Hendrickje
I’m happy to announce that my listing now shows up when my name or blog site is searched on Google!
Above are some sketches I did of a cat I had that I named after Rembrandt’s common-law wife, Hendrickje Stoffels. Nobody could pronounce the cat’s name, and after a while even I started to just call her “Scootie”. The sketches are done in sepia ink with brush and pen.
Saffie
This is a watercolor of my beautiful Saffron. She is a shelter cat. I think I’ve written about her before, but I’ll mention again that she has one blue eye and one green eye, and she is quite the “diva”. When I went to the shelter to pick out a cat to adopt, I didn’t hesitate a minute after seeing her. The guy at the shelter didn’t even require a waiting period…they had picked her up off of the street and she was filthy and covered with fleas, and starving. Such a beauty, and nobody wanted her. Well, she is well fed and cared for now.
You might notice she posed for my painting of “Vermeer’s Cat (Cat With a Pearl Earring) that I used in my blog banner. I didn’t portray her multiple color eyes in that painting, though.
Junior, Fanny Belle, Saffron
Anybody who knows me knows I love my cats. The picture above is one I painted a couple of years ago and made my own matching frame for it. The painting is done in acrylic on a panel. (I wish the photo quality was better. The colors are a bit off) I was really into reading about the Northern Renaissance at the time, so I took a quasi Flemish approach to how I painted the picture. I started out with a detailed drawing on a smooth gesso covered panel, which I covered with a light gray wash of thinned color, almost like watercolor. After that I painted the entire picture in “grisaille”. After the underpainting had dried, I proceeded with building up my color paint layers with thin glazes of paint. My highlights and solid color areas I painted more thickly. After letting the painting dry I gave it a gloss varnish and framed it myself. The effect of this painting method is like clear, translucent jewel tones and fine textures. It was a fun experiment. The painting was meant to be lighthearted and fun.
In future posts I hope to share many paintings of cats that I have done, along with some cat stories.
Robert J. Chambers 