Grey Kitten Head

July 22, 2014 J R DunsterLeave a comment

I’ve missed the cat heads. Here’s a kitten head, but I fear I made this kitty a little more “mature” than the real kitten. This kitty looks like he or she is perhaps in her “teenage” years.

Cat fur is is fun to paint, but difficult. The markings, the softness, it can sometimes be tricky to capture. You’ve got to do it delicately, and with more subtle values. I enjoy the challenge and hope I’m improving in this area!

This was painted on a slightly different surface—I used Cheap Joe’s Prime Extra Fine Art Board. It’s 1/2″ thick, with a slot in the back for hanging. You can hang it as-is, or frame it as you would a regular canvas or panel. It comes unprimed, so I primed it with Winsor & Newtons “Clear Gesso” which was interesting. It is clear (though I think it’ll start to go opaque if you get it really thick) and it has quite a bit of tooth to it. I rather liked it, though.

Another kitten portrait is coming up very soon! Because if you’re familiar with this blog, you already know, I love painting the cat heads.

Siamese Grumpy Cat

June 10, 2014 J R DunsterLeave a comment

I’ve been picking at this painting for a few days, and I think it’s time to say, put a fork in it, it is done!

Thanks to Lily-Stock of dA for the photo I used as reference. I don’t currently have a siamese kitty at home, so I had to use a stock photo as reference.

This kitty looks a bit like a Siamese version of Grumpy Cat. It wasn’t deliberate! I guess I smooshed the face in somehow, or made the kitty look extra sour, or in some other way grumpified it a bit. In any case, I still kind of like how the painting turned out.

8×8″ oil on panel. It’s on a thicker, high quality archival wood panel, primed with acrylic priming. There is no “dovetail” slot (hanging slot) in the back, so it’ll need to be framed.

I enjoyed the challenge of capturing the colors in this kitty. There was a lot of blue in the fur and highlights, as well as warm tones. I’d like to do some more paintings of siamese cats.

Animals · paintings

Portrait of a Barn Cat (Another Cat Head)

June 7, 2014 J R DunsterLeave a comment

Another of the cat heads. I’m growing so fond of painting the cat heads. I also have a Siamese Cat Head in the works, as well as a Very Fluffy Cat Head. And of course several portraits, because portraits are always fun and exciting to paint. I’ll be writing more about these in the near future.

The latest effort is the Barn Cat. This orange boy seems like he has seen many things . . . many things . . . in his rough, barn-cat life. I hope my portrait sufficiently captures the Barn Cat persona. Or maybe not? 😉

I used a stock photo as reference, and need to go through my records to track down who to credit. (I try to be always be up-front about that, as I appreciate greatly the stock photographers who allow artists to use their photos.) UPDATE: Credit goes to elusiveelegance of DeviantArt.com!

Painted on an Ampersand Artist cradled panel. It’s either got a 3/4″ or 7/8″ cradle (kind of like a “gallery wrap” canvas, but this is made with wood). There is a “canvas-like” texture to the acrylic priming on the panel surface. I kind of like this texture for painting. The panel can be framed (like you would any regular stretched canvas) or since it’s got a “gallery-wrap” type appearance, it can be hung as-is.

Enough with the art materials geekiness for now.

Animals · paintings

Tabby Cat Head

June 3, 2014 J R DunsterLeave a comment

Another cat head! I love painting the cat heads.

This one was done on an 8×8″ panel, a little bit bigger than what I’ve done recently. But it was so much fun! There’s a lot to see in the markings of this beautiful cat—a variety of warm and cool tones, textures, and colors. Who knew that a plain ol’ tabby cat could be so complex? But he (she?) is.

With this painting I used a panel by Art Boards, a maple panel with a “dovetail slot” on the back. This slot allows you to hang the painting onto a nail without framing. Or, you can ignore the slot entirely and frame the painting as you would with any other panel or stretched canvas. I gessoed the panel with some acrylic primer (commonly known as “gesso”) and tried to make some slight texture in the panel with my gesso brush. It’s not an excessive amount of texture, but kind of fun!

Animals · paintings

Some Cat Heads

May 13, 2014 J R DunsterLeave a comment

I like painting the cat heads.

I’m a “cat person” and have been enjoying painting these series of cat heads. I had a lot of fun capturing the various whites and greys in this B&W kitty’s face. The subtle colors found in the white fur, the shadows of the fur, was a challenge that I enjoyed very much.

Thanks to azaleapoena on dA for the stock photo I used as reference!

This one looks a bit grumpy or sour. An alternate title might be “Glowering Grey Cat Head.” I enjoyed finding the various greys (warm and cool greys, dark and light greys) in the cat’s coat. Thank you to nickistock of dA for the use of the photo for reference!

Animals · paintings

Pink Nose, a cat painting.

April 29, 2014 J R DunsterLeave a comment

I started this painting a while ago, and finally finished it! I love cats and have already painted a few, and plan to paint many more in the near future.

The amount of subtle colors in a white cat are astonishing! I had such a wonderful time trying to capture not only the colors, but the values (level of light and dark) as well. I started out by using a printout as my reference, but finished up by referring to a photo on my iPad. Wow, the colors showed differently. I had to wing it.

Thanks to sarahharas1 of DeviantArt for the fabulous reference photo.