The Exhibit Chronicles, Part VI

You met Roody the cat a couple of blogs ago when he was strolling past my collection of paintings. He's 19 years old and doesn't move too much, so getting an action shot of him is a rare event. I liked the picture so much, I'm posting it again even though your memory is probably better than mine.

When I tried to take a photo of him to paint a portrait, all I got was a lot of sitting poses. If I'd been able to get him in motion then, I would have been thrilled.

My then-boyfriend, now husband, had asked me to paint a portrait of Roody for his daughter's 23rd birthday. There's a lot of pressure when you paint someone else's pet so I wanted it to be perfect. I used a projector to do the base sketch, which is something I rarely do. I just found a photo of that sketch, so I can show you a little of my "process." I rarely do any sketching at all and just dive into a painting with the brush, so this was a little tedious for me. Well, a lot tedious but I still liked the result.

Here is the finished product. I added the purple and yellow, which were the colors of her room. The flag stripes are the reason I named it "Red, White and Roody." By the way, Roody was named after the Rooty, Tutti, Fresh and Fruity breakfast at IHOP.
I'm no natural at cat paintings, so I had to show you one from my art teacher, Eula Ginsburg. I have two of her paintings and I love them both. I'll show you the other sometime and tell you about her fascinating life. In the meantime, go to her web site and look at some of her other wonderful works. I've asked her to add her comments to my blog, if she's able to find it. So hopefully you'll see them soon.
Reminder, if you'd like to see my paintings and those of several other University of Georgia artists, visit the Winsor Gallery in McDonough. You're also invited to the opening reception Friday. Click here for details.