Wiley--Ready for Roundup

Lisa Snell, who teaches in our school, took a photo of her cat that I just loved, and
I finally got some free time in November to start painting it. (I was working on the Pontiac for several months before that.) I finished it in December. It's one of the few
paintings that I have done just for myself, not for a show or anything else. I think it is actually the only one I did in 2011 that wasn't a gift or a commission.

There were a lot of issues to work out. The texture of the saddle is something I am most pleased with. First I miskited out the white threading and metallic areas. I laid down about four or five colors (quin gold, some pinks, cerulean blue, and burnt sienna) in a wet wash, and then lay wrinkled saran wrap over it until it was completely dry. Then I copied the saddle pattern onto that and negative painted all the darks. It was a bit tedious, but it was fun to see the pattern emerging.

In the photo the saddle is set on a 2nd story railing. Here I wanted it to look more like it is on a fence. I added the saddle blanket to pull some interest down and to give more texture.

Backgrounds are always an issue for me. I get so excited about diving into a painting, that the background often remains unresolved. In the photo the background is neutral brown with some light coming in from some source. But I wanted the cat's face and eyes to really be a focal point, so I wanted the background to have some cool blue to contrast with all the warms in the picture. I had to resort to some fluid acrylic to get the pop I was after.