This is Leo. I loved the way she was sitting in the sun enjoying the warmth in her fur. The light was wonderful and a real challenge to paint! I couldn’t resist! This is a 10×12 inch oil painting which will be in the Society Of feline Artists show in September.

Leonora enjoying the sunshine.  I loved doing this painting, the colours in her coat and the background and the strong light, all seemed to come together in this portrait of Leo.

 A close up of the canvas.

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 little painting is a 10×8 acrylic on canvas board. He’s found a lovely hot spot in the sun on the floor. Cats always know the best places to sleep!

It’s in the SOFA show at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in Waterloo from the 4th of September.

Chi, my wonderful tabby cat is a dreadful thief! He’s one of those cats who just has to share your food. We tried to stop him begging for food only to find that he’d taken a more creative approach. He’d wait until you sat on the sofa with a snack and he’d sneak up behind you and wait. Just as you raised a nice piece of cheese or ham to your lips a paw would shoot out and take it from your fingers! Leaving you staring at your empty hand in amazement.

He soon had us trained. We quickly learned that it was easier to give him a small morsel from our meal than to be constantly turning around wondering where the next ambush would come from.

So when I had an idea for a painting for the annual Society Of Feline Artists show I instantly thought of Chi as the model. And here he is performing brilliantly.

In the close up detail below you can see his typical expression of bliss.