Watercolor Kitten

Happy New Year! Let's make 2015 a great year filled with love, family, friends and of course, ART!!

Last Christmas, I gave my friend a little watercolor painting of her kitten.  She got another kitten over the summer and when I asked her what she'd like for Christmas this year, she asked if I would be able to do another painting of the new kitty so she could display them together.  I was more than happy to, as I love cats and really enjoy doing animal portraits for people. 

When I paint animals, the first thing I start with is the eyes. If the eyes are wrong, the rest of the painting will be wrong, so that's why I start there. I also love painting eyes, the challenge of making them look real with different tones and colors and highlights. It's the best part of the painting!

 He seems to look a little angry here, but that's just the shape of cat eyes. So enjoyable to paint, especially in watercolor. I love painting cat's green eyes, like my cat has and my friend's other cat. This little guy has more yellowish eyes though, and finding that shade was a little tricky. I used some sap green, yellow ochre, naples yellow and burnt umber. I think. 

Next is just the progression of the rest of this face, body and background.

"Maverick", watercolor on paper. 4"x6". 

Japanese Wood Block

I'm taking a Japanese art class at the local museum and our first project is a wood block carving.  I love all forms of printmaking and I haven't done wood block carving in years.  The first class we had a live Japanese model in a kimono with props (fan, bag, parasol) and we drew from life.  We then took our favorite drawing/composition to turn into a print. 

I just finished cutting my block last night and did a quick test print with crayons to get an idea of how it will look completed.  The block is roughly 6"x8" and carved on both sides.

I'll do a more thorough post on this after the actual printing. For now, here's my block and crayon test print. 

Red Tulips

In my last post, I put up a cropped photo of a work in progress.  Well, I finished it!  I did this painting as part of an art swap with a friend.  She makes beautiful crochet blankets, so in exchange for a beautiful handmade blanket, I painted her some red tulips.  I love painting flowers and have become pretty good at it, if I do say so myself, so that's what she requested.  

My favorite part of the painting is the bottom tulip.  I love the perspective, the way it's just coming out towards you.  That's why I took a few other photos of it from crazy angles. 

Another thing, I don't paint glass very often. In fact, this is exactly the second time I've painted glass, but I really love it! All the different colors and abstract shapes in the reflections are really fun to do.  I had a lot of fun painting this picture and I think I want to do a larger version of it sometime in the future. 

Sneak Peek....

I'm still working on my friend's tulip watercolor.  Here's a little preview...