I’m a cat person. I don’t dislike dogs of course — It’s just always been my preference to have cats around. On the one hand, that’s simply because cats are easier to take care of. But if I’m honest, it’s simply because cats make me laugh uncontrollably. Seriously, when I see a cat do just about anything, I start giggling.
Anyway, here’s a newly completed painting of our cat, Yoshi. He’s got stunning eyes, but he’s a little cross-eyed and can’t walk in a straight line. That makes me laugh.
“Yoshihiro in the Studio”
12″ x 12″ mixed media (ink, watercolor and pastel on primed hardboard)
“Yoshihiro in the Studio” (detail)
12″ x 12″ mixed media (ink, watercolor and pastel on primed hardboard)
…and some drawings of the late, great Mooch.
“Mooch Reconsiders” (click to view full size)
8″ x 13″ drawing (graphite, white conté and gouache on paper)
Great work! Nice technique. How do you use watercolor and pastel together? It looks almost like the watercolor is on top of the pastel.
Thanks David.
The pastel and watercolor are kind of one in the same in this case.
First off, the underpainting was done with Derwent Inktense pencils. These are essentially colored pencils that become translucent, permanent ink when brushed over with water. This doesn’t fill in the tooth of the pastel primer.
I blocked in the broad areas of color with pastels and used silicone tipped tools (Colour Shapers) to blend them. This initial layer was applied quite thin.
To paint the hair, I used an X-Acto knife to scrape little piles of pigment from the pastels into ceramic palettes. To this, I add small amounts of water and use a detail brush to paint the hairs onto the surface. This is essentially like painting with thick watercolor.
For the lighter passages, I added either white or light gray tube watercolors to the water/pastel mixture. This makes the resulting paint handle better and also makes it a little more opaque.
Hope that makes sense!
I see. Thanks for taking the time to explain your process. Again, you have done a spectacular job.
You’re quite welcome. Thanks for commenting!
Hirohito’s eyes are striking… in a way that’s surprising even when you know that…
Thanks Gannon. Yeah, Emperor Hirohito Yoshihiro does indeed have freaky eyes.