2011 Cat Calendar by Gayle

I've been designing a calendar for 2011. Actually I realised I had enough cat images to create two calendars, one in a portrait format, one in a landscape. Putting everything together in the right format has not been easy.

I now need to create a front page and then bind the pages, that sounds like fun.

I'm hoping to have the finished product ready for the cat show I'm having a stand at in a couple of weeks, fingers crossed.

Ragdoll Cat in Coloured Pencil Continued

I've started adding the dark background which makes the pale fur really stand out.

I've spent time over the last couple of days getting my garden in shape and I can tell you it's been fighting back. The weeds resist all attempts to remove them while the plants leap out if you look at them and then lie gasping on the surface.
I cleaned the small pond and found I have gained two fish which I've never seen before and have no idea what they are. They are the shape of an orf but black with a little white on the head and slightly barred across the back, about 3 inches long. The only fish I've ever put in that pond are Blue and Golden Orf, Goldfish, Sarasa Comets and long ago I had a couple of Dace.
I think Rob has lost his Sturgeon which lived in the big pond to the Heron, I haven't seen it for a few days and I have seen the Heron visiting in the early mornings.

I'll try to photograph my mystery fish and maybe someone can enlighten me as to what they are. They are much more timid than the other fish though.

Ragdoll Cat in Coloured Pencil

This is my latest commision, a stunning Ragdoll cat. I'm drawing her in coloured pencil on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolour paper in extra white. The photograph is a delight to work from, it really is a pleasure of a commission.

Patchings Art Festival 2010

I worked on the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel during my four days exhibiting at the Patchings Art Festival. She is approximately 12 x 10 on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press Watercolour paper in extra white.
My friends Katherine (Making a Mark) and Vivien (Paintings, Prints and Stuff) have each done a review of their impression as visitors to Patchings. Click the links to read what they thought.

I was there as a first time exhibitor and returned home after 5 days, tired, but glad I took part.

I met some old friends and made some new ones, and feel I helped some beginners to coloured pencils get started.

During the first two days a lot of the visitors belonged to art societies and had travelled by coach to the event. Many of these people were attending the workshops, stocking up on their art supplies and watching the artist exhibitors demonstrate. For next year I aim to have expanded my step by step collection as I felt this was an area I could have developed more. Regular readers to my blog will know that I spent so long printing that I simply ran out of time.

The second two days, Saturday and Sunday, there were less art society visitors and I did better with selling my prints.

Although some of the exhibitors had a very successful show there was widespread feeling that there was less money being spent this year. In the current economic climate that came as no surprise.

It was obvious that Patchings is a very well run Festival which is attended by many hundreds of visitors who come back year after year, I hope to do the same.

Amur Tiger Continued

I'm still printing although I did sneak outside for a little while today to enjoy some sunshine.

Progress is still slow but I need to have him finished by the end of the weekend.

Progress is Slow

I am still printing so drawing has been almost non existent, however I am slowly going in the right direction with the tiger.
I wanted an image to put on my 'About Me' brochure for Patchings so I got my son to take a hand rather than a head shot.

I've also been doing a stock take today and have decided to offer a couple of my original cats for sale.
'Black and Gold', to bid click here.

9 x 7 inches coloured pencil on black colourfix paper.

Graphite Lion Continued

After printing hundreds of fine art cards ready for Patchings Art Festival I had a break and went back to my lion.
How can you tell I'm struggling with the fur in front of his ear?

Making a Captive Animal Wild

One of my pet niggles is seeing a really nice painting of a wild animal with a background that makes it obvious the reference material has been taken in a zoo. The number of lions, tigers, giraffes, meerkats etc that I've seen painted with a background of vegetation not native to the animal is amazing.
I know this might not matter to some people, it's just something I don't like.
So if my reference is of a captive animal I try to incorporate a background consistent with the animals natural habitat using the following steps:-

1. Make sure I know what (if any) subspecies the animal is as this might affect the range. For instance the tiger I'm currently drawing is an Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) I know the scientific classification doesn't matter but I have a particular interest in the classification of mammals dating back to my University days, sad I know :(
2. Have a look at the range of the animal and if there's a choice decide on the habitat I'm going to use.
3.Decide what sort of background (if any ) I want to incorporate.
4. Using my reference books, DVD's and the internet look at as many photographs of my chosen area I can find until I feel comfortable with the setting.

