How a ginger cat with attitude makes Fat Cat Art

I happened on Fat Cat Art again recently - and decided to try and understand a bit more about how a very "fat ginger cat with attitude" could contribute to derivations of some serious art.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Arrangement in Grey, Black and Ginger No. 1 Whistler's Mother with the Cat
artworks by Svetlana Petrova & Zarathustra the Cat / FatCatArt.com

The fat ginge is called Zarathrusta and is owned by Svetlana Petrova - who lives in St. Petersburg. She always had cats - and involved them in her creative projects. However Zarathrusta is really her mother's cat and she inherited him after her mother died.

Zarathrusta loves to sit for adaptations of the paintings and artwork of the great artists past and present

We, Zarathustra the Cat, enjoy Ourselves as the first cat contemporary artist, working in fields of performance and appropriation art.

The website was launched in 2011 and since then he has been digitally integrated into rather a large number of famous paintings - in an amazing range of styles and period of art - and his artwork has gone viral around the world. 

Fat Cat French art at the end of XIX century
artworks by Svetlana Petrova & Zarathustra the Cat / FatCatArt.com

Twentieth century art and Zarathrusta the Cat
artworks by Svetlana Petrova & Zarathustra the Cat / FatCatArt.com

Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Falling Down in the Mind of Someone Sleeping
artworks by Svetlana Petrova & Zarathustra the Cat / FatCatArt.com

I'm a particular fan of some of the changed titles of the paintings.  There's some thought gone into these!

What's the technique?

• the artwork is selected
• high resolution images of the artwork are secured
• photographs are taken of Zarathrusta - posing. It sometimes takes many months for Svetlana or her photographer to get just the right photo - so I'm guessing there are multiple project pics on the go at any one time
• the cropped cat pic is inserted into the painting using Photoshop - and sometimes it's tweaked to fit with the style of the painting so that the two fit together well
• text is created to go with the picture - by his bilingual author/artist mother.

The net result of all this?

He's gone beyond an Internet Meme and there have now been exhibitions, videos, a book (published by Penguin Random House USA - see below)) and calendars (see the 2019 calendar here - and on the Facebook Page) 

In fact a small cottage industry in St. Petersburg runs off the stretches and contortions of Zarathrusta and the digital wizardry of Svetlana.

Fat Cat Art: Famous Masterpieces Improved by a Ginger Cat with Attitude 
(From Amazon UK | Amazon.com)

You can view them on Facebook on a regular basis - with videos of typical cat activity

I wish them well for the future. It's fun rather than serious but if anything gets people looking to see what the original painting looked like, that's OK by me

Feline Art in London, Washington and Before Internet Cats

September is feline art exhibition month in London. Plus Washington is also having an exhibition. This post features the following exhibitions:

• Louis Wain and the Cat Show at the Christ Beetles Gallery
• The Society of Feline Artists Annual Exhibition 2017 at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery
• Before Internet Cats: Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art at the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Both of the London galleries are extremely considerate to out of London purchasers by showing digital images of the entire exhibition on their website - and both have a LOT of pictures.

Should you feel the need to pay a visit, you can find links to Google maps of the locations of the galleries at the end of this post.

Louis Wain and the Cat Show 

The Chris Beetles Gallery has its regular exhibition about Louis Wain and the Cat Show (9-30 September 2017) which includes work by a number of contemporary artists as well as by Louis Wain (5 August 1860 – 4 July 1939)

Wain was a very prolific artist who constantly portrayed anthropomorphised large-eyed cats and kittens - even after being committed to hospital for mental health reasons. His work now forms part of the permanent collection of the Bethlem Museum of the Mind.

