BELOW THE SURFACE

"Come and Play"

 "You should draw cats," my mother told me a long time ago. I remember her words among the many thousand pieces of advice she gave me. I was puzzled why she suggested that I concentrate on cats in my art. My mom often had ulterior motives beyond her casual advice. Looking back through my sketchbooks, I found very few cats. Cats are hard to draw because other than their faces, there is not much there except for the fluffy fur. Perhaps my mom wanted me to do the work to discover a cat's inner structure. Unless I understood what is underneath all that fur, I would not be successful in drawing them. 

Family Cat

Heads of animals sketches including the top view of a cat

I thought of mom's comment in my watercolor class as we worked on a cheetah, another version of a cat. As a reminder, I am still a student of watercolor. There are many people who paint with much more skill than I do, but this post is about the process of becoming better at something with practice.

To begin, I drew the cheetah on watercolor paper. I'm good at drawing, but sometimes the drawing gets lost once I paint over it with watercolor. Sometimes that's good so that I don't end up painting within the lines, sometimes it's not helpful when I lose the structure of what I'm painting.

I started painting the eyes since they are the focal point of the picture. I like drawing eyes, but painting them isn't always easy. Leaving a light highlight somewhere within the eye keeps the eye from becoming a dark hole.

Taking photos as I am painting helps me to see where I need to go back into the painting and correct values. I applied too dark a value under the cheetah's cheek, which I didn't realize until I looked at the photo. I pulled some of the dark paint out of the painting. I still have a lot of work to do before this portrait is finished. Right now the cheetah's head is floating on the paper. I need to show more of the cheetah's body.

I am glad that I have had this project to work on this week. Art has been a wonderful way for me to let go of stress and escape the daily news of the last several years. 

I am glad that Proposition 28, which provides funding for arts education, is likely to pass here in California. As a former art teacher and a practitioner of the arts, I know how valuable art can be for peace of mind and self-expression. Young people especially find the arts a way to belong.

Yeah to California voters for seeing the need for the arts!