Painting of a bronze cat.

 

Painting of a bronze cat. 

This little bronze statue of an Egyptian cat was given to me by a friend who had treasured it for a long time. I promised her a painting of it in exchange.  

I worked out a still life composition with crystals. I am not sure what the crystals are, except for the lumpy "fool's gold" in the centre and the big grey lump which is unpolished Connemara marble. 

The painting of the cat figure has been done for some time but I am finding the Connemara marble a challenge. I am painting layers upon layers in little dots of greys with hints of green and yellow. It is taking hours. I take as long as I need to get it right. 

I have painted Connemara marble before but that was in pastel on textured paper. This time I am working in Acryl gouache on a very smooth surface so I have to paint the texture rather than letting the materials suggest it for me. 

The texture isn't the biggest challenge. It is hard to describe such an irregular shape. 

The rounded polished stones will be easy. I am a little bit worried about the fool's gold. I don't think it will be as difficult as the Connemara marble. It has flat facets which are easier to depict even if the shape is irregular. 

To the memory of the wonderful "Sheila"

 

The last portrait of Sheila 

This is so typical of Sheila. She loved cropping grass and always carried some in her mouth. 

This drawing is pen and ink on graphic film. I got the softened look by rubbing the applied ink with either an eraser or a cotton bud depending on the effect I wanted. 

Then I strengthened the darker areas. 

I added shades of green on the reverse of the drawing in coloured pencil. 

Horse Communication Drawing update

 

 

Horse Communication Drawing update 

I was not happy with the composition of the pen and ink drawing of the man and his horse. There was a nasty empty area by Sheila's shoulder. So I went searching for something to support her so she didn't look as if she was about to fall off the right hand side of the drawing. 

There wasn't much space to fill but I found a small tree from one of the other photos of Sheila. 

I didn't want to add colour in that area. That would not have improved the composition at all. As I had drawn the horse and man on graphic film, I drew the tree on the reverse using a 2B technical pencil. Then I softened it with a cotton bud. 

Soft pencil slithers nicely on graphic film with a little help. I avoid touching graphic film with my hand as any moisture marks it with a white spot. I lay sheets of paper, preferably blotting paper, wherever I may need to rest my hand. 

Finally, on the right side I emphasised the edge of Sheila's neck and shoulder against the tree using pen and ink.

I am happy with it now. I felt this double portrait was worth my best efforts. It would be a lovely depiction of the trust Sheila has for the man, if I could do it justice.  

Quizzical Mare Communication

 

Bonded 

It took 34 hours to finish this 7x5 inch pen and ink drawing of a man and horse, which is a lot longer than usual but it was a complex composition. There is so much communication going on between the man and his mare, and she is giving him such a quizzical look. I wonder what she thinks of him. 

It took over a month to complete because I had more cat instigated changes which involved buying a small cupboard to stand my printer in my bedroom, which is the only cat free zone. The problem was that the new cat kept sitting on the printer when it was in the kitchen. Cats have such dirty feet and I worried about cat litter dropping in the mechanism. 

So there has been more furniture being moved around upstairs and downstairs to make space for the new cupboard. 

I also bought a new chair to fit into the small space by my bedroom window where I do my pen and ink drawings now (see last post).

You may wonder if I am regretting rescuing Jet the cat. No. 

I will do a few drawings of him once he has a nice new glossy summer coat. He looks shabby now. Maybe he will get a huge fan club and make my fortune. OK I am joking. 

Studio Changes

Studio Changes 

I have been making a few changes to my studio space. 

The changes became necessary when the rescued cat recovered and became more active and demanding of my attention. He soon learned that the certain way to my attention was to sit on my painting. 

I quickly moved my acrylic gouache still life painting to my upstairs easel. I set up a smaller drawing board as you can see above.  

I was able to do some pen and ink drawing for a while, and was able to finish the Wolf Den, but I can't any longer. If I sit at the kitchen table to draw, I soon have a large cat on my lap staring into my eyes. And now the old cat is copying him!

The only solution was to find a table to take upstairs to hold my drawing slope. 

I have a gate leg table, I unscrewed the hinges attached to the flaps to make it easy to carry upstairs. Taking a small gate leg upstairs single handed with the flaps bouncing is no fun. 

Today it has been a question of the best chair to squeeze into the space between my bed and the window. 

I started a new pen and ink today. I am going to have to work hard to catch up. I plan to do some equine art in time for the annual Appleby Horse Fair. 

Upside down gate leg table waiting for its second flap to be screwed on. 

Conkers

Conkers 

I have finished the coloured pencil portrayal of conkers or horsechestnuts. It is 5x7 inches. 

I did some miniatures in coloured pencil, based on the horsechestnut tree last year and I wanted to do a larger version. I thought I had finished it last year but when I looked at it last week I decided I could do a better job of the shadows. 

I used Zest-it pencil blend to reduce the rough areas of shadow, then I left it to dry until next day. Then I was able to blend fresh shadows on top of the traces. 

I described in early February, how I built a barricade to protect my artwork from the cat. Well it stopped working. The cat insists on sitting on my lap. So I spent the weekend setting up my smaller artwork "studio" in my bedroom/cat-free zone. Now I have the painting of the bronze cat still life set up and I was able to get back to it this afternoon. I also set up two 5x7 inch pen and ink drawings of my favourite horse model. There is no ink on them yet. I will be able to work on them while I am waiting for paint to dry!

I have put the other pen and inks away for a while. They are wolves and big cats so they will wait. 

My downstairs studio has my easel for big paintings. I will stand to work on them so the cat won't be able to sit on my lap. I am waiting for my leg to become stronger before I can do that. I have been having trouble with walking and standing this winter which is one reason I have been concentrating on the small pen and inks. 

Wolf with cubs in her den drawn in pen and ink.

I have been moving my art studio downstairs and I had buried my scanner under a heap of paper which is why I have only just been able to scan this 6 x 4 inch pen and ink drawing of a wolf with her cubs in a den under tree roots. 

I have wanted to do this subject for a long time and eventually I decided that I must do it now. It is the one subject that I would regret if I had not done it at the end of my life. Now I can look for another subject to inspire me, but first I am going to do another larger version of the wolf den in colour. 

I love working in pen and ink. I recently bought a second Platinum fountain pen to use with waterproof carbon ink. Yes these pens are designed with a cap that stops them from drying up though it is necessary to use it every day or so with the carbon ink. I bought the pen with the ultra fine nib for my small drawings. I love the feel of the pen in my hand and the delicate lines that it can produce. 

I needed fine lines and control to draw the wolf and her cubs. The cubs in particular were a huddle of legs and noses. It was difficult to sort them out. I think there are four cubs there. It may have helped if I coloured the tongues pink but I thought that would look silly.