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.

Fluffy Maine Coon Type Cat Paintings by Diane Irvine Armitage

 I have been enjoying paintings some really lovely fluffy cats lately!  Lots of different colors to paint, very detailed work.

The first painting is of Angela's Scully, 8 x 10 inches.

The second painting is of Steve's Darla, 24 x 18 inches.

Here are a few progress shots of the paintings.

I started with a burnt umber toned board.  I find it to be a wonderful surface to paint on. 

I like to let a little of the warm undertone show through in the finished painting.

Same thing with Darla's painting.  I toned the white gesso'd board with burnt umber and then did a precise drawing over that.  I find with commissioned portraits that drawing with a grid system allows me to get the features in exactly the right place which is the key to getting a likeness.

Then it is just a matter of painting in the right values and color changes in all the little areas.  Lots of little patches of color on these tabby cats!

I keep working the painting over several days, pushing and pulling the lights and darks until I get to the finished painting.

Black Cats and White Cats - Original Oil Paintings by Diane Irvine Armitage

Here are two of three portrait commissions that I have done for Roxane.  Both paintings are very large - 18 x 36 inches!  One is of her black cat Gin and the other of her white cat Sel (which means Salt in French).  I painted these paintings in several stages.  First with an underpainting where I put in a nice reddish brown in the background area so it could peek through in the finished painting.  These paintings were a real pleasure to paint!

 Finished paintings on my drying shelf in the studio.

 

 The painting of Gin in progress ...

 

 And the final painting of Gin ...

 The painting of Sel in progress ...

 Underpainting, then second session ...

 And then the final painting of Sel.

The Chocolate Cat Gaia - A Speed Painting Video by Diane Irvine Armitage

This is the second portrait I have painted of the Chocolate Cat Gaia.  Such a fun face to paint!  This tuxedo cat oozes personality :-)  This painting is 11 x 14 inches.

I put together a speed painting video of the painting session and you can see it HERE.

Lisa's Black Cats Lucy and Leo - Custom Cat Oil Paintings by Diane Irvine Armitage

My latest custom black cat portraits are Lisa's lovely cats Leo and Lucy.  Lisa says that Leo is not a small cat and looks like a mini black panther and that Lisa is part Siamese and has a gorgeous Siamese face with lovely pale green eyes.  I painted two sets of paintings for Lisa.  The first is a classic portrait style.

 Leo

 Lucy

The next pair of paintings are of Leo and Lucy laying down, with Leo playing with his favorite feather toy and Lucy looking adorable on Lisa's lap.

 Leo

 Lucy

Such a pleasure to paint such beautiful black cats!

Custom Black Cat Portrait Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's black cat portrait is Jane's adorable Pepsi.  I have been wanting to paint this cute face since I saw Pepsi's photo on my Facebook page.  If you would like a custom 8 x 10 inch portrait of your black cat, just click on the Email Me button on the right on my blog!

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!

Tuxedo Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

I have three tuxedo cats - the house is full of them!  So I am always inspired to paint a tux cat and today was one of those days.  Original oil painting on archival gesso board measuring 8 x 10 inches and available on ebay HERE.

Here are a few tuxedo cat paintings I have done in the past.

 

 

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!