Day 5 30 Day Challenge - Watching

Watching

4"x5"

Acrylic

Yep am here again with another cat, but they make great subjects as they have so many moods.  I haven't painted many house cats, usually only the big boys.  There have been some articles recently that state cats now are causing issues in many parts of the world because they are hunters with no predators, and are destroying certain other species.

This cat certainly is intent on watching something.  Trying to get the multi-color fur was a bit of a challenge.  I still don't have the technique with the right brush together, but it is coming and am sure the answer is practice.  I keep experimenting trying to get the different layers, groupings, shadows and hair lengths.  I had a lot of fun trying to put in the different colors in the eyes, simply put in blotches and then did several layers of glazing of yellows and my green mixture.  The background is made with ochre, very little white and phathlo blue - surprising myself in that I really like that blue as it seems to be super versatile.    I also surprised myself and feel that I actually got the left ear looking kind of translucent.  So all in all I am pretty happy with this study.

TIP:   When working from photos be sure you are using photos that have shadows and aren't bland and washed out by flash.  You need the shadows to get form.  But remember that shadows in reality are never as dark as in a photo - there is also a lot more color other than black in a shadow. 

Thanks much for stopping by.