I love painting and drawing so couldn’t pass up this opportunity to draw this gorgeous cat belonging to my friend, Mark. He took a stunning photo of her looking directly into the camera.
After doing a couple of preliminary outlines with a pencil, I decided to I was going to paint her in oils as they’re great for blending. I thought I’d share my various stages with you. You may paint differently but that’s the good thing about art, it’s yours; you can do it how you like.
I began with light grid lines on my canvas and did a quick outline of the cat. Sometimes my freehand drawing is a bit hit and miss and I didn’t want to keep rubbing out on my canvas. I also wanted Mark to recognise his cat.
After that, I placed a wash of oil paints onto the cat to mark out the darks, lights and colours. The washy colours on the cat don’t resemble the finished colours as yet, this is more of a guide for me. I also love it as I can see the cat taking shape. To get this effect, I mixed turps with a little bit of oil paint, keeping it as thin as possible.
After leaving the painting to dry out for a few days. I went back in and me being impatient, I painted the background. I really wanted to see the cat pop so I chose a vibrant burnt orange for the bottom of the canvas and a grey/blue for the top. This took an age to dry out – I’d say at least a week, and then I’d have been worried about giving it a bit of a poke.
After that, I spent the next two sessions building up the colour and the darkness of the cat. At one point it looked a little flat so I added some of the light bits back in, making the colours richer and deeper, layer upon layer until I was happy with it.
Finally, I sharpened the eyes a little more and held my breath as I used a thinner paint to add the whispers. Thankfully, they went on as I’d hoped and I have my cat painting. Whisker painting tips came from lovely art tutor, Tony Collins. I’ve attended some of his classes and workshops and he’s full of artistic wisdom.
Thank you for checking out my work, hope you’re having fun making creations of your own.
Tony Collins Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2381323655438671/
By Carla Kovach – author of Amazon and iBooks bestseller, The Next Girl.
Carla Kovach - Author 