I hand-delivered Ella to Christina in North Raleigh this morning.

For transport and storage, I sandwiched the painting between a sturdy piece of cardboard after I covered the pastel with a sheet of tracing paper to prevent smudging. I wanted her to be able to keep the painting safe until she was ready to frame it.

I let her know how to handle the painting, but from now on I am going to include a little “how to take care of me” sticker when I deliver my commissioned work. I never use fixative, but my pieces are blended fairly well so there isn’t a lot of chalk sitting on top. Pastel paintings can smudge unlike acrylic or oil paintings, so when you frame a pastel it has to go behind glass with a spacer or mat separating it from the glazing.

I’m so excited, my first official commissioned work!

I had to put off working on this painting while we were traveling to Curacao and Florida, but I had a wonderful time finishing it up this afternoon.

I had already finished the general outline of the cat, so I started by adding more detail to the body and face. I worked with several different shades of gray to create a more three-dimensional image. Ella is entirely black, so I needed to exaggerate some of the highlights to emphasize her legs and head.

Once I had the level of detail I wanted, I added a red background to represent the red door she was photographed in front of in two of the pictures I was given.

After smoothing out the red and adding some texture to the door, I realized that the cat’s head was not quite right. I went back into the black with a kneaded eraser and filled in the background as needed.

Finishing up, I added a rough white floor, whiskers, and the final detail to the eyes. For the quality of photos I had to work with, I am very happy with the outcome.

Just in time for Halloween!

I met Christina at a Small Business meetup group last month and a few weeks later, she contacted me about painting her cat, Ella. I haven’t met many professional trombone players and her love of jazz makes her cat’s name a perfect choice.

This is my first time painting a cat, and since Ella is entirely black, I knew it was going to be a challenge!

I normally like to use black paper, but in this case I went with a neutral gray so I could play up the lights and darks in her fur as needed.

She gave me several photos, but Ella’s eyes are entirely white in the pose I liked best, so I found a few photos of cat eyes that look very similar as well as some closeups of Ella’s eyes to use when I get to that part of the painting.

At this point in my painting process, I am filling in her body and head with blacks and dark grays, trying to emphasize different parts of the anatomy using subtle value changes.

More progress to come…