"sophie loves lola": finish

this cat is proving to be a bit of a challenge...as i knew that it would be. i frequently have trouble working my way through new subjects and this is no exception. the only thing that i am happy with so far is sophie's visible eye and lola's extended *left* paw. at this point i am pretty sure that this is going in the round file so i decided to go ahead and experiment with some things as i worked through the difficulties. although lola is not blue and has no blue, oddly enough the color doesn't bother me as much as the need to go over it several times to try to approximate the fur. the paw appears fresh ans spontaneous and the rest of her face is dreadfully overworked. fortunately, i know that there are a number of really well done cat paintings on the web, notably on bev jozwiak's website and stephie butler's blog. i will have to study these a bit a retry this painting at a later date. so, the experimenting that i did was with a looser, darker background that was more abstract than i usually do. i think i accomplished that but i am less sure that it was a good idea for this particular painting. chime in if you have a opinion...anyone? this is a blog striving for transparency (to use a currently popular term) and i will share the poorly as well as the better executed attempts.

"sophie loves lola"

here is the completed painting. its not terrible. its just not very good. i don't feel this as an acceptable outcome and will file it away for future reference. that is not to say it wasn't a useful exercise. i frequently find that the failed paintings are more instructive than the one's that are relatively successful, at least at this stage of my development as a watercolor painter.







just for fun i thought that i would include the small (10"X14", acquabee sketch pad) sketch i did at the eastbank meeting the other night. we had a couple of still life set ups by one of the members. some drew, some painted, some just doodled and gossiped. i took the above sketch pad that i knew would take a watercolor wash, my small cotman travelling watercolor kit and a #6 travel brush. it took about 45 minutes and was actually quite enjoyable. much more fun than the stuffy meetings we all are familiar with and subject to. so there you have it.