Daily Sketch: Mr. Sunshine’s Blue-green Bath
The colors don’t correspond to anything, I was just visualizing him this way while I watched him bathe. I did the simple charcoal sketch first, thinking I might just stop at that, but kept seeing the greens and blues and that yellow in this kind of rubbed-in style where the colors are blended together and you can see my swirled fingerprints. It is literally rubbed into the paper (except for what’s on my hands, my desk, Jelly Bean…) so that it loses the character of pastel and looks more like paint.
After I rubbed it in I retraced the sketch to hold the shape. For a while in my early experimentations as an artist I outlined everything, nothing looked complete until it had a black outline on it, and I still like the look of it now and then.
Then he needed to be somewhere so I added the pink and purple and tan in vague angled strokes to indicate vertical and horizontal planes. If I were to work on this yet more, which I might, I’d work orange and burnt orange into the pink, blue into the purple, and light pink into the tan, and rub them in like the blues and greens and yellows.
The drawing paper I use is fairly sturdy and though smooth has a little tooth to it, enough to hold a layer of chalk pastel though I could never add more layers and blend like Kelly in Warm Colors—that is drawn on paper with enough tooth and texture to hold lots of pastel.
I just love their baths, I love the shapes they make, the curves and the overall simplicity of their form, and I also love Mr. Sunshine’s completely relaxed tail and the details of his angled ears, his toes and whiskers.
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When cats are cleaning themselves, they always look so at ease I think. It’s very relaxing watching.
You’re right, Carolyn, and they are very happy about it too so it’s a joy to watch them. I think that’s where the restful blues and greens came in, and the positive, happy yellow.
thanks again for your details…I outline everything…I consider myself in the “early stages” so it’s good to hear someone address that technique…I also like to add colors…I love the shade and shape of Mr. Sunshine…and your background colors.
Coupurr always ends up blue/ green in my drawings!
Robin, outlines are okay and I still think they are really cool. I was afraid I’d never break out of that style and felt I should, but I can tell you it wasn’t easy! Wonder why Coupurr ends up in those colors? I just explained to Carolyn where I think they came from for me in this drawing. I really did see him that way.