New paintings and regular art updates.
I’d got my paints out so I painted one of our cats on top of the washing pile. He was flat out for a few minutes. The theme is contrast, so I thought the bright colours, including the fluorescent jacket, would make a good contrast. I’m pleased with how it’s turned out.
Acrylic on cartridge paper. Its curled the paper a bit, but when the sketchbook is closed it should flatten out OK.
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Here he’s under the holly
Happy cat, jolly.
Black and white,
Yes that’s alright.
Golden eyed,
He has pride.
He’s a stray
Who won’t go away.
But I don’t mind
He’s a real find.
Cute and sweet,
He’s real neat.
Lying comfortably in the crook of his arm,
the tom cat lies sleeping,
cuddled up against his human dad.
Gently purring,
curled up and cute,
he is relaxed and happy.
Black and white fur,
white whiskers.
Just a twitch of his ears,
now and then.
Cats are good at sneaking into places when you are not looking. Here’s our Tom cat. Now my hubby can’t sit down because the cat has picked his armchair to lie down on. My hubby has gone to bed.. (I sometimes think in the game of cats v humans, our cats have won!).
Add to this getting shares of food we are eating, and you can see they are onto a good thing!
I drew this at about 3.30am but waited to post till now. This is my fourteenth urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent drawing.
I have tried to draw the darker areas with heavier pen strokes. The lighter ones I’ve drawn with the same pen, but trying not to put as much pressure on. I used a unipin ink pen 0.8 size nib. On an A5 sheet of cartridge paper.
The stripey thing he is lying on is a knitted cushion in the shape of an owl. It’s my cats favourite sleeping spot as it’s over the gap between the chair arms of our two arm chairs, so he gets the chance to sleep between the two of us when we are there. He’s lying there now. Dozing…
Then he decides to pose, to shade his eyes with his paw. To look cute, so sweet. Staying still so I can get photos of him. And no claws or biting, just wanting comfort and friendship. Warmth, snuggling, happy.
I know not everyone loves cats. They are seen as aloof and stand-offish. But when they trust you. They can be truly loving.
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Try drawing a speedy cat, and include the background. Our challenge today was to draw something we love. In my case its one of our cats. She likes balancing with her front paws on the airer I use for washing, and her back paws on the cat tree. The result is a bit wibbly-wobbly.
I haven’t done an exact portrait, but that’s because she keeps moving, unless she’s curled up in a tight ball. Her brother is a bit quiet at the moment. He’s been enjoying sleeping on the windowledge upstairs in the sun.
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That’s what my cat does. He lies in the sun and keeps himself warm, and hides his head under his paw (an idea from the poem about a robin). Apparently cats sleep about 16 hours a day, but usually somewhere quiet where I can’t easily find them. But this morning, there he was in a Ray of bright sunshine. I had to reduce the exposure because it was so bright I was losing details.
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I do like sketching in biro, you can get a good strong line, but by varying the pressure on the pen its good for shading. I have also found that by spraying the biro with hairspray you can sometimes get the ink to blur and bleed. If you are using black or blue biro you get interesting colours flowing from the lines. I guess it depends on the chemicals in both the pen and the hairspray. It might not always work. I have also used hairspray as a fixative for astel and charcoal drawings.
Did you know you can use milk sprayed onto charcoal or pastel as a fixative too? I found an old perfume bottle with an atomiser and used that to spray drawings. They might end up smelling a bit cheesy but it works. You just have to remember to wash out the bottle and spray after use.
Purring puss
He loves his new basket
Curled up warm and snug!
But jealousy arrives with his sister
Who loves it too.
Squabbles ensue, much chasing,
up and down stairs,
behind the curtains…
Scooting backwards and forwards,
In and out the basket,
one after the other.
Till finally,
they both ignore it,
staying in seperate places.
Eyeing up the basket,
at an impasse….
Neither willing to trespass.
Wish I’d bought two.
Mallaband-Brown