Stripey Cats

I've been working on painting a few striped cats lately. It's a challenge to try to capture all their markings compared to other cats I've painted.

This first handsome guy is Roger, my friends Camille and Paul's cat. 

Roger (May 2014, 6"x6" gessobord)

Next up we have cuties Ramona and Wally, my friend Amanda's cats. It was fun to notice the similarities in their features as I painted (they were litter mates), and they have the sweetest little white muzzles.

Ramona and Wally (May 2014, 6"x6" gessobord)

Next challenge: dogs!

Seed catalog sampler

I realized one day that I had a wealth of photos of fruits, vegetables and flowers to do practice paintings from in my massive pile of seed catalogs. Here are a few recent ones:

Eggplant mix (April 2014, gessobord)

Contender peaches (April 2014, carton panel)

And here's one I posted previously, repeated here so that it can hang out with its seed catalog buddies. :)

Princess Mix (April 2014, gessobord)

One-stroke paintings

This painting is done in "one-stroke" style. It's a practice technique I learned in Kat's painting class that takes a lot of patience (for me) to do, but I always like how the paintings turn out.  It goes like this: every time you dip your brush in your palette, you can only do ONE stroke with it. Then you have to mix a little more and do a fresh dip. It removes the option for too much fussing or fixing or re-working. You also really think before putting any paint down on the canvas. The finished works always look more "loose" and fluid. If it didn't take so much patience I'd paint everything this way! The first one is from a still life:

One-stroke fruit (March 2014, 6x6 gessobord)

This second one is based on a photo of a peeled orange. I really like how the "pithy parts" turned out.

One-stroke orange (Feb. 2014, 8x10 gessobord)

This last picture is based on a photo I borrowed from a random pile in my painting class when I had forgotten to bring one of my own in. I don't know who the woman is, but I really liked the red of the barn and eagerness of the goat.

Lady with goat (5x6 gessobord)

Pia

This little sweetie is my "niece", Pia. She stayed with us for several months while my sister Sarah was getting settled in England. Pia's cousins Callie and Koppi weren't so happy about having her in our house (lots of hissing!), but I thought she was a lovely guest and have been missing her lots since she left.

My favorite things about Pia's features are her little pink eraser nose, and her little "helmet". She's super fun to paint!

Pia 1 (March 2014, 6x6 gessoboard)

Pia 2 (April 2014, 6x6 gessoboard)

Family Homestead- part 2

Here is another picture from a visit to the Garding family homestead a few years back. This one takes us a little farther down the 1/4 mile driveway, into the wooded part and just before the turn when you can see the farmhouse. You can just see the farmhouse peeking through from around the curve.

I'd love to visit again on a sunny spring or summer day and get a 2nd batch of pictures with a totally different feeling than the chilly late fall day of the first batch.

Grandma's Driveway (April 2014, 6x6 gessoboard)

And speaking of spring and summer, now for a completely unrelated painting... I was flipping through one of my many seed catalogs when I got the urge to paint one of the sunny bouquets.

Flower Bouquet 1 (April 2014, 6x6 gessoboard)

Callie-Che

I'd have to say my cat Callie is my favorite thing to paint. She's the first of my subjects to make it into the 3x club. She's got such fun colors and patterns. And her big mane makes her look so regal. I could go on and on but I'll just get to the pictures!

Callie 3 (March 2014, 6x6 gessoboard)

I really struggle with doing the whiskers, I'm trying to change up how I do them each time until I find my best way.

Callie 2 (Feb. 2014, 6x6 gessoboard)

And here is a blast from the past, the first picture I ever painted of Callie. I used cheap craft paints on a cardboard canvas and never painted again after that until recently. It's fun to see how I've progressed!

Callie 1 (circa 2006, 9x12 cheap canvas)