Cold Stare

Prominence, Work in Progress. Scratchboard, 5 x 7 in. Copyright 2007, Tania Nault.

Today was one of those days that made me wish I was a plein air painter. The morning the air was full of ice crystals and there were stunning blue-tinged halos around every light source from street lights to vehicle lights. There was also a thick, white coating of reflective froast on all the trees. The contrast between the blues in the early morning sky and the whites on the trees combined with the halos and glitter was stunning. How I would go about capturing the look of that light and the reflections in scratchboard is beyond me, but it’s something I’d like to try. Maybe my scratchboard research project (no, I have nothing to share yet) will provide me with some answers.

Above you can see an early stage of my latest commission of a second Maine Coon cat, this one named Prominence. “Promy” was a winning show cat who didn’t really take to part two of a show cat’s life: creating more little show cats. She’s Chance’s room mate. Promy has the most leonine face of any domestic cat I’ve ever met, and to go with it a very disdainful attitude. When I was photographing her, the look on her face very clearly said, “If you must, petty human.” It was quite difficult to get a good picture of her eyes because the tilt of her head and lowered eyelids kept her eyes hooded, giving her a very hawk-like appearance. I think of the 20 or so shots I took of her I only got two with her eyes more than half-open. I have a ways to go with this board, but I’m pleased with my progress to date.