Cat's Away? Mice Play!!! Finished

Well I should have waited until tomorrow to post this since I just put up something yesterday, but got in the art room today, zoned in and got this, I think, pretty finished.  I will let it sit on the board and probably play a bit with it, but think overall I am pretty happy with it.
Another new technique that I tried was to use on the mice graphite powder (simply shavings from sharpening my pencils) and applied it to the surface with a patting motion onto the heads and body of the mice and then drew in their hairs.  I think my experiment with the trompe l'oeil turned out too as I do think the mice look in front of the cat and that they are coming forward outside the frame.  Later in the week think I will spray it to hold the graphite in check (workable fixative) and then go to Binders to get a frame.  Also gives me a reason to see my picture in the show and all the other pieces again.  Also will look to see if there is anything else I have completed that can go into a square format that I can enter into the August show to see how it is received. 
Am trying to determine if I want to put some color into the cat's eye so that it pops out more than the mice eyes.  Wanted them really black and didn't want shine so they are charcoal and it's really black.  Pulls my eyes right away.  Thoughts and comments on whether or not to do it?  If so, should it be blue or green, hmmmmm?
Can't wait to see if I can find two more pictures that I can put together for a new reference piece.
Even got a bit of a smile out of hubby on this one.  Loved the humor in it and hope you get a smile from it today as well.  Thanks much for stopping by and have a great painting weekend.

Comments

Rita Vaselli said…
So cute my dear Nelvia!!! Well done with "esprit"!
Have nice Summer weekend ! Hugs and kisses,Rita.
July 12, 2014 at 4:48 PM
Beatriz Abel said…
Nelvia, hizo un trabajo realmente muy interesante, la composición muy original, refleja el encanto gracioso de los modelos, bravo!
July 12, 2014 at 6:20 PM
hmuxo said…
I think putting a "little" color in the eye of the cat would be beautiful since its black and white, Nelvia..... It will complete the painting!! However,...this is my opinion...
You did a wonderful portrait!!!
July 12, 2014 at 10:28 PM
Nelvia said…
Thanks Rita, always makes me happy when I hear from you. Hope it made you smile. Will,raise my glass of wine to you and Danillo
July 13, 2014 at 8:04 AM
Nelvia said…
Beti, así que es bueno saber de usted, gracias por el maravilloso aliento y buen comentario.
July 13, 2014 at 8:07 AM
Nelvia said…
Hope that makes some sense in Spanish, never know with the translators
July 13, 2014 at 8:07 AM
Nelvia said…
I like a pop,of color with the graphite and think it would highlight the cats intent, just subtle, not too bold, might give it a try. As you know not always happy but I am excited by this one.
July 13, 2014 at 8:09 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bold woman's portrait

Image
Bold Ok, for today's portrait I went out of the box and decided to try a different look and approach. This is on watercolor paper, I applied a layer of paper collate over it (you can see that some of it started lifting - so got to use more medium to glue it next time)  Anyway then I tried to leave part of that under collage showing, even in the face.  Went back in and applied several more light lawyers of transparent and opaque paint and then put in the hair using my dagger bus.   Gosh that brush makes hair so much easier While this might not the best example what are your thoughts to taking portraits this more dynamic direction? Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more

Her Highness mixed media woman portrait

Image
Her Highness   I just absolutely loved the expression on this lady and knew I wanted to try to capture her elegance and serenity.  I knew that I didn't want an exact portrait and decided to try another mixed media piece.    I added blobs of paint and used my large scraper to make the areas of color.  Just put paint on a piece of watercolor paper.  Then I inscribed and mixed the colors together with the end of my brush and got all the wavy lines (in real life they actually stand up so there is a 3D effect to the background).  Where I thought I wanted the face I really scraped most of the paint off, and ended up with color blotches and tones, and if you look in the forehead you can sort of see the design that was left.  I thought it would add some variance to the skin tones. I also want to keep her very soft so I tried to stay in the pastel tones, even with the lips.   Once I got shadows and lights added in, and went over it with some skin tone and more blue colors I let
Read more

In The Garden acrylic painting Redo

Image
In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more