Cats from Life with Serval Zouletta

Cats from Life Page

Pentel Brush Pen and Watercolor on Moleskine 

There they are, two Ari cat life studies in pen and watercolor, five Zouletta Serval studies in pen and watercolor. I used Sepia, Quinacridone Burnt Orange (to warm the mix in Ari's fur), and Payne's Grey for serval paws and Ari cat's background. 

Zouletta was much more lively tonight at Big Cat Hospital. The folks at Big Cat Rescue put a camera in the cage whenever one of the big cats is in for treatment, so volunteers can watch to see if they're recovering okay. There's a number to call in a cat emergency, this is entertainment but also volunteering  to check on sick, often endangered big cats. 

I first got into it with Skippy the Bobcat, who had a lot of Internet fame. I posted a painting of him on Facebook an raffled it to support BCR, wound up carrying 15 months of taking care of a bobcat with that painting so feel very good about it.

Now the cat in the infirmary is Zouletta, who ate an acorn. They had to give her surgery to get it out of her small intestine. She's doing better tonight, less lethargic, less miserable looking. She gets up and moves, turns around, washes herself and the Cone of Shame is gone. I don't know if she's had a bowel movement yet but she's definitely recovering well and if she hasn't, I think she will soon. She's on the mend.

Beautiful Zouletta turned showing her face several times so I managed to get her profile, she moved too much for a full face view. Still, that's not bad for big cat studies from a live, restless big cat! I'll bet when I get to visit the Arkansas big cat rescue place, I'll find at least some of them awake and repeating poses. Good practice for when I make that trip!

Sleep well, Zouletta!

I'm also maknig progress on my novel, neck and neck with the deadline. Need to finsh by midnight tomorrow night and have only 3,606 to go. So I've got a good chance of getting it done. Wrote 4k today along with serval sketching. So that rocks. Hope I can get this last sprint in!

Day 25: Leopard in Pen and Watercolor

Leopard

7" square

Today I went all out for the Weekend Drawing Event on WetCanvas.com, hosted by jlloren. Joel provided great photos including two cats, this leopard, a goshawk, two whale shark views, a pair of giraffes, Ethiopian stone castle with banyan growing through a wall or built around it... just all wonderful stuff. Started with the toughest.

Leopards are a pain with all those spots. I penciled his shape first, then painted him and background, then inked, then added some final color notes glazed over the previous including the shadow under him. He's male, look close and you can see that. A gorgeous cat prowling through the brush. 

I detailed whiskers wth a Pigma Micron and then decided to do all the inking with it. I'd meant to use the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen again but liked the familiar feel of the Pigma Micron. It was fun. More cats to come!

Siberian Tiger Cub

Siberian Tiger Cub

pastel pencil on paper

Still continuing daily art, at least sketching. Robert Rongier, aka skappy on WetCanvas.com, hosted the Dec. 2014 Animals & Wildlife challenge with a lot of good cat photos among others. So I'm sticking with his references to finish out the month and the year. Thanks to that challenge I really have gotten back to daily drawing. 

Took a long time to get going again after November but it worked.

Mamul Kitten and Tiger Changing Directions

Mamul Kitten charcoal

Both the Mamul Kitten in charcoal and the Tiger Changing Directions in Pan Pastels and charcoal were done in my holiday drawing book, that plain paper 8 1/2" x 11" one that came with the kid stuff. It's still acid free drawing paper and the lightweight sketchbook is inspiring me to sketch large and loose.

Tiger Changing Directions

Pan Pastels and Charcoal

On the tiger, my challenge was blocking him in first with Pan Pastels and no details, then adding the charcoal stripes and bits of shading. That was difficult but what surprised me was how well it worked!

Mamul Kitten was Sunday's daily art, tiger is today's. So I'm definitely back to daily art, now need to get back to daily posting of it too!

Blissful Repose (Snow Leopard)

Blissful Repose

9" x 8 1/2"

Charcoal on Aquabee Hemp Draw paper

Today was the Animal & Wildlife Challenge at WetCanvas reveal day. Since I try to draw or paint within one day, I usually do these challenge paintings on the reveal day - it's too frustrating to finish and then set it aside and not post it. I'm liable to forget to post it at all if I do that, don't trust the fibromyalgia or my sense of time. So it's more fun for me to just wait for the day and do it with whatever I reach for at the time.

This is a little change from my usual renderings, I didn't measure carefully so much as block in and tighten to the likeness. Got better accuracy in less time working this way. Of course it helped that it's a cat. Any cat, I have a lot of practice with their anatomy and sense of where their bodies flow while in a pose. This is a very flat cat! Ear flicking in a dream, he's just comfortable. Looked contented to me. My own cat sleeps this well too most of the time.