Flamingo

I was trying to stay loose and paint it on thick with this one. Often I don't mix enough of the colors I need and it makes me be stingy with the paint when I don't want to be.  I was also experimenting with a different paint from my normal here, it's the Lascaux Studio line. The colors are all very opaque which I love, but also more runny than my normal Golden or Lascaux Artists acrylics. The runniness will take some getting used to. It's also hard to mix darker colors with them because they have white bases (which is what makes them nice and opaque). But I will be experimenting more with them for sure.

I have the itch to do some still life paintings next.  My drawing-from-life skills need work, but they won't get better unless I practice!  I rely pretty heavily on gridding when I draw from photos.

Flamingo - 6x8 on archival card stock

Bunny warm-up

Feeling rusty so I warmed up with a fast-and-loose little bunny. In the reference photo, the bunny was in sharp focus and the background was blurred - I tried to recreate that but without success. It's not the first time I've tried and failed at the "blurred background" but I'll keep trying. It seems it might be easier to do if I painted in oils, but I have seen acrylic painters successfully do it so I know it's possible!

I am pushing through a plateau right now, and it's so helpful to follow other painters' blogs and on Instagram for reassurance that many go through this, and you just have to keep painting to get to the other side (until the next plateau, that is!). 

Bunny warm-up - Acrylic on 5x7 in. archival cardboard

Julia’s Cats

These are my friend Julia's cats.  I looked back to the first time I painted a grey tabby which was about 3 years ago, and was excited to see some improvement!  I was drawn to try painting this reference photo because usually I paint from pretty well-lit photos where the eyes really sparkle and can become a center focal point in the painting, but in this photo the lighting was more dimmed and the eyes were pretty dark. I really liked the mood of the photo.

I'm not so sure about the background color - it may be a bit too bright/saturated?

Julia's Cats - Acrylic on 10x10 in. gessobord

So happy with her stick

This is Gypsy, who is so happy with her little stick! It was such a different mode painting a dog after painting a long string of cats. Also this is a lot bigger than I usually paint. I bought some really large canvases at Michael's for 70% off on a whim recently, I want to try doing a few larger pieces. This feels like a good step in that direction.

So happy with her stick - Acrylic on 12x12 in. gessobord

Toulouse

I had the urge to try painting an orange kitty on a red background. I'm not so sure now about the red background now but it fulfilled my craving anyway. :) I found the reference photo on Paint My Photo.com.   I'm working on a couple dog paintings now - this will be the last kitty for a bit!

Toulouse - Acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord

Toby

This is the brother of Dillion, the previous kitty in my blog. This painting doesn't have my usual more colorful background, I wanted to try doing a background that brought out his pretty eyes.

Toby - Acrylic on 6x6 in hardboard panel

I have been painting a lot of cats lately and it's been fun to feel my confidence with them growing. I'm about to switch gears though for a dog commission - stay tuned!

Dillion

This is my cousin Carrie’s cat, Dillion. It was pretty smooth sailing painting this guy until I got to the dreaded whiskers, d'oh! Some turned out a little heavy-handed. I must remember to go slower and do lots of practice strokes intermittently on scratch paper.

Dillion - 6x6 in. acrylic on gessobord