Featured Daily Sketch: Two in the Sun, 2012
I discovered some forgotten facts about this sketch…today! Enjoy the sketch and the stories, and scroll down for the rest of the story.
From 2012: Always that contrast of light and dark are inspiring as I watched all five black cats careen around in the sun upstairs this morning. Jelly Bean and Mimi finally settled down long enough for me to sketch them in medium charcoal pencil, but for the delicately colored shading instead of pastel I decided to use watercolor washes. The technique picks up more charcoal than I realized, even in one quick sweep, but the outcome is interesting.
From 2023, sharing the stories Little Visits: The artwork above is Mewsette and Mimi on the landing at the top of the steps, Two in Sun and Shadow, charcoal and watercolor, 9″ x 6.5″. I didn’t create it to illustrate these stories, but when I scrolled through my daily sketches looking for a possibility this one worked so well I’ve never changed it.
The characters in this play of Two in the Sun
So above you see two different pairings between 2012, when I first sketched these two, and 2023, when I mentioned this sketch as the visual opening for my set of stories Little Visits, about my cats visiting me after they’d transitioned to spirit. This sketch still gives me that sense if ephemeral, insubstantial visiting spirits and changing light.
When I decided to share this sketch today and saw that discrepancy I decided to straighten it out once and for all. I always did my best to get a reference photo for each sketch in case I had to finish something later, or even start later—I drew from life but my subjects didn’t always hold still long enough for me to get a rough outline.
I found I was wrong in both references for the subjects! Here’s the reference photo:
It’s Jelly Bean facing left and Giuseppe facing forward, not Jelly Bean and Mimi or Mewsette and Mimi! I even had it wrong the day I sketched it, and since I was right there sketching you’d think I’d remember. But Giuseppe is Mimi’s son and from this angle, foreshortened, this honestly still looks like Mimi’s face to me and the illusion of foreshortening makes Giuseppe look far smaller than he actually is. I guess I glanced at the photo and thought it looked like Mimi and said it was.
I can tell you that in 2014 when I first used this image with the annual post about Little Visits I also “honestly” thought that Jelly Bean was actually Mewsette. She and Mimi spent more time together in moments like this one, and the way I drew Jelly Bean gives him a profile much more like Mewsette’s shorter rounded muzzle.
And maybe it was prophetic in a way, the only family member missing in my selections is Mr. Sunshine, and all of them were around on the landing and steps on that sunny morning, so maybe this sketch has always had a little bit of all of them.
And as another conflicting fact about this sketch that has nothing to do with the subjects, I saw that when I finished it and scanned it to share I titled it “Two in the Shadows,” but either I got that incorrect when I wrote up the post or I decided it was a better title. Blurry and indistinct, that’s how memories often are.
Another volume of Little Visits
It’s certainly time for another volume of Little Visits, once enough time passes and I can focus on how to present the stories, either as a second volume or adding them to the original for one longer book. I’m thinking now I’ll keep this as the cover when I do that, either way.
Daily Sketches 2011 to 2015
I think I accomplished what I'd set out to do three years ago today, a challenge to me and entertainment and enjoyment for you: to create a quick sketch of my cats each day as a way to practice and experiment, and present the sketch on that day with no editing, no waiting, no excuses, just to do the sketch and share it.
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That’s a super cool sketch!
Really catches the mood, doesn’t it? Funny how I got it all confused as to who were actually the subjects!