Hobbes, a beautiful tabby point Siamese cat, is enjoying an afternoon asleep on the bed. Where else would a cat be?

I loved his comfortable pose and the patterns on the bed covers and I wanted to try and capture his expression of bliss in a painting and I liked the challenge of the patterns too.  

First I sketched him onto watercolour paper and used masking fluid to preserve the white lines of the pattern. Then the first layers of colour were washed on using watercolour and left to dry. I like watercolour as an under painting because it’s easy to make changes. Once it was fully dry the making fluid was removed and the next layers of the pattern were developed with acrylics. Colours were adjusted as I painted and the lines were tidied up.

Then Hobbes himself was painted and shadows and highlights added to the covers underneath him. Finally the whiskers were added.

 Asleep On The Bed is a 16×12 acrylic painting on watercolour paper.