Paintings by Louis Wain

The exhibition also includes paintings by other contemporary feline artists including:

• Lesley Anne Ivory - who paints her wonderful cats and gorgeous patterns
• Susan Herbert -(1945-2014) who was also fond of painting anthropomorphic cats - I love Dangerous Felines and 'riffs' on famous paintings by past masters.  She produced a compendium of her Cat Paintings prior to her death called Cats Galore: A Compendium of Cultured Cats.  You can also see a YouTube Video of her cat paintings below the image.
• Geraldine Girvan - I didn't realise she also did cat paintings. I like her flower paintings a lot - see Flowers in Art: Contemporary painters #2
• Lesley Fotherby and others.

More anthropomorphised cats by Susan Herbert
plus conventional cat paintings by Lesley Anne Ivory

Society of Feline Artists - Annual Exhibition

Celia Pike is just one of the many SOFA members and associates who have work in the show

The Society of Feline Artists (SOFA) have their annual exhibition (24th of August to the 15th of September 2017) at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery near to Waterloo Station and across the road from the Old Vic.

This exhibition has more than 300 paintings of cats, both domestic and wild, by full and associate members of S.O.F.A. including work by well known feline artists - including:

• Celia Pike
• Sara Butt
• Jacqueline Gaylard 
• Natalie Mascall
• Gayle Mason

You can see the art in various ways

• The gallery hosts images of all the paintings in the shows - with dimensions, media and prices
• There is a a slideshow on their website
• Plus an excellent gallery of photos of the show on the SOFA Facebook Page so if you need any temptation to visit the show you know what to do to see the pictures....

So if you are a fan of feline art feel free to indulge!

Before Internet Cats: Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art

Cats are ever popular on the Internet however they've been ever popular for a very long time

I recently discovered Before Internet Cats: Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art which is on view at the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery in Washington, D.C. (April 28–October 29, 2017)

If you can't get to the exhibition you can review its contents by clicking the links below

• Overview
• Cats and the Creative Process
• In the Artist's Studio
• Cat Correspondence
• On the Subject of Cats
• Cats as Art
• Everyday Life

The Archives of American Art’s exhibition space is located two blocks away from their D.C. Research Center.

Gallery Details

Links below are to Google Maps of the location of each gallery

• Chris Beetles Gallery, 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6QB
• Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, 124 -126 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LN UK
• The Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery, The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, 1st floor8th and F Streets, NWWashington , DC 20001 

RIP Polly 2000 - 2015

Time for a pause in blogging - for reflection on the life of Polly, my much loved Abyssinian cat.

"Pause"
Polly sunbathing in the doorway heard me behind her
and an ear twitched round - worked up from a 15 second sketch and my memory!
14" x 11" coloured pencil on black Stonehenge paper

She died this afternoon after becoming very sick with heart failure 10 days ago.

Losing Polly would be bad enough on its own but coming on top of the loss of Cosmo to cancer four months ago (see RIP Cosmo 2000 - 2015) - it's really knocked me for six.

Cosmo and Polly as kittens
Guess who was boss?

They came to me at three months old in 2000 and started out as cute and continued as cute!

Polly contributed cute kittens for drawing and took the matriarch role, while Cosmo did cuddles, played nursemaid to the kittens - and knew his place in the Polly pecking order.

Polly says "A girl can never have enough feeds"
Cosmo says "I want a feed too!"

Guess who's bottom looks big in this?

Polly in particular was a very pretty cat for fifteen years. Latterly people were amazed at how old she was. Here she is in 2013

Polly demonstrating the advantages of backlighting

She was however VERY difficult to draw - maybe because she was so petite, precise and neat! She was always much easier to do from behind than from head on!

Polly - Study#1
pen and sepia ink, 10" x 6.5"
Polly had a certain way of staring at you when she wanted her next meal

"Polly" in 2008
pen and ink and coloured pencils

I ended up drawing her kittens more than I drew her - until the last few days.

Meet the Kittens (her second litter)
This made it on to the front cover of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists
and into my book Sketching 365 (page 90)
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

Polly - true to form - looked cute and gorgeous right up to the end. This was her yesterday afternoon.

