Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Feline Art - Resources for Artists

Tufty Toes
8" x 6", coloured pencils on buff Stonehenge
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Somehow or other I seem to have neglected to introduce one of my squidoo lenses: Feline Art - Resources for Artists. Which is another way of saying I've searched my own blog for a reference to it and can't find one - except for its inclusion in the side column!

It's not that new - I've had it for a few months now. However I did start to update it and add more information links to it after the visit to the Supreme Cat Show on Saturday.

Breed information
I've now included links to the breed standards and the cat clubs associated with the more popular breeds. If you're doing a pedigree cat it's a good idea to know what the breed standard is and hence which are the good points to play up or down as the case may be.

Links to feline artists in art history
I've also started to add in more links to the portrayal of cats by different artists over the centuries (such as Louis Wain and Steinlen) plus links to popular contemporary artists such as Ditz and Derold Page.

Any suggestions are to more artists who drew or painted cats? I've got Gwen John on my list to include - plus I want to try to find some sites which display ancient and/or eastern art involving cats.

Tufty Toes
My drawing is of Cosmo, my Somali boy, sat on top of the door - as he likes to do from time to time - and staring down at me. I always get the distinct impression that he quite fancies lording it over us from on high! Quite how he gets up the doors at times is beyond me. I used to find him sat on the top of doors from when he was small rather pudgy kitten!

Somali cats are the semi-long-hair version of an Abyssinian cat and have very silky fur and tufty toes - hence the title.

I'm still experimenting with different papers for my feline art. With this one I used buff coloured Stonehenge paper for the first time. I got a pack of Stonehenge samples from the UKCPS stand at Art Materials Live and it's quite interesting as it's not the same as the other Rising paper which I've had for some time and thought might be Stonehenge. Stonehenge is now produced by Legion and you can read more details about it on their website. I gather from the note which was enclosed with it that UKCPS hope to have supplies of Stonehenge in the UK early in 2008. Details are to be provided to UKCPS members and posted on the website as soon as details have been finalised.

Note:
Feline art is art which portrays cats rather than art which is produced by cats who paint as this site would suggest! Which means feline artists are people and not puddy cats...... Cosmo does however try to help me out with my drawing on a regular basis - mainly through the introduction of the 'break to stroke the cat and stare at drawing from a distance'. ;)

Links:

9 comments:

  1. Quote from cat owning friend:
    "Dogs have owners but cats have servants." Think your illustration says that.

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  2. I couldn't agree more Lorna. That's why I call him "Tufty Toes" when he does the Lord and Master routine on me!

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  3. Cosmo has such a sweet face and that wonderful expression that only a cat cat can have.

    My first impression on seeing it was a cat holding a score card....'my score for the humans today is.....' hehehe

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  4. I love the expression on his face! He looks like he has so much personality. My boy kittie likes to hang out on top of the fridge and look down on me from there. It must have been fun doing this drawing.

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  5. Beautiful job. I love the softness of the colors.

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  6. Jeanette - you made me laugh. It is exactly that sort of deadpan and superior look that you get with judges!

    Jana - he has tons of personality. Somalis are wonderful cats and I cannot recommend them too highly. They're also extremely friendly and well disposed towards people.

    Mind you Cosmo is nothing more than a big baby come the evening. There's nothing he likes better than to take up residence on a lap. That's after he has sat with his paws on chest looking up into the eyes of whichever one of us he chooses to grace with his company. (Cue big black 'I love you' pupils!) If we then give him a big cuddle he starts purring like a train!

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  7. Hi Jeanne - it's really good to see you're home from hospital! Thanks for the comment.

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  8. I forgot to mention - I'm officially auditioning cat poses (or is that cats as posers?) for artwork to be submitted to the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists in 2008.

    It's never too early to start....

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  9. Cosmo is adorable, and I'm not even a cat person. Wonderful drawing, Katherine. Dermott says you should bring him over and he'll take him for a run. Ummm.

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