The LAST Cat ... a Work in Progress

My sketch with some values indicated

Masked out two tiny highlights in the eyes, then did a wet/wet wash with aureolin and dropped in some orange. Started the nose and mouth with some black made of orange, violet and dark blue.

Added some pupils.

Some direct painting of the darkest areas on her face, and a thin wash of red-orange in her ears. 

An all-over wet wash of violet, made of quin. rose and indanthrone.

Then a wet wash of the black.

More glazing of the eyes - a thin burnt orange with a dark purply-brown dropped in to indicate shadows and roundness. At this point, I have done about five or six glazes on the eyes.

I had to borrow a photo from the internet, as the one sent to me as reference was almost unreadable. If I didn't know it was a cat beforehand, I wouldn't know what it was.

Another internet photo - this one for the eye color.

This was my first attempt using the photo the owner sent. UH ... NO!

More to come today. I feel I am back in a good place again, especially with painting. I have two others I am working on, and some good ideas for the dog portrait and the seiner fishing boat.

Thank you for dropping by!!!

Starting to Get a Feel for the Portrait ... or ... Miss P. Continued ...

I started with some masking on her nose, and a few hairs around her eyes. Then I did a few washes on nose and eyes. It looks so weird at this stage!

She was looking a bit like a dog here. For pigments I used permanent rose on the nose and ears, mixed with quin. burnt orange. For everything else, I used mixtures of quin, burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone.

A background was needed to see how dark I could go with the shadows in her coat. Here I did a w/w wash with aureolin, then when it dried, another w/w wash of quin. burnt orange to warm it up. 

Then I played with the black mixture I was using for her coat ...

Finally, I feel good about where I am going ... how to approach painting her. I am using stronger glazes for her coat, and painting them directly. And I have darkened the background. This is another trial run for Pucca, and I am pleased with this! For the next [and final, I hope] one, I will correct the drawing error in the dashing and debonair scarf she is wearing. For some reason, I left the drawing incomplete with the scarf, and when it came to painting it, I blooped! I will also be much more comfortable getting those shadows done in her coat. I think a slightly different format will be better, too - shorter and wider.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

Struttin' Her Stuff

I applied masking, then wet the entire hen, and stroked in quin. burnt orange and a mixture of the orange with quin. red.

More w/w with the orange, red and quin. violet.

A bit of direct painting with a black mixture.
The first glazes on the head and feet are done.  

I got a little impatient, and HAD to take the masking off. Also, I didn't want too get to dark and intense around all the hard white edges, as I will have to adjust and soften some of them.
I think these are gorgeous chickens, and apparently are good layers, quiet in temperament ... and I STILL wonder how Bruno would like a room-mate!!!

As always, your comments are most welcome!