Polly on 6th October - she died 7th October 2015

Having sat with her and next to her for the last three days, watching over her as she went downhill very fast, I now need to take some time out. Blogging will be back next week.

14 good years

The Kittie Sitter

I'm not really feeling like doing a proper blog post today.

I've just got back from the vets and, having feared the worst, I've had my worst fears confirmed.

My big boy cat Cosmo has a large mass in his stomach. He's losing weight very fast because he's eating very little. When I look at this drawing it makes me realise how much he's lost. He's becoming a little boy.

We're hopefully talking weeks rather than days but who knows. He's 14 and would be 15 this July but I rather doubt he's going to make that birthday. We're not going to go in for investigations or being heroic. Rather all the focus will be on giving him a good quality of life for whatever time he has left. I'm going to let him go on for as long as he's still the cat I know and love and he's still purring.

One nice thing is he's forever immortalised in my book. He's the cat who pops up on a regular basis throughout my book - and he's a really wonderful "still cat" model. He was also the best uncle ever and loved looking after Polly's kittens.

I am, of course, sat here typing all of this with Cosmo sat next to me on his fleece - and tears sliding down my face.

I'm just going to make the most of him while he still wants to sit next to me.

For fans of feline art

There are two exhibitions in London for fans of feline art next week.

• The Chris Beetles Gallery is having its Louis Wain and the Summer Cat Show 2013. This opened on Saturday and continues until 31 August.  It includes c.150 feline paintings, illustrations and ceramics. The paintings in this exhibition are very likely to be variations on watercolour - which is a specialism of this gallery.
• The Society of Feline Artists are having their Annual Exhibition 2013 at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery. This opens on 22nd August and runs until 20th September 2013 (10am - 7.30pm Monday to Saturday).  

Both have a virtual exhibition of a lot of the drawings, prints and paintings on display - click the links to view.

Big Red by Gayle Mason
to be displayed in the Society of Feline Artists 16th Annual Exhibition

I'm kicking myself because my friend Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint | Gayle Mason Fine Art on Facebook) gave me a copy of the catalogue for the SOFA show when we met up recently and I now can't find it.

Here however is her very handsome chap who's in the SOFA show.

I think the last time she showed a ginger he sold before the show even opened!

Who painted this? #20

This week it's not a painting.  First you need to work out what it is.

Who painted this? #20
(except it's not a painting!)

I have a nice set of clues lined up for you all if there's no progress in identifying the scene and the artist.

How to participate in "Who painted this? #20"

PLEASE make sure you read the rules before posting a comment - and ONLY POST ON THIS BLOG what you think is the answer.

Click this link to read THE RULES for participating in this challenge (this saves having to copy them out for each post!).

In short:

• use your brains not software to find the answer
• search using words only on a database of images
• leave your answer as a comment on this blog
• if correct it will not be published until the next post - which provides the answer
• if wrong it will be published
• do not leave the answer on Facebook!
• the winner - who gets a mention and a link on/from this blog - is the first person to give me a completely correct answer for ALL the things I want to know

Who Painted This #19 - The Answer

Not such an easy one last week - as a number of people found out.

Art Society Exhibitions in the UK 2013 - Key Dates

This post summarises key dates for all the Annual Open Art Exhibitions by the major national Art Societies in the UK in 2013 - namely:

• Deadline dates for submitting entries 
• Receiving days for the submission of artwork 
• the dates of Annual Exhibitions 

It also provides links to websites and details of exhibitions and entry requirements.

The Mall Galleries in the Mall - 17 December 2012
(with the sun setting behind Buckingham Palace in the distance)

The listing (see below) EXCLUDES:

• the Major Art Competitions in the UK in 2013 (click link for details) and 
• Annual Exhibitions by Local Art Societies (see Art Societies in the UK - Resources for Artists and Art Society Exhibitions (UK) - Resources for Artists)
• Members Only exhibitions.

