Daily Sketch: Sunning

Had to make the most of the sun this morning and caught Mimi quietly absorbing it on the bathroom windowsill.

This started out being a much simpler sketch, but she moved enough while I worked that I ended up with too many confusing sketchy little lines. I like those sketchy lines and you can still see a few around her edges, but if even I can’t make sense of them then probably no one else will either. I had intended to use conté, but just a sketchy sort of coverage maybe using one or two tones because I wanted to capture the dense shadows as well as the mahogany highlights in her fur. Instead I filled her in more completely, then drew on top with other colors using all the conté tones from black to brown to terra cotta to white.

It’s another of those I didn’t like at first and had to walk away and let it sit before I could see it correctly. When they move and I have to make so many changes, the sketch not only doesn’t look as I had visualized, an important step for a quick sketch so I know what my goal is, but it’s often not accurate to the cat, and this is Mimi’s body but not quite her face. Still, it’s acceptable as a sketch and I really like the way the unintended technique turned out.

________________________

Click here to see other daily sketches, and for a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit my Etsy shop in the “Daily Sketches” section.

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.