My 4th e-Newsletter

The Art of Animal Newsletter, Vol. 4  

Styl(us)ized Art by Sherri Godsey - creating paintings from photos

Visit https://www.theartofanimal.com

 Welcome to the fourth addition of my e-Newsletter!

I am, in a manner, an 'old cat lady." At one point in time, when I was still living in my mobile home and after my mom had passed, I had too many cats flooding the zone, so to speak. Not because I was determined to have cats, but because the cats had me. They recognized a wounded soul who was an easy touch for a hungry animal.

When I moved in with my friend in Garland, I only brought 3 cats with me - my black Cricket, because she was my first cat and the oldest; a skinny, long-haired cat I called ShadowSpot, because he had health issues and would never have survived if I'd left him; and Nutmeg, because she was born in my closet back in 2013. Sadly, I lost Cricket and ShadowSpot, and Nutmeg is now the only cat I still have. I am, in truth, a dog person. I've had dogs most of my life, not cats.

But I love the cats I've had, and I love cats in general. They are beautiful to watch in movement and style, both domestic and wild. I enjoy painting them because of their lithe bodies, their colors, the interesting way their hair lays, how light plays on them, and the simple majesty of their attitude. Therefore, this volume is about the cats I've painted. I intend to paint many more

 The above painting is of Tinkerbelle, who belonged to my friend, Carol Anne Gordon. I painted this a number of years ago. I was experimenting with color (I really love a lot of color!) and just had fun painting a surrealistic image of this sweet little cat.

The digital palette is immense. I can not only select specific colors and mix colors to create new ones, but I can also pick out a color from an image I'm using to get the correct color in the correct location on my painting. In this case, I didn't want the correct location on my painting. I didn't want to recreate the exact image, so I blended and texturized, and even used an "impressionist" format to get the painting I wanted.

There are many painting of just big cat heads depicting their quiet majesty. I have a couple of those, which you'll see here. But I really like images of big cats growling or yawing, or just displaying a more active mien. You can see their incredible fangs, their huge tongues, their fascinating whiskers - painting those elements gives the cat wonderful character and far more realism than a stern expression!

Cat paintings require a long time because I give each hair - EACH HAIR - its due. A 'soft brush blend juicy' brush is excellent for the underlying color, which I overlay with the hair, using a 'wet detail' acrylic' brush. Short hair strokes, long hair strokes, dappled strokes...all are required for decent hair texture. Cat hair has such luxury to it!

This lion head image is less detailed. I didn't do the individual hairs, but instead worked with broad color areas to create the concept of hair texture. It's fun to work on this kind of 'textural exposition.' It doesn't take as long to create, and it's interesting to utilize the natural way in which our eyes develop an image from clustering together color patterns. In this case, the lion's mouth is partially open, and I like that little hint of activity in the moment.

I just finished this snow leopard head. It is detailed, so yes, it took a long time. There is a LOT of hair here. The eyes, however, are the outstanding section of the image. Their color is beautiful! It's important to work in the wet detail, to show the reflections in its gaze.

This lion is painted from a photo of a lion being moved in a cage to its new enclosure at Turpentine Creek Big Cat Rescue. I had to remove the bars, and paint in portions of the cat that didn't show in the photo. The colors, the texture, the lion's attitude are totally mine. I think he is beautiful! It's impossible for me to express the joy I feel when giving a colorful immortality to such a magnificent animal!

It took some doing to get the light correct, but I wanted a feel of direction here. For sections of the paws that weren't visible in the original photo, I looked online for images of lion paws, so I had a reference for length and shape. Digital art is awesome!

Another Turpentine Creek rescue. This beautiful tiger is in residence at the refuge. They have some beautiful photos to paint from. Link here to the Turpentine Creek website.

Above are my 'in memory of' paintings of ShadowSpot and Cricket. They are missed...

Below is a full view of the background painting that was behind this newsletter as it was originally sent, "Cats in Holes."

I paint animals from photos and images. Most of my images are available on my website, The Art of Animal. If you can provide a favorite image of an animal that you currently have, or one you have lost, I can do a lovely painting of it.

Until next time, be safe, be happy, be creative. And, if you think about it, share this newsletter. :)