I painted some beasts.

[bunn]

The art class has been working on an exercise involving a painting of hedges and mud, and I did not feel inspired by that (I get enough bare hedges and mud at this time of year!), so I went back to try doing a previous exercise involving painting fur and animal faces as a semi-abstract.

I felt it came out quite well.  Here is Rosie Roo looking at a squirrel. 


And I also decided to try painting Gothmog kitten with a packing peanut. 

This was my reference image.  I started out trying to accurately paint the brightly coloured mat, then it occurred to me that this was a pretty difficult thing to paint, and nobody was going to be looking too hard at the mat, since that's not the subject.



It turns out that packing peanuts are surprisingly difficult to paint. They have few discernable features.

In cat news, things have not turned out quite as well as we'd hoped with Nenya.  She's a delightful playful cat, BUT of course she arrived rather out of sorts, and was not at all enthused by Gothmog's attempts to coax her into chasing games when she had mastitis and was wearing her cone. She retaliated fiercely.

So now Nenya's ruling the roost downstairs, and Gothmog and Fankil have formed an alliance upstairs.  Fankil IS more visible : he'll come and take treats from your hand now.  But Gothmog is very suspicious of Nenya, and we are having to teach Nenya that harassing Gothmog is Not On.

With luck this is a temporary issue, because Nenya is not a big cat and we suspect that Gothmog will outweigh her once she grows a bit more.

Comments

[alithea]

Oh dear, you're well blessed on the cat front, aren't you?! Hope they all settle soon, at least Fankil is doing better.

[bunn]

I'm hopeful they will get there. Of course, Fankil gets worried by Drama between the other two, so we do need to get that sorted out...

[narya_flame]

Love those paintings! The squirrel reflected in Rosie's eyes is fab.

I feel you on the pet bonding/hierarchy/settling drama. Good luck with them all!

[bunn]

At one point we had six cats, three rabbits, two dogs and a variable number of foster-dogs. I feel a bit of settling drama between the Mog of Darkness and the Mog of Light is still less complicated than the small Italian city-states-worth of Dramatic Pets we've had in the past. I'm trying to resist the urge to return to those days!

[narya_flame]

Oh goodness XD I think I'd move out!!

(Actually I wouldn't - if I had more room I would totally have more pets...)

[grundyscribbling]

When the Rosie painting first came up on the screen, I thought it was a photo and was wondering how you managed to get the squirrel reflected in her eyes but not the camera!

Fingers crossed the cats find a workable peace soon...

[bunn]

Cool! I think I've exaggerated the size of her eyes a little, but not much.

[gabriel_seven]

That first painting looks so realistic, I actually thought it was a photo. Love Gothmog looking all cute in the second.

Hope the situation works out between Gothmog and Nenya. Maybe she does just need more time.

[bunn]

Thanks! I'm sure things will settle down. I had to give Nenya a time-out in the porch this morning, but she seems quite a bright cat and so is Gothmog : I'm sure they'll pick up on what is appropriate/allowed.

[mainecoon76]

Wow, those eyes look realistic. I love how she watches the squirrel.

Good luck with your cat hierarchy struggles!

[untrust_us]

The vividness of that Gothmog painting is wonderful. And you've managed to capture the light on the fur very well. Also just want to say your cats are just adorable.

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

You did a fantastic job with Gothmog and the mat.

The Rosie painting is kind of entrancing.

I'm glad to hear Fankil is making himself at home.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I feel I'm slowly learning about the whole painting fur thing.

The brush I originally bought for painting fur was pronounced too new and stiff by Colin the Art, so I have used it for a while to play with Gothmog kitten. It seems to be a lot softer now!

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

Rosie's eyes are amazing! The image of the squirrel in the highlights -- which you can see or not-see -- is absolutely brilliant.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really pleased with the squirrel-eyes, I feel they came out suitably lively.

[dinahprincedaly.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful!!!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Your Gothmog painting is just gorgeous! I hope the cats will settle.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope they will too. I had to give Nenya a time-out in the porch this morning, but she seems quite a bright cat and so is Gothmog : I'm sure they'll pick up on what is appropriate/allowed.