Prominence. Scratchboard with acrylic ink, 5 x 7 in. Copyright 2008, Tania Nault.
As you can see, she’s got whiskers and my signature, so I must be done! Actually, I was so pleased with the eyes on this one I didn’t wait for owner approval, she’s already varnished and waiting for framing.
What’s next? On the pet portrait front: Chance and Prominence have another feline roomate: Little T and I’ve been asked to do her portrait as well. On the wildlife front: a Polar Bear! I’ve solved my (overthought) composition problem, so you’ll see the final drawing for that project tomorrow.
Prominence, Work in Progress. Scratchboard with acrylic ink, 5 x 7 in. Copyright 2007, Tania Nault.
Today has been one of those days, well actually, if you must know, it’s been one of those weeks. I’m just popping in quickly with the colour update for Prominence. I’m pretty happy with the coat colours, but I don’t quite have the eyes right yet. They’re a bit too vibrant in the original (what you’re likely seeing on the screen is closer to what I want) so I’m going to work over the weekend to tone them down. I will have a new haiku for tomorrow and something brand new for Monday…
Prominence, Work in Progress. Scratchboard, 5 x 7 in. Copyright 2007, Tania Nault.
I joined Facebook today. My 20-year (oops, for a second there I wrote “200″ guess that tells you how old 20 years makes me feel…) high school reunion (Luther College, class of ‘88, go Lions!) is this year and there’s supposed to be a group started on Facebook for it. While I couldn’t find the group, I did find a couple of my old classmates. Okay, granted I’ve only been on Facebook for, what, 12 hours, but can I just say: it seems awfully hard to find people on it. If the person’s changed his/her name, moved out of your “region”, etc. you seem to be pretty much out in the cold with your search. And considering most of the people I hung out with in school were girls who have since married and Saskatchewan is second only to Newfoundland for exporting it’s citizens… you see my problem. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I have an update for Promy’s portrait. I started looking at some older pictures of her and decided to darken a few areas which have been lightened by age and fix some of the lines in the face and muzzle. As soon as the owner approves it, I’m starting in with the colour!
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.
Chance. Scratchboard with acrylic ink, 5 x 7 in. Copyright 2007, Tania Nault.
Ahh, that’s better: this colour is very true to the original board and as you can see, she has whiskers and I’ve signed it, so I’m officially done. Nothing left to do but wait for the framing to arrive!
I spent the morning at the Canadian Western Agribition watching the first round of the International Stock Dog Championship. And, yes, I took a lot of reference photos - I should have a sketch for a new scratchboard in the next day or so. I’ve actually been toying with the idea of entering something into the American Kennel Club’s “The Art Show at the Dog Show.” I wanted to do something with some action, or implied action, and thought the Border Collies at the stock dog trials would fit the bill. They did not disappoint! I saw everything from a lovely 1 minute 45 second run all the way down to a disqualification because the dog flew down the length of the ring and immediately latched on to one sheep by the shoulder. There were a few younger dogs in the ring and a couple of them seemed rather intimidated by the sheep, who would stand very rigid, arch their necks and stamp at the approaching dog. The whole event was fascinating to watch and made me very lonesome for our long gone Border Collie, Tippy.
