Amanda has sent me a photo of her painting of a Tonkinese cat. The Tonkinese is a Siamese/Burmese hybrid. You can see Helmi photos on this page.
Without further ramblings from me, here is the painting. It appears to be an oil painting.
Amanda says this about her painting:
This oil study was done from a photo a lady e-mailed to me, it was quite a small, dark, lo res photo and since my style is quite dense its probably not as graceful and elegant as the lady would like. Also I included a lot of the furniture in and didn’t just concentrate on the cat, as to me that would make the cat more a part of the home. The eyes on the American Tonkinese are rounder and wider than the British and the faces and bodies are stockier. I tried to capture the cats eyes and expression and I know how intelligent and curious they are.
Feel free to leave a comment. Amanda says she has a thick skin. But please be polite. I know you will.
Here is a Helmi photo of the Tonkinese for comparison.
Sorry to comment so late – hope you read it Amanda. I did a degree in fine art and although I specialized in etching/intaglio and silk screen, I did years of painting and drawing still life in the old fashioned sense of exercises and so on. I can tell by looking at this (i think anyway) that you have stuck to the way it is even if it doesn’t quite look right. i.e.: it is very tempting to ignore the original material and start messing with the image to make it look better but I am guessing, also by the tail example, that you have stuck to reality/what’s there and gone with that regardless. The difficult part of the rear leg and belly/fur is actually very good I reckon. I’m sure that was a hard bit indeed. Another great thing is the overall colour. It’s very real somehow, the light and colour. It’s not fake. That’s why it has a rather cold feeling reminiscant of old paintngs from previous centuries. That’s the way and colour of natural light. It just is and you have done a great job of something really quite hard, especially given the image you had was dark and low resolution etc. I showed this to a friend who agreed that you have done an amazing job. I personally used oil paint for about 5 years (and acrylics) and I know just how darn hard it is to end up with the right colours and paint sitting how you want it on the canvas without getting in a big muddle with too much paint. If this really is a beginning or learning experience for you then you are surely going to be very good at it if you pursue this medium. My friend also couldn’t believe you are a beginner. Are you? Anyways it’s a pretty damn good job – well done!
My cat Red died in June and at some point in the future I want to have a portrait done of him. He was fluffy orange tabby boycat. I hope you will perhaps consider again putting a new work of yours on POC – do you paint cats often or is this just a one off? Well done!
You are right about the head. You can see where I rather clumsily tried to change it and overpainting. That’s how the tail was, believe it or not. Oh and it looks like I’ve given her no back legs, but she was in fact sitting on them! The whorls in the chest fur where it meets the legs were quite a challenge too.
Bottom line, it’s pretty good and nice to see you have courage to show it and the openness to progress.
I am a critical person and I like high standards…. 😉 So if I was marking this out of 10, I’d give 5.
Overall not bad. I think the body shape etc. is good. I just think you struggled with the face. The tail looks a bit odd too as if it has been added in the wrong position, slightly.
However, thank you for showing us your painting and for being brave enough to let people comment. Well done.