Black Cat Drawing - Morticia Stops By For a Critique

Tishy took a minute out of her busy day of cat napping to wander through the studio and take a look at my latest black cat drawing.  Black kitty Coco's drawing is in the works, still have a ways to go with it.  It's funny because I can do a black cat painting much faster than any other color of cat, but black cat drawings take much longer than other cats - days and days longer!  And that's because I build these pencil drawings up layer by layer and the darker the subject, the more layers and more time.  There's no rushing the process - it takes as long as it takes and really it is quite a zen experience :-)

Black Cat Paintings by Diane Irvine Armitage Facebook Page

Be sure to like my Facebook page - Black Cat Paintings by Diane Irvine Armitage if you want to follow my black cat painting adventures.  Click on the Facebook button on the right and then click on Like under the page banner.

Gaia the Cat with Catitude! and Two Paintings of Lucky - Cat Portraits by Diane Irvine Armitage

I have been working away on a series of custom cat portraits for some really nice people.  Today's painting is of Melissa's Gaia.  This is a cat with serious catitude!!  I absolutely loved painting this cutie - what a face!!  I found that this painting came out more in the style of the Marmalade painting, I think mostly because it was not painted alla prima (all at once).  The first session was getting the canvas covered with the right colors and values and then I blended everything to get really soft transitions.  The second session was putting in the mid-tones and highlights and doing all the fun sketchy brushwork.  Another thing I like about letting the underpainting dry is being able to go in on the background and put one color over another.  This background started out dark and then I put the golden tones over that, leaving a little of the dark to show through here and there.  Anyway, I really like this one :-)

 As you can see, Gaia is a real character!!  I understand that she has a Twitter following :-)

 

Another cat I painted recently is Carla's Lucky.  Lucky was an adorable black cat that, sadly, recently passed away.  Carla had me paint two portraits of Lucky as a surprise present for her husband.  I loved trying to capture Lucky's sweet personality!

 

More black cat portraits are on the way!!

Cleopatra - Black Cat Commissed Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

The lovely Cleopatra is the model for today's black cat painting.  I just love the look in her eyes!  This pose reminds me of a much sketchier painting I did about a year ago.

 

Custom Cat Portrait Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

A few of my latest black cat portrait commissions.  I have a big long list of portraits to do!  So wonderful :-)

First there is Roberta's Felix.  A very dapper black kitty!  I really liked the pose on this one and the shape of the eyes - very fun to paint.

  Next there is Danielle's dashing cat Dastan.  A romantic gentleman-type kitty!

The Lovely Annabelle - A Custom Cat Portrait in Oils by Diane Irvine Armitage

I am so lucky to have a lot of commissions to do custom cat portraits this week!  Thanks to a video that Chris from Cole & Marmalade posted on YouTube and Facebook, the video has generated a lot of interest in my painting!

Today's painting is for Stacy, a portrait of a very lovely black cat named Annabelle.  Annabelle's eyes were the most amazing color.  With greens and a beautiful blue, just amazing.  I very beautiful cat to paint, what a pleasure!

Black Cat with Voodoo Eyes - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

I have been getting great feedback on my new, softer painting technique.  I get much more dimension with the softer approach.  The emphasis is on the eyes with this painting!  Very mysterious, ready to put a spell on you!  This original oil painting of a black cat measures 10 x 8 inches on archival gesso board.  It is available HERE on ebay.

Mysterious Black Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another day, another black cat painting!  I'm enjoying my new softer style.  I painted another black cat that I have painted in the past.  Nice to do several versions of the same pose to see what can be changed up.  This painting along with my other original cat paintings are available on ebay HERE.  Today's mysterious black cat painting measures 8 x 10 inches.

 The last version I painted of this pose was a 5 x 7 inch painting and was sold on ebay.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Black Cat with Mesmerizing Eyes - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another attempt at painting a softer painting.  I have painted this cat face two other times and I find it helpful to go back to something that I have painted when trying a new technique.  I lay in the painting very thinly and soften it up and then come back and put in some of the sketchier strokes.  I'm happy with this one!  It has a nice luminous look to it - like the eyes are coming forward out of the darkness.  This original oil painting of a black cat measures 8 x 10 inches on archival gesso board and is available on ebay HERE.

Below are the other two paintings I did of this same cat.

 11 x 14 on gesso board.

