Oliver Noir

Oliver Noir. Oil on panel, 6" x 6". ©2019.

Oliver the tabby makes a much more engaging painting subject than one might expect. He is a garden variety grey-brown tabby with a lopsided white mustache (see above). However, he has a few qualities that make him a blast to tackle in a quick oil study: his dramatically slanted eyes that never look the same color twice, and his natural aptitude for striking a pose.

He even has a knack for picking a good background (or lack thereof).

Another thing that added to the excitement of making this painting was the time lapse capture going on slightly behind the easel. No pressure there at all! Time lapse painting videos have always been a personal favorite, so inevitably I started making them. It has an interesting side effect of fresher paintings. This is probably due to either feeling rushed, or just wanting to get done so I can look at the video. So far it's a good thing.

Here's a look at Oliver Noir in process:

Oliver

Oliver. Oil on panel, 6" x 6". ©2019.

Oliver very much wanted outside yesterday, which gave me an excellent opportunity to photograph him in dramatic light. He sat in the dark entryway looking out the all-glass storm door, very intent and still. I love the way the sun caught his eyes and ear, and how his whiskers contrasted with the dark wall behind him.

This is my first-ever painting of Oliver, and my first time using an app that grids off photos on the iPad. The grid made the drawing process much more pleasant! Working from photos has gotten so much better in the years I've been painting. From the luck of the draw getting reference photos printed, to printing them at home, often multiple times (using expensive inks!) to get the colors right, to just cropping and gridding them off on an iPad. I could probably take them with the iPad and save another step, but the phone is a bit easier to manage (and still more convenient than a camera).