You should probably paint your pets.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to paint both of my tuxedo kitties together in a portrait. It's probably one of the best ideas I've ever had. I painted Nicholas' corgi for last year's St. Valentine's Day, and it seemed to be a hit, so I felt like the cats needed to be commemorated in an oil painting of their own.

I found an oil paints starter kit at JoAnns (best save those Sunday coupons) and used a rather small, square canvas. I think this was one 6x6 or so. 

I painted a background color first. The most important thing to remember about oil paints is that they take forever to dry. You need a good 3-day drying time before you can do more layering. I waited the 3 days and then sketched out Genevieve, starting with a pencil drawing of her basic shape. I used a photo I took last year as inspiration.

Inspiration.

This is what I had after maybe 30 minutes of painting.

After I finished Genevieve, I text messaged it to Nicholas and my sister to see if it actually resembled my cat. They both enthusiastically said, "YES!" So, I let this portion of Genevieve dry for a few days and went back to add in the extra white portions.

Next up was adding in the worst tuxedo cat in the Pacific Northwest--Peanut (Penelope).

I used the same method as before and sketched out her shape first.

I used a couple of photos as guides to her look.

Nice face shot.

The perfect body pose.

After about 20 minutes, this is what I had come up with.

The most challenging part was getting definition in the white parts of their fur. I still think this could have been done better because they aren't that gray in spots. They're brillant white all over. I was uninspired to do the blanket and the background, but I tried something and it seemed to work ok.

Also, take note that oil paints stain. I accidentally ruined one of Nicholas' hoodies while painting.

Whoops.

Stay tuned for more oil paintings!