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.

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.

 

 

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!

Luna My Tuxedo Cat - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's small painting, 6 x 6 inches, is a study for a large 3 foot by 3 foot painting I'm going to do of my Luna the tuxedo cat.  Luna has the prettiest eyes, they really are the color of a luna moth - that pale greenish yellowish color - so lovely.  I can't wait to try this painting BIG!

My Lou is the sweetest cat with a shy expression - she's a really gentle soul.

Tuxedo Cat Original Oil Painting - Lou Walking in the Garden by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's painting is of my tuxedo cat Lou walking in the green garden.  Only a fantasy though, because Lou is an indoor kitty - although she does get outside in her catio.  Keeping it loose, this original oil painting is 14 by 11 inches on archival gessoboard.

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Walking with Shadow - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's painting is of a shelter cat called Baby Monster.  Love that name!  A fun study of light and shadow on this one.  Original oil painting 10 by 8 inches on archival canvas board.

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Kip the Tuxedo Cat - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's tuxedo cat painting is of the sweet Kip, owned by Erin.  Kip looked a lot like my Lou, but with a darling white spot on his face.  Erin bought one of my tuxedo cat paintings on Etsy, one that resembled her dear departed Kip and she send me some photos of Kip, which of course I had to paint because painting tuxedo cats is my current obsession.  I read online that tuxedos are extra smart cats and I really believe that, as my Lou is quite the little thinker.  No doubt Kip was the same.  My husband ran into a guy this morning who had just adopted a little tux and the guy was describing the cat - all black but with this white area on the chest - and my husband told him - oh you have a tuxedo cat!  They are really smart : - )  Today's original oil painting is 8 by 8 inches on archival gessoboard.

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery Page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Portrait - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Back to my series of tuxedo cat paintings today!  This one was fun.  I painted almost the whole painting with one big brush, aside from the eyes and some ear stuff.  I also worked on getting my edges right, which is something that I have only recently been focusing on.  Another lovely cat from the local shelter.  I'm happy with this one.  It has that loose, sketchy quality that I like.  Original oil painting, 8 by 10 inches on archival canvas board.

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's tuxedo cat is another lovely one from the local shelter.  This time there was more white to paint and a nice pink nose.  Something I learned from today's painting is to paint with as big a brush as possible.  That way you can do touches of paint instead of endless noodling.  This tuxedo cat is an 8 by 10 inch original oil painting on archival canvas board.

You can see this painting and all of my others on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Arya Stark - Extreme Closeup of Tuxedo Cat Face - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Continuing onward with my tuxedo cat obsession ...

My neighbors Laurie and Joe are just the nicest people and they have cats like we do.  Their newest additions are two adorable kitties, Arya Stark and Rocky.  I painted both kitties in one painting last month.  Well, Laurie took a really great closeup photo of Arya that I just had to paint.  So going MUCH larger today - 18 by 18 inches, I painted this closeup of Arya.  Funny how it doesn't take a lot longer to paint an 18 by 18 compared to a 5 by 7.  One just uses a lot bigger brushes!  Anyway, I am learning and that is my continued painting goal for 2014.  Just keep trying new things and keep putting the miles in.  So here is Arya Stark, 18 by 18 inches on archival canvas board.

And just for comparison, here is Arya next to the latest 14 by 11 inch tuxedo cat paintings and one 5 by 7 inch painting.  Oh and good news, one of my latest tuxedo cat paintings is Painting of the Day on Daily Paintworks Facebook page!

You can see this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Original Oil Painting Tuxedo Cat, Black and White Cat Art by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another in my series of tuxedo cat paintings.  This lovely cat is a from a local shelter and her name is Angela.  Adopt a cat if you can, they will make your life rich!  Again, I am working larger, 14 by 11 inches and keeping it as loose as possible.  Lots of fun to do and a good way to start off the new year!  Happy New Year to you all : - )

This painting can be found on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's painting of a tuxedo cat from the local shelter is painted bigger and looser than usual and I like the freedom of really splashing the paint on.  It is an 11 by 14 inch oil painting on gessoboard.  I love the graphic black and white design on a tuxedo cat, so I may paint more of them.  Also, my cat Lou is a tuxedo gal and she inspires me every day.

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.  Thanks for looking!

Interior with Antiques and Tuxedo Cat - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Another in a series of Lou, my tuxedo cat doing what she does best, climbing the furniture : - )  All of my cats like walking along the narrow edge of this antique French Gentleman's chest.  Original oil painting on archival gessoboard measuring 7 by 5 inches.

Here is the value sketch I did prior to painting ...

You can see this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Walks Across Antique Wilton Rug - Original Impressionist Oil Painting

I followed my cats around yesterday taking pictures of them for future paintings, like the paparazzi chasing Miley Cyrus or something.  They started to really get tired of it and finally disappeared into the closet.  But I did get a few fun shots.

Today's painting was from yesterday's photo session.  I painted my tuxedo kitty Lou today, walking across the living room carpet.  I think the looseness of the brushstrokes convey a sense of movement, also I blurred the back of Lou a bit to make her look like she's moving.  I find it humorous that the title of this painting says "Antique Wilton Rug" since there's no way to tell it's a Wilton rug with the mush of paint going on : - )

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Original Oil Painting - Lou at the Kitchen Sink

I was looking around for a photo to paint from this morning and I came across one of my cat Luna walking along the kitchen counter by the sink.  And yes, the cats like to be up on the kitchen counters!  I love the way the sunlight is coming in from the windows.  So a real simple, loose painting of an ordinary day - the cat on the counter, a bowl soaking in the sink - good times : - )

I plan on doing more of these nice, loose paintings from other photos I have of the critters.  If you are interested in this 5 x 7 original oil painting, you can find it on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Tuxedo Cat Profile - Original Oil Painting by Diane Irvine Armitage

Today's cat looks just like my Luna!  But it is not, it is Chipie, a tuxedo babe I found on Petfinders.  The coolest thing about tuxedo cats (besides how nice they are) are their white whiskers.  They are large and in charge, those white whiskers!  I painted this cat and before putting the whiskers on, the painting was only half finished - that's how important whiskers are on these tuxedo cats : - )

This painting and all my other cat paintings can be found on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page HERE.

Aurelia

Another tuxedo cat in my series of cats from the shelters.  I thought the face on Aurelia was kinda funny and cute and hoped to convey that in my painting.  First a value study sketch and then the 6" x 6" painting in acrylics.  I'm enjoying painting the tuxedo cats because of the play of darks and lights.  Also because I have a tuxedo cat named Luna and she is such a delight!

This painting is available on my Daily Paintworks gallery website here.

Oreo

Another tuxedo cat!  This pretty kitty from Petfinder is named Oreo.  I did a value sketch first and then mooshed on the paint.  Hey, my Katta painting is one of the paintings of the day today on Daily Paintwork's Facebook page!  How exciting!

Oreo is available here on my Daily Paintworks gallery page.

Katta

I'm happy with today's painting of Katta, another cat from Petfinders.  I wanted to do some work on my values, so I did a value sketch of the lovely Katta and then referred to that simple sketch whilst painting.  I think it really helped me to simplify my value design and get closer to what I was looking to do.  Here is the real Katta ...

Here is the value sketch ...

And finally, here is the painting ...

You can see Katta here at my Daily Paintworks Gallery.