Key Dates for Annual Art Society Exhibitions 2013

The Home Front - The Making A Mark Awards 2012

The penultimate category of the 7th Annual Making A Mark Awards  concerns matters relating to the practical aspects of our artistic art and/or how to make life at home with the artist that bit better.

There are three awards:

• The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year
• The Art Innovation of the Year Award
• “The Moose” - the award for the best animal in an illustrated blog

The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year

The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year is for the Most Improved Studio of the Year and reflects the continuous efforts of many artists to improve our studio and working environments

Feline art in London - two exhibitions

There are two exhibitions for lovers of feline art in London at the moment.  Links to the exhibitions in both gallery websites include the images of a number of the paintings, drawings and fine art prints on display.

The first is the Society of Feline Artists - Annual Exhibition 2012 at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, 124 -126 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LN UK ( across the Road from the Old Vic and Waterloo Station).

This is the annual exhibition which shows work by full and associate members of SOFA.  It opened on Thirsday, has its PV on Tuesday and continues until 14th September.  You can also see a lot of photos of the exhibition on Flickr - See the album on flickr and See them as a slide show.

My friend Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) has got two in the window - of which one is also on the front cover of the PV invite (below).  Gayle and I normally go to see the show together - but she's busy looking at wildlife in Yellowstone National park and Canada at the moment.  If you want to see the best you need to go early as people who buy paintings are allowed to take them away and they are then replaced with other paintings.

The second exhibition is Louis Wain and the Summer Cat Show at the Chris Beetles Gallery 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6QB (facing the rear of Christies).

This opened on the 18th August and continues until 9th September.

This includes paintings by Lesley Fotherby (I like the multiple view studies), Geraldine Girvan (I love the watercolour paintings - I'd love to a mix of still life and cats), Susan Herbert (a very amusing take on both subjects and artists styles!) and Lesley Anne Ivory as well as work by the late great Louis Wain

You can see a video of art by Susan Herbert on YouTube



Both exhibitions are excellent shows for lovers of feline art - and two exhibitions makes a wonderful reason for a trip to London for those who are 'out of towners'!

Links:  You can see more links to feline art in my website Feline Art - Resources for Artists

Review: Society of Feline artists - Annual Exhibition 2011

Pure Gold - British Shorthair Blue Cream by Jacqueline Gaylard
Winner of the Llewellyn Alexander SOFA Award for 2011
Acrylic on Board (£1,900)

Jacqueline Gaylard won the Llewellyn Alexander SOFA Award for 2011 at the Private View of the Society of Feline Artists Annual Exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in Waterloo this afternoon.

Her handling of the subtleties and colour tones of the fur in the acrylic painting of a blue cream British Shorthair cat is superb.  While clearly being a painting it's as if this is a living breathing cat.  This is a cat which has frequently featured in Jacqueline's paintings before now but this paticular painting is especially appealing.

Jacqueline was displaying a suite of top notch work - with her five other paintings also setting an equally high standard of both composition and execution for others to emulate.  She's also an artist who pays meticulous attention to backgrounds!

Artwork by Jacqueline Gaylard

Best Picture of 2010 on an Art Blog

You have voted - and the results are in (see Vote for the best artwork on an art blog in 2010) and today I can announce who has won Best Picture of 2010 on an Art Blog.

Many thanks to the hundreds of art bloggers who took time out over the festive season to come and view the nominations and vote in this Making A Mark Awards Poll.

I’d also like to extend my appreciation to all those art bloggers who came up with the nominations. Your assistance in identifying good work is certainly valued by me - and all the other art bloggers who have enjoyed seeing the work nominated for 2010. (You can see links to all the nomination threads at the end)

The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year (Portrait/Figures) on an Art Blog

"Hands of Time"
by Karin Jurick A Painting Today,
8 x 11" oil on masonite

The winner of the Best Picture of the Year (Portrait/Figures) is "Hands of Time" an oil painting by Karin Jurick (A Painting Today). Nominated by me - Katherine Tyrrell!

