Jaguar and I

I decided one day to visit a local art supply store and purchased a bunch of brushes and acrylic paints. I sat down with a snack and a plate of paints and let my imagination flow. I love portraits and have always wanted one with my cat baby "Jaguar".

I decided on what I wanted the picture to look like and drew with standard no.2 pencil - nothing fancy. This is literally what we do all the time (Jaguar and I) head butt each other, and end with a smile that says "I love you". Trust me, I know her smile.

I started out with the darker colors, greens, blues, purples, black, where the shadowing would be. She is a black cat, so I chose darker colors for her with many highlights.

This paint is very thick, so I used it to my advantage. I began doing what I call 'spot' painting. Grabbing random colors on my brush and swiping without blending. I wanted it to be a somewhat splotchy painting that would come together as one.

For fur and hair, I used the fan brush to create the look of hair strands. The background was just as important as the subjects. I decided to paint a red strand connecting her head to mine. To me this symbolizes the non-verbal communication or connection between a pet and pet parent. You may have to have a pet to understand.

I'm known for rocking red hair so I made sure to finish my black strands with a red hue. The last color that I worked with was white; Highlighting the painting and bringing the overall tone up a bit.

I showed Jaguar and she loved it!