Elsie’s eyes nearly painted themselves yesterday afternoon. Usually when I work in the eyes and nose, I know when I finish the underpainting what I’ll need to do to complete them on the next layer. She’s different, though. She’s been staring at me through graphite just waiting for color.

This connection I feel toward her is going to result in a portrait that surprises even me, I’m sure of it.

I’ll finish up her underpainting today.

Cheeky’s underpainting is complete, this gorgeous fluffy kitty is getting his second portrait painted in a larger size (6×6 from 4×4), since momma liked the first one so much.

I’ll be working on one more underpainting today, so back to the studio I go!

Here’s Willie’s underpainting, in stages, as I progressed on his pretty tuxedo kitty cat self today.

The first thing I always complete is the background. There’s a hint of teal in his eyes and the whites of his fur, so I pulled that into the background to bring out his eyes more. I finished his background last weekend – but with everything else going on I hadn’t had a chance to show you that yet.

Today I began with his eyes, then nose – then ears. Then I stopped and giggled because that just looked silly – so there you have it. Silly tuxedo cat portrait in progress.

Stage two was getting the colored tones of his fur down. Blues, greens, reds and creamy tans are nice reflective colors on a black cat – they go down first. Then I went back and deepened just some of the darks – particularly his cheekbones and eyes. After I worked in all of the dark fur areas, I pulled medium shades into the white areas and will lighten that further with the next layer of oil.

And there you have it. I wanted to show you that second progress shot so you can really get a feel for how I paint fur. I literally paint one hair or very small groups of hairs at a time for the underpainting – and then I’ll paint probably two more layers of fur, more individually for more depth.

I completed the background for Elsie, and called Catybug in to have a look at it. I had to hold it up against something to show the difference in color, since it was late afternoon when I finished it and the light was going south west and fading fast. My studio chair was a good spot, the seat is black, the back is honey oak.

She came out to the studio and her eyes opened wide. “Ooooh! I LOVE THAT COLOR! What color is that??” she said. I had no idea how to answer that question, either. Well, it’s not quite red, it’s not crimson – it’s not aubergine, it’s not burgundy, raspberry, or fuchsia. Umm…

“You invented a NEW color, mom?? Woah…”

Maybe I did. And maybe I feel like a pretty darn cool mom for letting some painterly intuition drive my color selection for this background. I know it might not seem like much to you, but choosing these background colors is a big deal. It can make or destroy the portrait, in my eyes.

I invented a color. This is a combination of permanent rose, alizarin crimson, brown madder and yellow ochre. Now I just need to name it, and call Crayola.

 

With the New Year comes new art in my studio. These are the rest of the commissioned works that I’ll be completing in oils over the next few weeks.

A. Custom portrait of two very wonderful people, this is 8×10.

B. Custom cat painting – this is Elsie. This portrait will memorialize her, as she’s recently passed over the rainbow bridge. Her mom sent me the story of her life, and by the time I was finished, I was reading through blubbers and drips. She had a beautiful life, and she’s got a wonderful mom. This is an 11×14.

C. Custom cat painting of Willie, a pretty longhaired tuxedo cat. He’s 8×8.

D-E-F & G. Custom lovebird paintings. These are 4×4 little bitty canvas panels that will get matted and framed out to a larger size to really make them a focal point. Lovebirds are gorgeous, as you know, and there are two pair in this family. I have all of their names, but they’re a bit jumbled as I’m not sure yet which name goes with which pretty bird.

H. That pretty little kitty, Cheeky, done up in a larger, 6×6 portrait.

Then there’s Katie’s portrait, and then I’ll get crackin on the Heron painting – because it won’t be long before it’s time for my first exhibition (in March) – and I’m a last minute crunch kinda gal.

Suffice it to say – my New Year’s Resolution? To Paint. A lot.What’s your biggest most important goal for the New Year?

Custom Cat Portrait : Ashley
4? x 6? Oil Painting
Canvas Panel
© 2006 Leanne Wildermuth
All Rights Reserved

Ashley’s portrait is complete, and I’m really happy with how she turned out. She’s a beautiful, fluffy cat and the lighting makes the depth of her fur really stand out. Of course her scan will look much better and be more accurate to color, but the painting will take a couple of days to dry. I’ll post her final scan and photos before I send her on her way home.

(click here to see the work in progress and final painting beside eachother.)

Ashley’s cat portrait is coming along nicely. One more layer of paint will go on tomorrow to deepen the deeps and lighten the lights – add whiskers and fluff and she’ll be finished.

Two more kitties in the studio ready to paint, Cheeky and Willie. Both from different owners, Cheeky is having a larger painting from the first portrait, so this will be my second painting of him. Willie is a fluffy tuxedo cat, I painted his dog brother Mo back in 2004.

I’ll be sketching one more large painting this morning and then putting paint to canvas on Ashley’s Cat Portrait for the rest of the day.