Karin Jurick got over 43% of the vote and has repeated her win in this same category in 2009.

Margaret Dyer (Small Pastel Studies by Margaret Dyer) - also a previous winner of this category - edged second place from Derek Jones (Derek Jones Art) who came third

The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year (Place) on an Art Blog

We have a dead heat for this category despite the hundreds of votes cast!

Canal Sunrise
by Loriann Signori (Loriann Signori's Painting-a-Day)

The joint winners of the Best Picture of the Year (Place), each with 34% of the vote, are:

• Canal Sunrise a pastel painting by Loriann Signori (Loriann Signori's Painting-a-Day). Nominated by Katherine Tyrrell
• Waiting by Michelle Basic Hendry (Artscapes – Musings on Art & Life). Nominated by: Michelle Basic Hendry (self)

Waiting
by Michelle Basic Hendry (Artscapes – Musings on Art & Life)

 Third place was taken by Terry Miura (Studio Notes).

The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year (Still Life) on an Art Blog

Black Grapes #3
by James Neil Hollingsworth (Paintings in Oil)

The winner of the Best Picture of the Year (Still Life) is Black Grapes #3 by James Neil Hollingsworth (Paintings in Oil). Nominated by Belinda del Pesco.

Neil attracted 35% of the vote and this was a category which was keenly contested with the lead changing many times during the course of the vote.

Sadie J Valeri (Sadie J Valeri) and Julian Merrow-Smith (Postcard from Provence) tied for second place with their respective works

The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year (Natural World) on an Art Blog

The Right Side
by Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint)
10 x 8", coloured pencils and acrylic

The winner of the Best Picture of the Year (Nature) is The Right Side a mixed media drawing by Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint); Nominated by Katherine Tyrrell

Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life) was second and Tracy Hall (Watercolour Artist) was third.

The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year on an Art Blog

This is awarded to the picture which got the most votes cast in the poll.

It’s always fascinating to see how the different categories fare in terms of the number of votes they attract and how art bloggers rate different work when they start acting as the jury rather than the artist whose work is being judged.

This year the winning artist won by a significant margin.  In fact she repeated the type of lead she also generated last year when she also won this prize.  So regular readers will now know that......

The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year on an Art Blog goes to
Karin Jurick for "Hands of Time"

In second place - according to the number of votes cast - was The Right Side by Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint)

There was a tie for third place - with honours split between:

• Black Grapes #3 by James Neil Hollingsworth
• A Tangle of Capelin by Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life)

Now as Karin won Best Picture on an Art Blog in 2009 as well, I’ve had a word with her and in order to give the rest of you a chance, she’s going to go the way of all the people who enter many of the big art competitions.  This means she will be sitting on the alumni bench next year and won’t be allowed to enter! :)

However I’ve got a new idea for next year which I’m hoping will include Karin's astute eye for what makes a good painting - of which more in the New Year.

Note:  Every year, the voting always tends to indicate pretty early on which painting is likely to win this award. This year I identified a problem with some significant fluctuations in the voting which was investigated and, after much analysis, was addressed through the elimination of one of the entries. I'll be reflecting on the lessons learned in the New Year and seeking your help in thinking through how best to conduct this competition next year.

Links:  The Making A Mark Awards

• This page on my website references every award since they started, everybody who has ever been nominated, all the nomination posts and all past winners.  ( I still have to update it for 2010!) 
• Vote for the best artwork on an art blog in 2010
• 2010 Nominations: 
• MAM Awards 2010: Nominations for Best Portrait / Figure Painting
• MAM Awards 2010: Nominations for Best Landscape/Place
• MAM Awards 2010: Nominations for Best Still Life
• NEW!!! Nominate the Best Artwork (Natural World) on an at blog in 2010

   

RIP Moose

This is Moose. In 2006, he became the first ever winner of my best animal on an illustrated blog award and his name was subsequently given to the award which became known as "The Moose".

