Our 4 cats

If you're reading this, thank you so much for checking in on my art blog, even though it's been a while since I've been able to post. It's been pretty crazy around here with finalizing the renovations on our century-old home after a very long and messy 6 months. Then, of course, the inevitable exhaustion and recovery that followed and the opportunistic cold/flu bugs that pounced soon after. But enough of that... on with the sketchbook!

For the longest while, I have wanted to do a page spread in my sketchbook for each of our 4 indoor cats (all spayed females), partly as a memento but also as an art challenge to try and capture their likeness and unique little quirks. I initially did one for our oldest cat, Libby, who will turn 20 in the new year; she still has a lot of spunk and is actually the most energetic of our four cats. Then I did a spread for Sookey, a.k.a. Tank, the youngest of our cats (age 6-7), a stray calico we brought indoors back in 2014. She's the size of a tomcat, but has such a cuddley and affectionate 'dog-like' personality. I recently added pages for Pookey (almost 13) our seal-point siamese and Bebe (14) our other calico, to complete my "feline friend" sketch project.

I was motivated to complete this little project when, in early October, our little Pook was diagnosed with what the vet thinks is lymphoma; the vet felt a mass in her abdomen on checkup and an x-ray shows it's mostly like cancer. We are very saddened that it's not a good prognosis, but she was prescribed daily prednisolone as a palliative treatment to hopefully give her more time to enjoy her quality of life and for us to enjoy her in our life. I don't know how much longer we'll have her with us, so I wanted to capture her likeness "in life" while I have the chance. She's such a sweet little thing.

"These are their stories..."









Materials for this sketch: I used a Stillman & Birn Beta hardcover sketchbook that I started and finished last year. I already had set aside pages and put the headers at the top for each kitty beforehand. The paper in this sketchbook is pretty decent with a coldpress-like texture and even though it's cellulose/wood pulp paper and not cotton, it performs pretty well. It opens flat and the hard cover is durable. It also comes in a softcover version which isn't very durable but much lighter for travel. I used pencil to sketch first, then watercolour (DaVinci and Daniel Smith brands).

Edit to add: Thank you for your thoughts on my cat portraits. Capturing our cats' likenesses has always been difficult for me and that's perhaps why I've put them off for so long. I find my emotions tend to affect my accuracy of portrayal. I end up fiddling and overworking to "get it just right," to the point of ruination. Due to its transparency, watercolor can't really be corrected like acrylics or oils. I also struggle with painting people and it's something I want to work on. There's a photo of dear Dad as a young boy in his skates on a snowy day that I really want to paint... and paint accurately.