Monday, April 28, 2014

What color is a happy cat?

Purr Ball  watercolor on Yupo By Meera Rao 6x8.5"

I have many photographs of cats but actually have never painted one until now :) Past couple of months I have been reading "Cats -Drawing and Painting in Watercolor"  by Lesley Fotherby.  Since I don't have a real live cat in the house, I practiced by sketching the cats from her book, learning their curves and their anatomy as I recovered from my encounter with shingles.  Most interesting was studying and sketching their head from various angles, learning how their pupils behaved. I now know that in bright sunlight the pupil will be a narrow slit, in the dark or when a cat is concentrating on its prey or if it is excited or angry, it can open to a circle! I decided I wanted to concentrate on the eyes and the head, not worry much about the body or the legs.  I lightly sketched the eyes, and the rest of the head.  Yupo is wonderful to play around to bring out the softness and texture when painting wet on wet with loaded brushes and then when the surface is dry go with the script brush to define the eyes, nose and mouth. I used a very limited palette and loved patterns the colors brought about. 

So what color is a happy cat? Purrple of  course :) 
Have a purrfect day! 

12 comments:

Sadami said...

Hi, Meera, this work is a master piece!! So impressive especially in colour. Please take care. I'm sure you'll have your own colours to depict a subject.
Best wishes, Sadami

A Sunny Yellow Window said...

Enjoyed the quick read about your research on cats :) Love this painting! It looks as if the cat is comfortably lying face up in water, and his color is running into it, beauty!

Unknown said...

I'd say you mastered the eyes perfectly! Wow! They look so expressive, and very cat-like! Meera, I admire your dedication to practice and study in your art. The results of all that time you spend thinking and learning is very evident in your paintings. You inspire me!

Carol Blackburn said...

I love it Meera. Wonderful!

Lisa Graham said...

Oh my goodness Meera, this is such a great cat! He has attitude!

padmaja said...

Lovely experiment and result Meera, Yupo was the right choice to work this subject.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Sadami! I really a lot of fun painting expressively ;)

Meera Rao said...

Ambika, thank you :) yupo is fun paper to experiment on and let the paints run !

Meera Rao said...

Thanks, Katherine. You made my day as I see you as an inspiration when it comes to planning and research :)

Meera Rao said...

Carol, thank you! As always I really appreciate your support !

Meera Rao said...

Lisa, thank you :) that's what was so fun about this painting - is to capture his attitude ! Thank you again for noticing :)

Meera Rao said...

Padmaja, thank you :) somehow saying I am experimenting seems to free me up :)

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