Guess Who?
copyright Maggie Stiefvater

He died yesterday - very suddenly.

If you have fond memories of Moose and would like to see some of the art he featured in and/or send Maggie a message - this is the post to do it on - Moose

This is what I had to say when I awarded Moose the very first.....

Best Animal in an Illustrated Blog Award No contest - Moose wins by a mile. Maggie Stiefvater characterises her cat Moose as a "criminally insane cat, furry muse, catcher of moths, grabber of ankles" but I think he's a total star. He's been breaking ACEO records and has also been featured in an article in Art Calendar about daily painting blogs. I fully expect he'll be having to complete his own tax return very soon.

Moose gets the prize for being most often featured in uncommon but totally typical images of a cat. I can only manage drawings of the catnapping variety as they always move in for a stroke as soon as I get the camera out. Moose however is a total luvvie and absolutely loves the lens. You can see more of him on Maggie's blog Greywaren Art and her website "Portraits with Character".

This award will in future be called “The Moose” in honour of its first prize-winner.

This is what I had to say yesterday

Maggie - Moose will be missed by so very many people who absolutely loved his exploits. (My favourite - apart from the one I own - was the one where he went and posed behind the frames so he could show you how to crop the next painting!)

He was very much a member of our cyberchums group and I'm really pleased his name is carried on in my annual "Moose" award for best animal art on an illustrated blog. However there will never ever be another cat like Moose. He is after all one of the reasons why you were able to take the time to write that first book...........

Moose was truly a star and I know he will continue to shine very brightly in your life and your memories.

Strung Out
copyright Maggie Stiefvater

All About Cats

This is for the feline lovers amongst you!

I learned an awful lot about cats recently when putting together an update of my resource site All About Cats (which doesn't have an awful lot to do with art - but people who draw cats will like it!)

I also laughed myself silly while previewing the Simon's cat videos which are also included in this resource. Do take a peek if you own a cat - you won't regret it!

Cosmo
coloured pencils on Arche HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

One of them is so like my boy cat Cosmo (see right - you'd be right to think butter might not melt in that mouth but that's because he prefers roast chicken and nice fish if he can get it!) that I had tears running down my face from laughing before I got to the end. It spoke volumes about Cosmo when in over-excitable mode!

Every time I look at one of those Simon's cat videos it makes me think how art can be anything visual - it's not just landscapes and portraits and still life - and it can make us laugh too!

Exhibition Review: Society of Feline Artists 2009

Part of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Tuesday, after leaving the Threadneedle Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, I travelled just one stop on the Northern Line down to Waterloo to attend the Champagne Private View of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists which was opened by David Grant, the celebrity vet and patron of the Society.

The annual exhibition is always held at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery at 124-126 The Cut London SE1 8LN. It's situated right across the road from the Old Vic Theatre and is also just across the road from Waterloo Station. The exhibition continues until Friday 18th September - and the gallery is open until 7.30pm each evening Monday - Saturday.

You can also preview the exhibition online on the SOFA exhibition page on the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery website.

[Update - Denise Laurent (The Painted Cat - on the Easel) and official SOFA photographer has now posted her photos of the exhibition to Flickr and this is a slideshow of work in the SOFA annual exhibition]

Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) and I both attended - and found that our work was in the window - which is never an easy spot to get a photograph hence the curious tilt on this one - my three drawings in coloured pencil are on the right.

(top right) Meet the Kittens £275
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

(bottom left) Pick of the Litter £250
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 7.5 x 7.5 ins 190 x 190 mm

(bottom right) Kittens Rule OK! £275
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

Gayle had for the second year running sold one of her works - Moody Blue - prior to the opening of the exhibition.

We also discovered that an image of Moody Blue had been used to promote the exhibition in The Cat magazine when I spotted a copy of the relevant page of the magazine in the hands of somebody next to me! The Cat is the official magazine of the Cats Protection League - a very worthwhile body.