I took the photograph of the Tiger at a Wildlife Park in the South Lakes, hopefully I can add some vegetation more appropriate to the Russian Far East.

Tiger in Mixed Media

I'll post a progress shot of the lion tomorrow; it's almost finished.

I'm also working on this tiger in coloured pencil, acrylic and watercolour, approximately 12 x 8 on Fabriano Artistico.

I'm still busy printing cards and prints ready for Patchings Art Exhibition, I could do with each day being 48 hours long at the moment.

Drawing Animal Hair

I'm starting work on my next demonstration and by popular request it will be a 'how to' about drawing animal hair using coloured pencil.

So I sat down with my reference photographs, my paper and pencils, Adobe InDesign to use for the layout of the scans, and ground to a sudden halt as I realised animal hair is much too wide a subject for one step by step.

For a start do people want long hair, short hair, curly hair, wiry hair, fine hair, course hair? Then there is black hair, white hair, tabby hair, flecked, tipped, the list goes on. My basic stroke making stays the same but I do use slightly different things depending on both the type and colour of the hair.

So I'm going to break the subject into bite size chunks then people can pick which demonstrations(s) they are interested in.

My aim is eventually to offer a 1 day workshop on either drawing a dog or cat portrait in coloured pencil.

I plan to have them ready for sale at Patchings in June and from my website around the same time.

I also hope to have worked out the details on the workshop by early June.

Watch this space for updates on my progress.

Graphite Lion Continued

I've continued working on the lion. I decided to work some of the darker tones in the mane so that I could decide how light the blond fur should be.
My card stand arrived today and I'm very pleased with it. It was easy to assemble, freels strong, rotates smoothly and will hold at least 60 different designs.
It will look far more professional having my cards displayed in a stand rather than spread out on the table.

Two ACEO's, Lion and Cat.

To bid click here.

To bid click here.

I've had another busy day printing so I finished two ACEO's.

The lion is on Fisher 400 pastel paper, the cat is on Uart 800 premium sanded paper.

I have ordered a floor standing card stand so that I can display my cards to better effect at the shows I plan to attend. It is a collapsible, rotating model, keep your fingers crossed it is easy to put together. Cody's in season and Rio and Clinton have become singing dogs so my brain is frazzled and will not be able to cope with anything complicated.

I'll post a photograph once it's all set up.

Graphite Zebra

To bid click here.

This is another ACEO from one of my photographs, watercolour and graphite on Mellotex paper.
I put an indigo watercolour wash down first then worked over it in graphite. Mellotex paper is totally smooth and very white and was a pleasure to work on.
I'm thinking of doing a bigger pece featuring one or more zebras.

Graphite Lion

Every now and then I get a longing to use graphite, today was one of those days. I'm spending time printing various items in preparation for Patchings Art Festival in June and it's easier to start and stop with graphite while I change paper, refil inks, laminate etc.
I'm using one of my own photographs as a reference, the image size is about 12 x 10 on Fabriano Artistico Extra white.

Lemur continued

I'm making progress with the lemur although the right side of the face isn't quite right yet.

Lemur on Black Paper

Over the years I've taken many photographs of Lemurs. This is one of my favourites, the lemur was above me in a tree watching what I was doing and chewing a stick.
Coloured pencil and acrylic on Black Stonehenge paper, 10 x 8.
His face reminds me of a little gremlin.

Shades of Black

'Shades of Black'

To bid click here.

You might remember I created an ACEO using this image a few months ago. I always had the intention of doing it larger.
This is coloured pencil on black Stonehenge paper, 10 x 8.
I enjoyed working an black as I work much faster, less layering and a much looser finish. The scan doesn't really show it but I used several blues, pinks and purple to create the black.

Burmese Finished and graphite tiger.

After working hard to meet the deadline for the kitten I wanted to do a small piece before starting on the next cat.

This is an ACEO done in graphite.

Instead of using my usual technique I worked from 2H to HB, or 2B in the darkest areas, using tiny circles and only adding fur definition at the end.

To bid click here.

Brown Burmese Kitten

This is a larger than life piece, 20 x 16 on Fabriano Artistico Extra White. The photograph isn't good colour wise as the paper is white.
I'm using coloured pencil and watercolour and there won't be any background as I don't want to distract from the kitten itself.

Do Not Disturb

Coloured pencil on Arches Watercolour paper, approx 12 x 10 inches.
The colour is a little more subtle in real life, the scan has made everything too dark. I'll do a more accurate image when I post the finished version.