 24 x 36 on a birch panel.  I have this one hanging in my living room and I think it is my favorite version so far.

Original Oil Painting of a Black Cat in the Purple Twilight by Diane Irvine Armitage

Original 5 x 7 inch oil painting on archival gesso board - Black Cat at Twilight.  I like the contrast between the yellow green of the cat's eyes and the purplish twilight color of the background.  This painting is available through my ebay auctions HERE.

Art for the Catio

I am in the process of creating some art for my cats' catio.  I have a lot of ideas and have been working diligently on them.  One idea was inspired by Soo Sunny Park's lovely art installation "Unwoven Light," where she used many pieces of dichroic plexiglass suspended in the open holes of chain link fencing.  When I saw what she had done, I thought how perfect to turn my cat tunnels into works of art!  I used dichroic glass instead of plexiglass because of this being outdoors.

 Here is Morticia looking out of her stained glass cat tunnel.

 I left plenty of spaces so the glass doesn't block the cats' view.

 The dichroic glass changes color depending on your viewing point and also with the time of day and the light.  The squares catch the light and throw dancing fireflies of colored light all around - it is very magical!  And I only attached the squares on the top and one side so they can move and twinkle in the breeze.

Here are some photos of Soo Sunny Park's installation ...

 

 

 

Another part of my art-if-cation plan for the catio was to paint three huge paintings on plywood to go on the fence panels.  So far, I have completed two - a 8 foot wide by 4 foot tall painting of Mortica and a 4 foot wide and 5 foot tall painting of Luna.

 

 So on to more soldering of the dichroic glass squares (lots more!) and another large cat painting and several other fun projects.  I should be finished with it all by early June.

 In the meantime, the cats could care less about art and are just enjoying the great outdoors in their favorite spot - their catio!

Black Cat Closeup Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitge

I haven't painted in a while!  Time to get back to it.  Today's painting is 6 x 6 inches and is painted from a cropped-in photo of one of my favorite black cats, Cole, of Cole and Marmalade fame.  Cole has beautiful eyes, so I concentrated on them and left the rest very understated.

You can find this original oil painting HERE on my ebay auctions.

Ebony a Black Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's painting is of a pretty black kitty I found on Petfinder named Ebony AKA Eboneezer (love that name!).  You can read more about Ebony here - maybe you can adopt him!  This original oil painting measures 5 by 7 inches and is available on my ebay auctions HERE.

Thanks for taking a look!

3 Eyed Black Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Here is my progress so far on this three-eyed cat painting.  It is Tish in the garden, but with an extra eye : - )  Once it is dry, I want to add some thin grass in front of her.

 Original oil painting on archival gessoboard, 8 x 10 inches.

Black Cat Extreme Closeup - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's (and yesterday's) painting endeavor is a very large, 24 x 48" canvas with a closeup of a black cat.  I have painted this cat before (Nancy's cat) and this is a variation on a theme.  Another painting for the booth at Pandora's Parlor.

 You can see more of my black cat paintings on Ebay HERE.

Impressionist Style Black Cat Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another small impressionist style black cat painting.  I am trying to paint softer but still keep things sketchy.

This painting is available on my ebay auctions HERE.

Black Cat Portrait - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another 8 x 8 inch painting today, this one straight on, almost mug shot style!  Working on keeping things loose and sketchy.

I sell high-quality prints of most of my paintings at my antiques booth.  If you are interested in a print of this or any other paintings you see here on my blog, let me know.  They are $15.00 each plus $7.00 shipping.  This painting is available on my ebay auctions HERE.

Cat Painting - Black Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

The last in my series of black cat Morticia in the 8 x 8 inch size.  This original oil painting is on archival canvas board.

You can see this painting and all my other black cat paintings on Pinterest HERE.

Black Cat Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

And yet another painting from the Tish photo, this one 8 x 8 inches on canvas board.  I'm adding this one to my series of 8 x 8 paintings for the October art show.  I want to hang all the 8 x 8s in a row together if possible.

You can see this painting and all of my other cat paintings on my Pinterest Gallery page HERE.

Black Cat Oil Painting - Original Loose Sketchy Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another portrait of the Tish Squish today.  Her face is endlessly fascinating to me.  This original oil painting is 8 by 8 inches on archival gesso board.

You can see this painting and all my other cat paintings on my Pinterest Gallery page HERE.