Bailey, international cat of mystery

Birdwatching by Karen Mathison Schmidt
18 x 24 • acrylic on cradled Gessobord

I finished this one in February for Acrylic Secrets. You can see my step by step process in the book; the editors gave me a six-page spread for this one!

I had a lot of fun painting Bailey in this large format. I’m pretty sure she likes the finished piece, too, because while I had it sitting in my office she kept posing in front of it.

Here’s a snippet from a conversation we had while I was working on the painting:

Me: I wonder if I should have gone with the 9 x 12 board. This one is pretty big.

Bailey: Darling, when it comes to a picture of me, bigger is always better.


Me: You know, you should be honored that I chose you for the subject of this one -- this picture is going in a book that’s supposed to be distributed in four countries.

Bailey: Excellent. It’s about time the world knew of my beauty.


Ah, Bailey. So beautiful. So modest. Gotta love her!

Knee Deep in the Good Stuff

Tres Amigos ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord
SOLD • private collection, Attleboro, Massachusetts

These handsome fellas were hanging out in the pasture just on the other side of our fence a few days ago. I used a super zoom lens to capture the scene, but you’ll notice that the one on the far left has spotted the paparazzo. Even though technically we’re in the dead of winter, the day was so spring-like I just couldn’t resist adding the merest suggestion of blooms here and there in the painting.

And after I finished the painting and walked out in the yard with Trixie just a couple of hours ago I saw that today, while a lot of the country is still waist deep in snow, the paper whites out in the pasture have already started blooming.


Yeah. That’s what I love about the South.

Oh, and just to top off this wonderful day, I just got an email from a good friend letting us know that her brother, who has been on a waiting list for 2 years for a liver transplant, has received a new liver and will be having it installed tonight at midnight. Praise God for answered prayer! (Just to show you the sense of humor my friend Mona has: the subject on her email was "LIVER!!! (but not with onions)." That really cracked me up. And that's one of the reasons we've been friends for 20-something years.

Lest you think I forgot, here are the ever popular work-in-progress photos of today's painting:









And a few close-up details: