This is an oil painting of Stan. Stan lived with Sandra and her family and he was quite a little character. Sandra wanted a 16×12 oil painting of Stan.

I started with a sketch of him lying on the floor, looking playfully up at us from an upside down position. A typical mischievous kitten and a real sweetie!

Stan is coming along nicely and as you can see from the photo, I’ve got him onto the canvas board and all the main shapes are there. Now it’s a slow process of building him up and adding colour and detail. This is the fun part of the painting, but slow because it means waiting for each layer of oil to dry before the next one can go on.

And here is the finished painting of Stan on the easel, complete with his frame.

And this is a close up detail of the painting.

This is a portrait of Alice, a gorgeous Bengal cat who lives with Fiona and Andy. She has a wonderful expression as she stares out through the grasses. I wonder what she is looking at?

Alice is sketched onto a 20×16 inch canvas and the under painting is started with light washes of colour. 

Then the blues of the sky and the greens on the grasses are developed. I used several different blues for the sky, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine and Prussian Blue.  

 Finally I start work on Alice herself.

 Finishing touches are her whiskers and details in the seed heads in the grass. This is the finished painting.

A close up detail of the canvas.

The Feline Advisory Bureau is a charity dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of cats. This year is their 50th anniversary and among the celebrations FAB are launching a new book Essential Cattitude: an insight into the feline world. To illustrate the book FAB asked cat loving artists and celebrities to contribute pictures of their favourite felines and I donated ‘The Boss’ a painting of Cassie to the cause.

The book was launched at The Groucho Club in London in February 2008. You can find out much more about Essential Cattitude: An Insight Into The Feline World and even buy a copy on FAB’s web site www.fabcats.org.

Cassie is lying on the kitchen table (where she isn’t supposed to be) gazing out of the window watching the birds. Her huge blue eyes, appealing expression and wonderfully silky coat are guaranteed to melt any human heart. She is undeniably cute, (and she knows it) we are putty in her paws. She is known to one and all as The Boss and she maintains a benevolent tyranny over humans and cats alike. However, our large male Bengal feels the need to challenge her authority occasionally, apparently lulled into a false sense of security by her diminutive size. This is always a mistake! Once the fur has stopped flying, he sheepishly emerges with most of his limbs intact, a realization that he wasn’t quite as hard as he thought he was and with the certain knowledge that she is still The Boss!

This is a 20×16 inch painting on canvas board. 

A quick sketch of Cassie lying on the table watching the birds through the window.