Double Trouble - Kitten Art

"Double Trouble" is a scratchboard drawing of two kitten siblings. I took the reference photo many years ago and started the drawing a while back also. It was a demo piece, so I was in no rush to complete it, but I finally finished it earlier this year and realized I had never posted it to my blog.

For this drawing, I used EssDee Professional Scraperboard (which is no longer available) and Koh-i-noor UltraDraw ink. I applied the undiluted ink with both a brush and a Rapidograph pen. I also applied washes of ink, diluting it with water into three shades (light, medium & dark). I used a #16 X-Acto blade for scratching. The drawing area measures approximately 4.5" x 6.5". "Double Trouble" is available and it's matted to fit an 8" x 10" frame (white mat with black core). Please contact me if you're interested in purchasing this piece.

Stage 1 - Black and shades of grey blocked in

Stage 2 - Fur texture scratched in to soften and blend

Stage 3 - Washes of ink added, some black added with the tech pen

Stage 4 - More scratching

Final - Fine tuning with scratching, ink washes and pen

Detail of the finished drawing

Animated Image

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Catching Up . . .

Before I go further, I'd like to wish my readers a Happy New Year and extend my gratitude for your support. I wish you all the best for 2012 and hope that the new year brings you peace, happiness and prosperity.

And now down to business . . . I'll admit I'm not updating my blog as often as I'd like, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'll catch up with today's post - featuring a number of portraits I've finished in the last month or two.

Some of them had to remain secret because they were Christmas gifts. The odds of the recipients seeing this blog are pretty slim, but it's a karma thing - I don't like to reveal a portrait to the public until the gift has been given or the client has approved the final.


Morgan - Golden Retriever, 8" x 9", ink and ink wash on scratchboard
When I first went out to take photos of puppy Morgan, he had been playing in the kiddie pool in the backyard. I took photos of wet puppy Morgan and then his mom and I decided when he matured I'd take more photos. The result is this two-part portrait.


Cohan - Maine Coon, 6" x 7", watercolor on Yupo


Cohan - Version 2, mixed media on Aquabord (ink, watercolor, color pencil)
My client wanted a Petzazz style portrait of Cohan, but her husband preferred my more realistic style, so I did both! I scanned in-progress stages of the realistic portrait; one of these days, I'll make a WIP (work in progress) video of it.


Brutus - English Mastiff, 7.5" x 5", watercolor on Yupo (with some color pencil)
This was a long-distance commission. My client is in New Jersey and this was a Christmas present for her husband. She provided a wonderful reference photo and we communicated via e-mail and one phone call.


Roxie - Tortoiseshell, 2.5" x 3.5", pencil/color pencil


Mouse - Tabby, 2.5" x 3.5", pencil w/color pencil eye & nose
Sadly, Mouse had already passed and the portrait was a Christmas gift for her owner. My client had a limited selection of photos for me to use as reference, but I was able to make it work with one of the photos. There's more detail in the white area of her fur, but my scanner just didn't pick up those light pencil marks.

The portraits of Roxie and Mouse are ACEOs - small format art that always measures 2.5" x 3.5". See more ACEO portraits here.

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Assorted Cat Portraits

Playing catch-up here. . .
These are portraits that have been finished for a while. I just hadn't gotten around to posting them until now.

First up is Wonkers. She was a beautiful and tough old girl. She had some chronic health problems but lived much longer than anyone thought she would. Her portrait is in ink/ink wash on scratchboard.

Here's a video of the progress:


I do have the individual scans of her portrait, but I'm blogging from a remote location without access to my main computer (internet's been down at home for a while), so I won't be posting those as I usually do.


"Wonkers, 6" x 6", Ink/Ink Wash/Watercolor (eyes) on Scratchboard"

Next is Mr. Fatty, a Munchkin cat (very short legs & stubby tail). This drawing is an ACEO in pencil, with blue color pencil for accent on his eye and the rug. This portrait was commissioned by Mr. Fatty's "aunt" (an artist friend who goes by the name "Golders") for her sister.

"Mr. Fatty, 2.5" x 3.5", Pencil & Color Pencil"

These are the reference photos in color & greyscale:



Last up is Trooper, who belongs to one of my friends. This is another ACEO drawing in pencil. I used color pencil on her ears & eyes.

"Trooper, 2.5" x 3.5", Pencil & Color Pencil"

My first idea was to do a dramatic crop for the portrait, with one of the photos my friend provided. Like this:

. . . but she really wanted to have both of Trooper's eyes in the portrait. So I used this photo and then cropped it.


So these are the reference photos in color & greyscale. I rotated them slightly to make her eyes level.

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New Cat Art

I've just finished two cat paintings: one is a commissioned portrait, the other is part of a series of new works that I'll hang in the Auburn Old Town Gallery in May.

This is Devlin, a Burmese and the third pet portrait completed for a client who's commissioned me to do portraits of her many pets. Quincy the Newfoundland and Eamonn the Great Dane's portraits are already finished. Next up will be an Irish Wolfhound and then there are some more cats.


Devlin, 6" x 7", Watercolor on Yupo

The dog portraits are realistic, but we decided to go the "Paintings with Petzazz" route for her cat portraits. That would explain why Devlin is various shades of purple and blue with a grass green background - I always paint the Petzazz portraits in a vibrant, limited palette on Yupo paper.



