by keeping moving, then following me through and jumping up to be stroked as soon as I sat down - very nice, but no drawing could be done. Eventually though (when I was almost late leaving the house) she got bored and decided to stretch out in the hall instead - hence this very quick brush and ink sketch. Then I threw her out and went to work!

Where's The Cat? - Day 5

Day 5, and after enjoying using a brush yesterday I thought I'd do the same again - only this time with white gouache on black card.

The pose I chose perhaps wasn't the best one for this, as her lying with one of her paws up on the side of her cheek, at the base of her ear, perhaps isn't a very common cat posture - she does it all the time, though, and even sometimes lies with her paws over her eyes.

The blanket was fun and is related to a lot of the paintings I'm doing at the moment - I have recently become a little obsessed by pattern. The painting below shows how I start - with rough tonal values, In this case, I didn't like the original tone of the background and decided to add a leaf pattern today - and I really like the way the pattern looks now, so may not paint over it in a more finished way as planned - we'll see.

Let Sleeping Cats Lie - day 4

This morning I felt I wanted to do some fine line work and use a brush and watercolour, after the annoyance of yesterday's pencil. This is a technique I am more familiar with, having used it for years at life drawing to get quick poses down fast.

The paper I used was also my favourite paper - mi-teintes touch, which comes in a good colour range, doesn't seem to fade and comes in 335gsm so is fairly robust feeling - this was my first try at adding a waterbased media, and it behaved perfectly. My only complaint is the size - a maximum 50x65cm.

Todays drawing was on a quarter sheet, so around A4 size and I was happy with Dr Martin's liquid watercolour. Not so happy with Derwent's white ink - ended up having to apply around 3 layers as it seemed to sink in and fade - not sure if not was the paper's fault, or the ink's - I'll try watercolour and gouache in later drawings so will be able to compare.

Oh, and I meant to go back and add in the black pads of her feet, but forgot. May do it when I get home tonight!

Nosy Cat Day 3

Had a bit more time today so thought I'd try a ore detailed pencil drawing. Unfortunately black fur doesn't lend itself to that kind of work and I chose the wrong pencil - a derwent sketching light wash hb. It just wouldn't go dark, or layer satisfactory - I tried adding water, and that seemed to help a little, but still not happy with it. Oh well.

One reason I had more time was because although today was a studio day, I had to do various collecting/delivering paintings type of stuff. But I thought it would be nice to share how the studio looks presently - a tip, as I have been photographing for still lifes and everything has been pulled out. Anyway, here are some photos.

Day 2 - Being A Dafty Cat

Day 2 and I've drawn kitty-cat in one of her characteristic dafty poses - this is "please scritch me under my chin".

The drawing is in charcoal and chalk again, using pencils, and less than 10 cm. The paper is Strathmore 500 charcoal paper. I was excited when this first became available in the UK, as I have read a lot it about it from american artists - but was terribly disappointed - it is very thin and creases at the drop of a hat. The colours are reasonable, although not generally as dark as I'd like them to be.

Curiosity at Washington Square Park

As may be clear by now, I spent a lot of time in New York hanging around the parks. Towards the end of the stay, I discovered Washington Square Park. It is easy to understand why the Fresh Prince chooses to live there in I Am Legend (beautiful, but rather stupid film. Much prefer the book . . . ) although I suppose he would not have the benefit of Caffe Reggio being nearby. The almond pastry I had there was very, very good - on my list of places to revisit.

One of the times I was there, a bunch of folks were sleeping on the benches near the arch (it was about half nine on a sunday morning). Attached to a lead was this absolutely gorgeous kitten - it was bigger than a full grown cat, despite being quite skinny and clearly not yet fully grown, so I have no idea what kind of cat it was.

Lots of pictures were taken, and this is my first drawing - I have a bug in my head about drawing movement which comes out every so often but does not seem to be anywhere near resolved. At some point there will probably be both more developed drawings of individual poses, and more work on the moving theme. Until then, this is it!

The 28 drawings challenge - year 2, first few days.

So, it is the 28 drawings challenge again as organised by Victoria on facebook and I don't have a theme, but will probably mainly be using ink and watercolour again. My first drawing was part of JKPP, which is another lovely exercise in group creativity that I really should do more often- it seemed the right drawing for the start of the challenge!
My second drawing was from a book on Impressionist cats and dogs - who knew Renoir had a bit of a cat fetish, or that Monet seemed to deliberately not include dogs in his paintings? Anyway, any excusse to paint cats, and if someone else has done all the hard work in choosing the pose then all the better. What can I say - I was tired.
Todays drawing is from waiting for the hairdresser to start - took over ten minutes, enough time to record most of the view in the mirror - which was at a weird, leaning forwards angle. Almost wish I had more time to include more of the denizens of the place.

Cattitude and Life Drawing

Recently I met a cat sitting amongst rose bushes outside Glasgow University Library. As I had partially gone there to paint and having all my stuff with me, I took the opportunity to quickly draw her - and I am so glad I did, as not only did I make a new friend (although she wasn't quite friendly enough to come out from the roses) but I discovered that doing three minute sketches at atyn had prepared me for animal painting - not only in the speed used, but also in the skill of capturing the essentials of a pose.



I feel this is even more important with animals (especially cats!) than with humans, as they are often more expressive through their posture than we are - Another cat-friend of mine (in the loosest sense - he is my neighbour's cat, and has taken daily delight in hissing at me on the stairwell) is never less than composed and commanding - even when watching the other neighbours dog, as can be seen in the second painting.



Whereas the third painting shows my childhood pet (who lived for 24 years!), who was almost a disgrace to catdom in having virtually no dignity and unlimited curiosity about everything and everyone. When we were moving, and showing people round the house, she had to be put in her basket and taken to a friends - otherwise she would follow people around and talk to them. She even joined in on conversations on the phone . . .

Anyway, my point really is that life drawing really does prepare you for everything - and helps you decide where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

Expect much more animals in future . . . .