Animals · paintings

With a Black Spot on His Nose – Cat Head

“Black Spot on Nose” 6×6″ oil on Ampersand panel. Thanks to Christine Sniadach at PaintMyPhoto for the picture I used as reference!

This white kitty was so adorable and all the colors in his fur were fascinating to try to capture. This is a slightly different pose for me, as I often paint just the head of the cat. (I call these paintings my Cat Head Paintings.) Well, this is still a Cat Head, but we have some paws and some indication of a body. Woo hoo, I’m moving outside my comfort zone! 😉 Continue reading “With a Black Spot on His Nose – Cat Head”

Animals

White Innocence, Cat Head (“Rocky”)

Annnnnd . . . it’s another cat head! I love painting the cat heads, as if that wasn’t already abundantly clear!

“White Innocence,” 6×6″ oil on linen panel.

I’ve found a rich source of cat head references, at PaintMyPhoto. Fellow PaintMyPhoto member Inge Dagmar Manders has generously provided several lovely photos of her kitties, and this is (I believe) the second photo of hers that I’ve used as reference for a painting. This is of her cat “Rocky.” He appears, at least in this pose, to be the epitome of innocence, with beautiful aqua eyes and a sincere look. Very likely Inge has a different opinion of him, knowing how cats will be!

What I loved about this kitty was the abundance of colors found in the fur. Warm and cool, pinks in the ears, around the nose and mouth. Blues and warm grays elsewhere, battling for attention, shaping the structure of the cat’s head.  All wonderful stuff, I love it!

I painted this on a SourceTek panel (which you can buy at canvaspanels.com). Portrait-weave, oil-primed linen on Baltic Birch. What’s not to love? And love it I do! I have a lot of SourceTek panels stockpiled!

Animals

Big White Cat

"Big White Cat" 6x8" oil on canvas panel. Thanks to Farbenhexe of PaintMyPhoto.com for the reference photo!
“Big White Cat” 6×8″ oil on canvas panel. Thanks to Farbenhexe of PaintMyPhoto.com for the reference photo!

Words cannot express how much I loved painting this kitty! Big, proud, bodacious, this is some cat. A Mighty Fine cat. His whisker pads are something to behold. And look at the tufts of fur coming out from the tips of his ears! What a magnificent animal!

I enjoy painting white cats, or at least cats with significant acreage of white fur, because there’s so many colors to be found within. The white fur reflects the colors around the cat, and looking for the subtle shifts of color, changes from warm to cool, and attempting to capture that—it’s a lot of fun!

I used a Pintura Painting Panel for this painting. It’s touted as an archival panel, and has a very finely woven canvas. I enjoy the smoother texture for painting in this size.