TOBY (finished)?

I did a bit more tweaking - and added whiskers and I think I've had enough of Toby now.

He'll sit in the corner of my room for a while before I sign the picture and seal the mount/frame.

with mount

photographed at a bad angle ... but this is the frame he'll be in.   I've had the frame/mount hanging around for years so its nice to finally use it.

19/3: TOBY - cat in coloured pencil WIP 2

I photographed the progress pics yesterday but didn't have time to upload them to Blogger ... this morning my computer could not read the card and suggested I reformat it ... I did, and lost the photos in the process.   So here are more I took this morning.  (Got to love computers)!!


I stopped work at this point yesterday as I needed to think about what to do  about the white fur on his back.   The area to the top left of the drawing is actually white fur but it looks a little weird.   I think I might make him 'tabby' in that section.  

When I started the drawing I thought it would be something to submit to the judges in respect of this year's UKCPS International Exhibition but if it doesn't get past the judges I would give the drawing of Toby to his 'mum', my neighbour as a gift.   She's in her 90s and has recently taken up art herself but I don't think she's attempted pet portraits yet!   Obviously, she'll know his back is white rather than tabby but I hope to get away with some artistic licence as the focus should be on his face

He has lovely long whiskers but I won't add those till I've finished tweaking the rest of his fur. That's why I've left quite a lot of room at the bottom of the picture - whisker space!     Its hard getting white whiskers over the other colours but I'm hoping my Luminance white pencil will live up to its hype (recently bought but not really tested yet)!

This is the mount I'll be using - its just laid over the drawing at the moment but I think it highlights the area I'm concerned about.  The white fur doesn't really show up even though I've used greys to add some shadows - so it looks as though the drawing is unfinished.    Seeing it on screen has convinced me now to add some darker fur to it.

18/03: Toby - Neighbour's cat in Coloured Pencil on Pastelmat

With the upsets of the last year, and now all the travelling that David (he of the itchy feet) has been organising, I've not really settled back to the drawing board in 2019.

We aren't really going to be here for any length of time till May and so I've got a couple of commissions lined up for then but am still not taking on  any new ones (apart from 'returning' clients).

With a bit of 'whip cracking' from an artist e-friend (thanks Jan) I've started another cp drawing yesterday afternoon.   I'm a Gold Signature Status Member of the UK Coloured Pencil Society having had work juried into their annual International Exhibitions on more than 10 occasions so I'm  conscious that if I am going to achieve my Diamond status I need to work on some entries to put to the jury for the next few years .   Although its the UK society, membership is open to artists from around the world and the standards just keep going up and up ... its getting tougher each year

I've got lots of 'nearly completed' works in my studio but nothing really grabs me ... I usually work better when adrenaline kicks in so I'll probably be burning the midnight oil 2 days before entries close  putting finishing touches to several drawings ...

Enough excuses!!

Toby is my 92 year old neighbour's cat.   He's a rescue and he's really fallen on his feet as he's probably the most spoiled moggy in the County.   He's quite timid and usually runs when I talk to him which is a shame as I love cats.      He was snoozing on our patio one day and I managed to take a couple of photos of him looking suspiciously at me/the camera before he took off.     I have a square mount/frame in my studio which I bought years ago and have never used so I thought I'd use Toby as the subject to fill the frame.

I haven't drawn a cat for quite a while and would normally work in Pastel rather than Coloured Pencil but we'll see how this goes.

I'm using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils on white Pastelmat paper (which is a creamy white, not a bright white).    I'll probably be using a white  Luminance pencil later to add some highlights but this will be pure coloured pencil.

I didn't photograph this till late afternoon when the daylight had gone so its all a bit 'grey'.   I'll get better pics further down the line.

He's too pretty to be a male cat I think.