Black cats

Black cat

I have been thinking about adding pet portraits to my etsy store in time for the Christmas season. I am a bit hesitant to do this as capturing living portraiture is a lot different than working on brick and mortar construction.  I was pleased with the portraits I did of Ding Dong Dog and The World’s Best dog, so I thought if I was able to do a black cat acceptably, I would consider it.  This is not quite done as I think I want to do more on the background, but it is basically finished as far as the cat goes.  Black cats are very hard to photograph well enough to get the details I need to be able to see and this was no exception.  I tried to delineate his body with the pen and ink  and add texture with the watercolors without getting overly bogged down in the details.

I am now working on a pair of black cats and after they are done, I will make my decision.  What do you think of this little guy.

Here are links to some of the other animal portraits.

(https://ruthsartwork.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/ding-dong-dog/

https://ruthsartwork.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/dogs-and-daisies/

https://ruthsartwork.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/a-boy-and-his-dog-and-a-lollipop/

Post holiday update

Well, I don’t know if I’m posting 2 days late or 1 day early. I have tried to regularly post on Sundays and Wednesdays and have been pretty much on schedule so far, but the holidays have a way of altering plans. We managed to have a white Christmas, but have had over 16″ of snow for the month – third most for recorded weather and more than enough for me. I guess I should be grateful that we didn’t get the east coast storm of the last few days.

I finally got to photograph some of the artwork out in the sun right before Christmas . The snow melted back enough from the door to put out my photo stand and sun shone enough to take decent pictures. I still am not totally happy with the photos because the yellow facade is not quite right, but will keep at it and post what I have for my latest drawing. I like the picture more and more as time goes by. Sometimes, that is the way it is. I liked it but was not overwhelmed by the way the picture turned out, but I let it sit for a few days while our son and daughter took over my studio to work on a stained glass window to go over the front door entrance way.  I made a few minor adjustments and am much more pleased.  I used pen and ink and pastels, with a little bit of colored pencil.

Here’s a link to an Etsy treasury with one of my cat drawings.  Sarah picked out some beautiful white items and I am pleased that she liked my “Gizmo” drawing. 

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d187f6876646d91cb7d2740/vintage-winter-whites

Tomorrow, after I have unloaded my camera I will also  post a picture of the stained glass  window the kids are working on.  My studio was commandeered for the better part of the week, but it was worth it. The glass has all been cut out and next they will foil the pieces and then assemble it with lead solder.  I can hardly wait for it to be finished and installed.

Indiana streetscape black and white

Streetscape with pastel overlay

Success in the Art Studio. Back to Work

Once again, they are predicting snow, but this time with a little ice added in. Remind me again why I should like winter. It has been so cold out that I haven’t been able to take pictures in the outside light. I am too afraid of getting condensation on the inside of the lens to try it. The change from drier high sixties indoor air to single digits or teens is more than I want to gamble on. I can’t really take them next to a window or door either because we have a little bit of tinting to keep out some of the uv rays over the summer and it alters the spectrum a little. Even so, I tried to take some photos next to the window and under my ott light and daylight flourescents. Guess which ones I ended up using. I  really prefer to use my photo stand outside when I can. Mother Nature is NOT cooperating. I’ll just have to redo several things when the weather is more conducive.

Anyway here is what I have been working on. I did another of a stone barn that I like in pen and ink with watercolor overlay. I find the stone walls of the barn really appeal to me for some reason and I like to do one when I feel stuck. Here is a link to it in my etsy store.    

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64378926/stone-barn-2-in-pennsylvania-10-x-8-pen

I also worked on a quick (relatively speaking) pen and ink of the cat we had when the kids were growing up.  We affectionately called her crabby cat when she was all grown up, but here she is while still a kitten.  It has all worked to get me back to more inspired work.  I am already almost finished lining out my next project.  I’ll probably list the Perkins picture in a day or two.

Pennsylvania Stone Barn 2

Perkins kitten

Cats’ portraits

Here

Gizmo, the upside down cat

Gizmo relaxing

Perkins, not looking crabby

is crabby cat Perkins and 2 pictures of Gizmo – one of his favorite view – upsidedown.