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The upper cat, Grace, is finished. When Tammy asked me to create a portrait of her cats (two still living, one at the Bridge), a photo of two of her cats waiting for her on the stairs gave Tammy the great idea of showing the 3 cats on stairs. All three cats are black and white. The staircase was done with watercolor, an “underpainting” on the grey paper. The cats are colored pencil, and the details of the staircase and stair cushions will be colored pencil. Colored pencils ar

Working on the upper cat, Grace, in Tammy's portrait of “Three Cats on Stairs”. I had to make a composite of her head from different photos. When I questioned Tammy about the expression on Grace’s face and the position of her ears, Tammy wrote, “Very nice. Grace actually stands her eyes straight up when she is on alert, so that's good.” I thought that was an interesting way to describe it. Grace is definitely standing her eyes straight up! I saw that in her other photos too.

I finished the underpainting for the “Three Cats on Stairs” portrait. I often make an underpainting to tint the paper a certain color, then put details over that with colored pencil. In this case, the watercolor “underpainting” will create the staircase on its own. The cats and the cushions on each step will be done with colored pencil. All three cats are black and white. I’ve kept all the values of the staircase in the mid-range: from light grey to medium brown. The pure bl

Tammy Cunningham asked for a portrait of her three cats. One of her photos showed two of the cats on stairs, which gave her a great idea for the portrait. Stair steps with each of the three cats on its own step. I really like that concept. This is the initial line drawing, from separate photos of each cat. The stairs are based on the photo that inspired Tammy, but with a lot of changes to make the cats the central focus. That required figuring out the architectural perspectiv

The direct straight-on view of JR’s face is one of the things that makes this portrait so eye-catching. 1 I’m working on both sides of his muzzle and lips at the same time because I’m really focused on keeping his face perfectly symmetrical. Where normally I’d finish one side of the muzzle, then the nose, then the other side. 2 To make sure the features are symmetrical on both sides, I drew a very light center-line (you barely see it below on the throat) up the middle of JR’s