How to paint a sleeping cat ... well, how I do it, anyway!

Here’s the finished painting ... nobody does sleep like a cat. Especially Ray. He’s a professional. Click here to check out some of his napping techniques.

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Someone to Watch Over Me • ©2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt

6 x 6 inches • oil on archival, museum-quality Gessobord
private collection • Vancouver, BC, Canada

And here are my work in progress photos:

Here’s the beginning, the initial sketch in acrylic, with acrylic glazes of quinacrodone rose, cadmium yellow light, and phthalo blue. I started out with quite a bit of detail on those Laurel Burch kitties gracing the pillow. I wanted them to be accurately whimsical, recognizable as her art.

And now I warm everything up with glazes of yellow and rose, 

with some blue on Ray’s body in the shadowy places.

Next, after letting the acrylic underpainting dry for about 30 minutes,

I start adding the oil colors, first on those watchful kitties ...

... working on them from dark to light ...

Here I’ve added the blue to the background of the pillow ...

... and here you can see I’ve loosened up the detail on the kitties just a bit. Also added just a hint of repeating highlights to suggest the rattan on the back of the chair which is just peeking over the top of the pillow. You only need a hint of repeating texture like this, because the viewers’ brains are really good at filling in detail and going “oh, that’s rattan.”

Now I start adding detail to Ray.

Don’t forget those cute “eye whiskers.” 

Remember: only a suggestion goes a long way

 on details like whiskers and fluffiness.

Here I’ve added the wall color, keeping brushstrokes loose so those luscious underpainting colors can peek through in places. Also adding details to the patterned fabric on the chair cushion ... okay, all together now: “only a suggestion will do!”

Continuing work on Ray. Look, decide, load brush, stroke. Look again, decide, load brush, stroke. Taking a page from Carol Marine’s book and applying only one or two strokes before wiping the brush and reloading with another color.

And now a page from my own book, with some final swashes of transparent color (paint with a generous amount of stand oil) in just a FEW strategic places: some rose on Ray’s head and left ear, and some orange to intensify the glow in the coral-y spots on the chair cushion, just a little yellow-y glow in the vicinity of Ray’s right elbow. Oh, and just a couple of thin strokes of almost-white-pale-yellow to better define the outside edge of Ray’s left ear. 

And then the all-important decision to STOP before things get overdone. 

Add signature ... and ... done!