'Nala' by Anita Davies © All rights reserved
This is the pet portrait I was working on last week, now safely with the client and gifted to his Wife, I can share it here without spoiling any surprises.
I've not had much experience with painting or drawing cats, infact I've painted just 3 in the 5 years since I started my art journey; one in coloured pencil and two pen & wash sketches, so this was very exciting to paint.
Here are my references: An enlarged print out for detail especially in those eyes and a photograph for colour reference, as the ink needs replacing in my printer and looked a little washed out I relied solely on the photograph for colour.
Happy with my drawing I outlined it in sepia pigment liner and began to add my watercolour.
A close up of those eyes:
I was asked to add a couple of sketches on the mountboard that would frame this portrait:
Here you can see the finished portrait inside it's mount and one of the sketches in the bottom corner, the second sketch was situated at the top left to balance.
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24 comments:
just beautiful....
This is just gorgeous, Anita! I am indeed a cat person, and have painted mine many times, and this is wonderful...the eyes are perfect. I'll bet your friend's wife was thrilled!
Anita, this is absolutely lovely! Impossible to believe that you haven't been painting cats all your life!
Beautiful portrait Anita, I like that little sketch in the frame too!
Well done. Beautiful cat. Haven't had a cat since I was a kid. Our kids had a Dachshund growing up. My son's cat always comes to me when we visit for a good head rub. It must be my animal magnetism.;-)
Beautiful cat! :)
What a beautiful job you did!!!!
Absolutely Fabulous!!!
Wow Anita this is beautiful and those eye are absolutely stunning!!
Anita! Stunning. Lucky clients.
simply WONDERFUL!!!
Really well done. Thanks for sharing your process.
Your client must be SO happy anita...this final painting is just beautiful! You've kept that lovely feline expression in his eyes! well done
ronell
Beautiful! It must be amazing IRL, and I am sure your client's wife is thrilled.
Lovely portrait, and a really impressive use of watercolour. I find it interesting that you go over your initial drawing in pigment liner. Does it show in the final painting or is it very very fine?
Got a question for you about Inktense: have you used them in a Moleskine? If so, do they work well in there?
Oh My,Oh My,Oh My,Oh My......SENSATIONAL!
Wonderful job! It's beautiful. I love the eyes.
Delightful rendering... and nice use of the cat's complement for the background! I must keep photographing and practicing painting my own cat.
Great job.
This is gorgeous, Anita!! I'm sure his wife was rapt!
You deserve all 20 of these praising comments and as for the client - he must have been over the moon. Love it all but especially the eyes - its just the way my Fleur looks up at you. Great you showed so many stages and the extra sketches your client got for his money!!! What is it you cant do in your own inimitable great technique - nothing.!! Lucky students on Weds nights to have such an amazing tutor.
Wow, you've done an amazing job on this, Anita!
Lovely.
Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments.
Much appreciated.
E-J, I have never used a pen line on a watercolour portrait before but found it much nicer to work with. The sepia almost disappeared after applying the watercolour, which was my hope, but it helped define some wispy areas quite nicely.
I would use this technique again with a similar palette.
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