The second painting is of a cat from FieldHaven Feline Rescue - a wonderful local cat rescue and adoption facility. The reference photo was provided by Joy Smith, the director. I can always count on her for great photos of the kitties at FieldHaven.

I used ink, watercolor and color pencil on watercolor Art Board for this piece.


"The Eyes Have It", 5" x 5", Mixed Media on ArtBoard



Here's a video showing my steps to create this painting:


This painting along with this pig and four other new ones will be on display at the Auburn Old Town Gallery in May. You can find this image on items in my Zazzle shop.

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Samantha Portrait - Just Finished

Finished yesterday, I've just color & contrast-corrected the scan, gotten the client's approval and I'm delivering Samantha's portrait on Friday. This 5 " x 7" drawing was done in India ink & ink wash on white scratchboard.






I took a couple photos of the portrait along the way. Not the greatest photos, but I think you'll get the idea.

This is after the first application of ink (on white scratchboard, not black): I use a brush with full strength India ink for the darkest areas. I set up a palette with three to four strengths of ink wash (dark, medium, light/very light) to block in the rest. The ink washes are simply India ink thinned with water. I also use a Rapidograph pen to put in the fine details and some of the fur texture. I do that first, then fill in the rest with the brush. I'm not worried too much about neatness at this point - I will be doing a lot of scratching on the entire cat to build up detail and soften the transitions between tones. This first step is just to block things in so I know where to go next.

Skip forward a step to this one:

I've already scratched the entire surface of the cat and have added another layer of ink washes. At this stage, I don't use full strength India ink on the brush; for the really dark areas, I use the Rapidograph pen and a dark wash of ink. The scratches I've made are filled in by the new layer of ink washes which adds texture and variety of tone. You can see that this stage is much softer than the first stage. I use an X-Acto #16 blade for scratching - nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

The next step was to scratch in select areas to tidy things up and define the fur patterns and to add ink washes where needed. Then I scratched in the eye highlights and whiskers. I also used a pencil to add the whiskers and hairs that show up against the white background. The whiskers don't show up in the image I posted, but they're there.

I did a more complete job of documenting the steps of a scratchboard drawing in this post of a golden retriever portrait.

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New ACEO - Watchful Chaucer

"Chaucer" - Pencil on Bristol, ACEO format - 2.5" x 3.5"
You can see an in-progress photo here


Photo provided by Chaucer's owner. I cropped it just a bit to fit the ACEO format.

Although I'm happy to say that Chaucer's owner will be buying this drawing, it wasn't a commissioned piece. Chaucer's owner is one of my Twitter followers and she posted a photo of him one day. The very striking photo really caught my eye, so I asked permission to use it for a drawing reference. As I always do when I use someone's photo for a "spec" drawing (one that isn't for a client), I offer the photographer first option to buy, but I let them know that there's absolutely no obligation. If she hadn't wanted to purchase the drawing, I would've given her a print and note card as thanks for letting me use the photo. Then I would've listed the original on-line in my Bonanzle booth or framed it and put it at the Auburn Old Town Gallery.

One of the many reasons I enjoy working on ACEO format drawings (ACEO = Art Cards, Editions & Originals) is that they're small and portable. If I'm not able (due to mood or time constraints) to tackle one of my larger in-progress pet portraits, I can put in a bit of time on an ACEO while sitting on the couch, waiting for an oil change, hanging out at Dad's house, etc. All I need is a couple of pencils, a sharpener, an eraser, my reading glasses and a small scrap of matboard as a support. I'm always looking for reference photos (even though I have tons of my own) that will make interesting ACEO subjects and I'm always grateful to those who allow me to use their photos.

Interested in an ACEO-sized portrait of your pet? Click here to find out more.

Note cards of Chaucer are available on Bonanzle.

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2 More Portraits

Finished and delivered - yay!

Quincy the Newfoundland:

7" x 9", India ink, watercolor and color pencil on Ampersand Aquabord



Ankh & Taita, Abyssinians:

5" x 8", watercolor and a bit of color pencil on Yupo

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New Drawing to Benefit FieldHaven Feline Rescue

This is Noah, a kitten saved by FieldHaven Feline Rescue, now living in a wonderful home. Noah had a really rough start in life, he and his siblings were infected with panleukopenia - a feline distemper virus that was fatal to his littermates. This tough little guy pulled through though - thanks to the caring folks at FieldHaven. The effective vaccine for this virus is routinely given to kittens, unfortunately Noah and his littermates were found abandoned and unvaccinated.


This drawing is now available in my Etsy shop, click on Noah to see the listing.

The drawing measures 3" x 3" and is matted to 8" x 8". Drawn in graphite pencil with some color pencil.

Thanks to Joy Smith, the director of FieldHaven for providing the reference photo I used for my drawing of Noah.

Trying something new here - I learned about TipJoy on Twitter (where I'm annran5) and thought I'd start offering the option to tip my favorite charities when I post about them. So here goes: if you'd like to leave a tip for FieldHaven (as little as 25 cents would be appreciated) click here.

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