Quiet Please

Quiet Please - Here is the full size completed painting of Pewter, after beating on his brothers, sound asleep resting up for another round. This is an 8" x 10" oil painting. Pewter is painted fairly tightly, however I kept the cushions loose, you can see the brush work. Since the subject was the cat I wanted to keep the focus there. By leaving the background loose, without as much detail, the eye is directed towards the more finished object.

Cat On Barn Window

This is a pastel done on sanded paper. I love working with the color, oils have always been my first love but the more I learn and work with pastels its becoming a tie as to which I enjoy more.
I may do one of my Christmas cards in pastel this year, I have some blue paper and have tried a few ideas out.

Excuses Excuses

It has been unusually hot here the last few days. Not the type of weather you want to stay inside and paint in. Guess I could try my hand at plein air painting, or at least sketch outdoors a little. The cats are lying in front of garage door, SPLAT, they don't have the energy to move.

I have been working on my blog, learning how to add an image to my banner and "jazz" it up a bit. Looked into switching over to Typepad since I have seen so many bloggers with professional looking sites using that company. But on the other hand there are also just as many blogs in Blogger that are just as well formatted with interesting banners and graphics. So my education has begun. I'm sure there will be more changes coming, a little knowledge is a scary thing.

Pewter - Kitten on Back - Sketch for Oil Painting

This is a sketch of Pewter sleeping on the couch as a kitten. I will post updates on this piece as I work. This is going to be an oil painting on board

I am going to take some artist license with the couch and background. What I do is use tracing paper on top of the original sketch to layout a new drawing. This way I can keep moving elements around until I find something that works. I do work from photos, and now with the digital camera it is so easy to collect reference material. When the final sketch is complete I'll post it.

Twist Tied

This title may change, I could not come up with anything creative last night when I finally got to the point of putting this print onto Etsy. However, this morning I see a note on my drawing table with a possible title from my husband. I will give it some time today and see which way to go.

I did want to mention that the color of the sanded paper I used on this piece was peach. I work with pastel pencils and hard pastel sticks to sketch out my image and to achieve detail, along with soft pastels for color. My pastel pencils are Derwent and the hard sticks are Faber Castell but on the soft pastels I have several different brands. When I go to the store to pick up some new supplies I just love to look at all the pastel sticks out for display, so many colors and I am still experimenting learning what works for me. This could get a little expensive.

From NPR, May 2, 2008 Storycorps. This was the last line from the interview with Lyle Link.
"Live with courage"

Cat on Pink Blanket

Today was spent on this image, working in Photoshop getting it ready to produce a print. I have not even named it yet, hopefully something a little better than Cat on Pink Blanket. I have a soft spot for Calico's. The original is a pastel on Sennelier La Carte sanded paper.

Since Saturday was devoted to yard work, today I indulged myself. This morning I worked on an oil painting and this afternoon the above image. By mid week I should have the print ready for Etsy.

For now I am going to continue my indulgent Sunday and go watch Monk on TV.

Nodding Off

Nodding Off as a print as been added to my Etsy store. The original oil painting measures 8" x 10" on hardboard, I have been working on this piece off and on all winter. I am a slow painter, its seems that I need time to evaluate each piece as I work on it. Or it could be that my comfort zone is just pokey. In any case, it is something I am working on, trying to speed things up a bit.

The painting is of Ember, our older male cat, who is the alpha of our herd. He has done well with each new addition, just letting them know his limits.

Slumber Party

Two years ago at Easter we came home to find a stray cat on our back porch. She hung around the house for a few weeks allowing us to talk to her and feed her but you could not touch her. Of course she was pregnant and finally moved in with us to have her three tiny kittens in our bathroom.

We were very fortunate that one of the girls who works with my friend found a home for Mama and one of the kittens leaving us with two, "Pewter" and "Fred" (formerly known as Fredrika). Even though we really didn’t have the room those kittens just stole our hearts and it was hard to finally let go.

However, Mama did not like our dog - perhaps she was even abused by one and we did not have the room in our house to make it work. And yes, we were just as bad as new parents with the photographs and videos of the adorable kittens.

The above painting is of "Pewter" and the 3rd kitten my husband named "Cookie" (because he was black & white like an Oreo). While I really do not need any more cats, it was really a great experience even as we were wondering what we were going to do with them and how we were going to feed them all. And as a side note - Mama and her boys have all been to the vet so this won’t happen again.

The above painting is a 5" x 7" oil on board.

Sleeping Beauty aka 'Reclining Dude'

Ember has lived with us for at least 10 years. He is a fairly good sized Tabby male with a large flat head and sweet face. He has one of the most patient dispositions I have ever had in a furry friend. He first started coming around when we had two (fixed) Calico females, 'Roos' & 'Chloe'.

Ember loves the women folk, but unfortunately the only female in his life right now is Lily, our Corgi, but that does not deter him. He is also extremely cool, something I think he prides himself in. His fur is so complicated with the various shades of grey, tan, brown and flecks of gold that it can be intimidating to try and paint him.

What I love about Ember is the way he dominates his space. When he is in a chair he occupies the whole pad, with a little overhang at both ends. When sleeping on the bed or the couch he seems to really enjoy stretching out - I guess you could say he's extremely comfortable in his skin.

The original pastel of Ember - Sleeping Beauty aka 'Reclining Dude' - was a pastel on Sennielier La Carte sanded paper and came from a sketch I did of him a while ago napping on a comforter. I loved the pose with the paw behind his head. Here's how we use Sleeping Beauty in our 100 year archival Giclee prints.

My eBay store has prints & greeting cards of this image & others.
My Cafepress store has more samples on my 2nd new website.

My Etsy Store has more samples on my 3rd new website.