Heat Seeker

Heat Seeker

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I can pretty much always count on two things when it comes to painting. 

1. It will take longer than I think it will. (amiright?)

2. I will ALWAYS choose the subject with the most beautiful light. 

This kitty was gorgeously backlit, making her ears just glow and causing beautiful catchlights in her eyes. I thought I heard angels singing when I saw the light but it might have been me. ;) 

Something I learned with this painting is to make sure and paint in colorful areas first so they don't get muddied by the surrounding darks. I think I have heard Carol Marine refer to this as her 'island to ocean' technique. 

Fell a bit behind with painting a single painting every day for September, but that's just life and I'm not beating myself up over it. I actually enjoy it more when I split the painting up over two days. . . at least at this size. 

Have a good night everyone! I'll be visiting blogs tomorrow! HUGZZZ, Crystal 

Watching: Blacklist

Listening to: Chiustream with Bobby Chiu

Reading: Love and Gelato

Snacking on: nada

Drinking: banana flavored bcaa's

Incendiary

'Incendiary' 

5 x 7 inches oil on masonite

$65 plus $7 US shipping, or $15 International

'Fire burns brighter in the darkness.' - Suzanne Collins

I don't paint very many cats. I don't know why because it's not that I don't like cats. I do. Especially kittens. Because they're cute. And especially big cats, because they are just plain gaawgeous right?

Of all the big cats the Clouded Leopard, in this painting,  is my favorite. So striking with their dark spots and creamy brown fur. Their eyes seem to be a bit larger than most other big cats too, which is so beautiful. 

The eyes, once again, inspired this painting. There seemed to be a spark there just waiting to be fanned into a flame. I love that intensity in her gaze too. Not quite predatory here, but interested in something. Very, very interested.

Reference, with thanks, by Tammylo.

And THANK YOU so much for all the lovely birthday wishes! It was a great day. I"ll post a picture of my mountain of cupcakes my boys made me soon. And the winner of my sketch is Rob - Jackie Duff, facebook fan. Thanks so much for all the comments my friends! 

On My Terms

'On My Terms' 

5" x 7" oil on panel

$65 plus $8 US shipping, or $20 International

So my last painting was a mouse, today's is a cat. Any guesses about what tomorrow's will be? ;) I loved this close up view of this curious kitty because it made her eyes larger than life. And her markings are very unusual which I found very interesting. I love Siamese kitties. :) 

I had this painting finished but didn't post yesterday because I was on a field trip with my son. We had a lot of fun, cross country skiing (more on that in a minute), snowshoeing, and building some seriously cool ice caves. By the time I got home it was too dark to photograph so here it is today. I've been focusing on close ups of faces of all kinds with oils lately because I am driven to master this in my style. I was exactly the same when I started in watercolors. Obsessive much? 

I always volunteer to chaperone on field trips because my kids really like me to go (and I love that) and it's fun to see them interact with their friends and discover new things. This time I thought I'd just be watching over my son and his little group of friends I was assigned to. I did not think I'd be skiing (let me inform you that I have never in my life been skiing before, of any kind). So. . . I didn't really come prepared. No snow pants. And I wore my favorite suede boots. (Yes, major DUH on my part). 

But, trying to be a good sport, I strapped on my skis and gave it a whirl. I mean how hard could it be? We were on mostly flat land for goodness sake. Going straight in these little worn out trails from a million other skiers before us. Not downhill. I couldn't get into that much trouble. Or so I thought.

Everything was going well until we reached this hill that wasn't very steep but was very looooong. And then. . . I was an out of control woman on skis. I couldn't stop! Seriously. I was gaining speed ridiculously fast. The hill wasn't steep, but it was super slick and the next thing I know I'm on the ground, ski strapped feet up in the air. Snow melting into my non-snow pants (ie: jeans) covered bottom. 

Along comes an instructor (where were you 30 seconds ago hmmm?) saying "keep your knees to your skis!" (a direct quote from the video they had us watch about how to get up once you'd fallen) in an all too cheerful voice as he zooms past me. 

I get up. And try again. I fall. Again. I get up. I fall. This pattern repeats quite a lot over the next ten minutes. And I STILL haven't made it down that hill. I can't even see my little group of fifth grade charges anymore. They gone. Long gone.

I fall one last time. Ski instructor zooms past again, still so cheerfully calling out to me "Keep your knees to your skis!" I grumble under my breath that if he says that one more time I've got a much better place for my knee to go.   

This is when I admit defeat. I need to find my group of kids. So I take my skis off and decide to walk the rest of the way down the hill. Unfortunately this is where I lose my grip on one of my skis and off it goes zooming down the hill of its own accord, unencumbered by its not so graceful host. I take off after it, running, no sprinting, down that hill to catch my rogue ski, when suddenly it veers off into the wilderness. 

Naturally I decide to follow it. Pretty soon I'm not running anymore, but marching through deep, deep snow, sinking lower with each step. I look around and notice the trees sure are little in this part of the woods, only about two feet tall. I can even touch the tops of them. A red flag pops up in my head. I can't see the ski anymore and I really don't care at this point because I've just realized that these are not little trees, they are the bare tops of trees that are covered in tons of snow. 

Now I realize why I kept feeling like I was sinking. Because I was! I get the heck out of there faster than a shopper at midnight on Black Friday. The ski's on its own. It's every woman for herself. 

I survived and lived to paint another day. I found my kids, and I told the instructor that I lost a ski (he was ever so nice about this, which made me inwardly cringe about my earlier grumbling about where to put my knee) and the rest of the day was spent with a much lower stress level on my part, and a lot of snowball throwing on the kids part.

It was a good day. But I was never more happy to get into my nice warm house than I was last night. 

At least I won't have to do this again. At least. . . not for a few more years until my second grader is in fifth grade.

*Gulp*

Reference photo by Tiffany Lauren, thank you! 

Lucy and Gabriel - sold

'Lucy'  sold

private commission ACEO 2.5" x 3.5"

colored pencil on bristol

'Gabriel' sold

private commission ACEO 2.5" x 3.5"

colored pencil on bristol

A sweet woman contacted me a few weeks ago and asked for two commissions of her two pets. Don't you just love Lucy's face? And Gabriel looks like he's up to something doesn't he?

Today I opened up my watercolor palette and started painting and I had the most peaceful feeling come over me as soon as I started swirling my brush through the colors and water.

It was awesome. :)

Huzzah for stress-relieving art making!!

Safekeeping SOLD Daily Paintworks Challenge

Safekeeping SOLD

5" x 7" watercolor

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This week's challenge at Daily Paintworks was the Superstition challenge. Now I'm not really much for superstitions, but I really wanted to paint this black kitten so this was a pretty good reason. :)

It makes me sad that almost all black cat superstitions are negative ones, so I looked for some positive ones and here are some that I found:

Many people believe that anyone who finds the one perfect, pure white hair in an all-black cat and plucks it out without being scratched, will find great wealth and good luck in love. (Good luck with that one)

In Britain wives of fishermen believed that their menfolk will return safely if a black cat is kept in the house.

In the south of France, black cats are referred to as 'magician cats', they are said to bring good luck to owners who feed them well and treat them with the respect they deserve.

And my personal favorite is this one: "In Egypt, it was once believed that the life-giving rays of the sun were kept in a cat's eyes for safekeeping."

Admittedly I am more of a dog person than a cat person, but seriously? Kittens are too cute not to paint. It can not be helped. Must. Paint. Kitten.

And a very special thanks to Jenny Martinez Photography for the reference photo of this very cute kitten.

See you next week everyone!