ink and acrylic on watercolor paper
Prints of this card are also available for purchase: click here.
Last week my cat got sick all of a sudden on a Tuesday night. We'd been treating her through late December and into January for a UTI (TMI?) and thought she was clear in early February. Then Tuesday night, all of a sudden it was back and worse than it had ever been before. We were at the ER until almost 3am Wednesday morning, and they packed us off with more than antibiotics - they also sent little doses of kitty painkillers - an opiate. The opiate came in tiny syringes of clear liquid that had to be washed over her gums (HA!), under her tongue (HAHAHAHA IMPOSSIBLE!) or tucked into the little pouch of her cheek (okay, slightly possible). So for the first day, while we waited for the antiobiotics to start kicking in, we kept her dosed up on morphine. She spent the day with a slight wobble in her step. I watched her stop and really calculate basic leaps (like from the floor onto the seat of a chair) before attempting them, and then miscalculating once - luckily I was able to catch her before she really fell and hurt herself. It was a little funny and a little sad; but either way, I was glad that the painkillers dulled the pain and discomfort that had driven her to the litter box every five minutes.
That afternoon, as I cast about for some topic for my weekly postcard, I figured, "why ignore the elephant in the room?" I grabbed the camera and snapped some shots of our glassy-eyed kitty. I painted her using a bottle of calligraphy ink and a brush. It was kind of fun, actually; I've never really played with ink (real ink/not-in-a-pen-ink) before, and I particularly enjoyed going back over the ink with a wet brush and achieving a gentle watercolor effect. I couldn't leave it at black and white, however; her summer-sky-blue eyes are one of her most striking features. So I added a little acrylic wash of blue there.
I sealed it with fixative, but I have no idea if this one made it across the country intact, or if moisture along the way caused blots in it. Hm. I should ask my brother and find out, before I play with water-soluble media some more.
Last week my cat got sick all of a sudden on a Tuesday night. We'd been treating her through late December and into January for a UTI (TMI?) and thought she was clear in early February. Then Tuesday night, all of a sudden it was back and worse than it had ever been before. We were at the ER until almost 3am Wednesday morning, and they packed us off with more than antibiotics - they also sent little doses of kitty painkillers - an opiate. The opiate came in tiny syringes of clear liquid that had to be washed over her gums (HA!), under her tongue (HAHAHAHA IMPOSSIBLE!) or tucked into the little pouch of her cheek (okay, slightly possible). So for the first day, while we waited for the antiobiotics to start kicking in, we kept her dosed up on morphine. She spent the day with a slight wobble in her step. I watched her stop and really calculate basic leaps (like from the floor onto the seat of a chair) before attempting them, and then miscalculating once - luckily I was able to catch her before she really fell and hurt herself. It was a little funny and a little sad; but either way, I was glad that the painkillers dulled the pain and discomfort that had driven her to the litter box every five minutes.
That afternoon, as I cast about for some topic for my weekly postcard, I figured, "why ignore the elephant in the room?" I grabbed the camera and snapped some shots of our glassy-eyed kitty. I painted her using a bottle of calligraphy ink and a brush. It was kind of fun, actually; I've never really played with ink (real ink/not-in-a-pen-ink) before, and I particularly enjoyed going back over the ink with a wet brush and achieving a gentle watercolor effect. I couldn't leave it at black and white, however; her summer-sky-blue eyes are one of her most striking features. So I added a little acrylic wash of blue there.
I sealed it with fixative, but I have no idea if this one made it across the country intact, or if moisture along the way caused blots in it. Hm. I should ask my brother and find out, before I play with water-soluble media some more.
2 comments:
So pretty! And I think you really capture your friend's personality, but I'm a cat person and probably biased.
thank you, Stacy! And I happen to think it's the *best* bias to have ... but then, I'm biased, too! =)
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