The exhibition is as always full of work of a very high standard and includes drawings, paintings and prints of cats of every type, style, shape and size!

I'm always amazed whenever I attend any of the specialised exhibitions about just how many different ways you can represent a cat (or wildlife or flowers etc). For all those people puzzled about style - in relation to this month's poll about style - can I suggest that it's very worthwhile attending exhibitions like this just to see how many different ways you can apply media to a support while portraying one type of subject matter!

Colourful and monochrome drawings paintings and prints of cats - in all styles
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

There's always an emphasis on representational art but within that while there is a strong cohort of artists - like Jacqueline Gaylard and Dominic O'Callaghan - who place an emphasis on extremely realistic paintings and drawings.

This year they've been joined by a new artist called Natalie Mascall who is producing really excellent work in pastel and was probably the fastest selling artist at the Preview. None of her work is available to be seen in the online exhibition and has in any case sold! However you can see a couple of examples on her website Geoffrey's cat and Home Comforts. Natalie's other big interest is wildlife and this year she won the "Endangered Species" category and was runner up in the "World Mammals" category of the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year. It's always great to see a new talent emerging and I predict a great future for this artist.

If you enjoy feline art do go along and see the show - my kittens are in the window staring at the Old Vic and might be wondering about a future on the stage! ;)

Title please - plus time for a short break

It's no good - I've got to take a break and get my portfolio sorted for my application for fulll signature membership of the Society of Feline Artists - not to mention get everything finished, matted and in frames.

Then there's the question of a title....... (see the end)

Title - You tell me!
8" x 8", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Plus I've got some personal stuff which needs sorting and that takes time and many emails.

So it's likely to be very quiet for the next week or so - with maybe the odd post.

My landscape project WILL be starting soon, but probably not until w/c 10th August. I want to do it justice and I'm too pushed for time right now.

Now - can you can help me?

I'm having trouble coming up with a title for this one - which is almost finished. It's yet another kitten, sat in the bottom of one of those woven banana leaf waste paper bins. I'm sure anybody who has ever had a kitten knows just how much kittens enjoy waste paper bins and this one was no exception!

So any suggestions for a title?

[Update: I chose "Pick of the Litter" as a title in the end. Mainly because it was one of those ones which made me wish I'd thought of it first which I always think is a sign of a good title! So very many thanks to madtora who suggested it in the first place. I'd come and comment on your blog but you don't seem to have one!

I'm pleased to say that "Pick of the Litter" is also going to be in the SOFA Annual exhibition. You can also see the final version on my website]

"Meet the kittens" on SOFA front cover

An awful lot of really excellent work is submitted to the Society of Feline Artists' (SOFA) exhibition each year. Both full and associate members are invited to submit work early for consideration for the brochure. The quality is so good that it's always regarded as a great honour to get your work selected by Jillian Llewellyn Lloyd, Director of the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, as an image for the exhibition's colour brochure/private view invite.

Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) has had work in the brochure for the last two years (she's always very organised!), while I kept forgetting to get my work finished before April.

However, this year I decided to have a go and got three drawings of kittens submitted early - and in time for consideration for the brochure.

SOFA Exhibition 2009
Colour Brochure/Private View Invite

I already knew that two were definitely in the exhibition and that one of them was likely to be in the brochure but you can imagine my surprise when the catalogue arrived today to find that "Meet the Kittens" has actually made the front cover!

Gayle has also got a lovely drawing of a blue burmese "Moody Blue" on the inside of the brochure.

The other two works on the front cover are:

• Christmas Cat by Irina Garmashova (14" x 20, acrylic and coloured pencil on paper)
  
• Loved by Sarah Butt (9.5" x 10" acrylic on board)
  

I'll highlight some of the others featured in the brochure nearer the exhibition.

The exhibition

The SOFA Annual Exhibition takes place at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in London. The exhibition dates this year are 28th August through to 18th September, (10am - 7.30pm Monday to Saturday).

The exhibition features the work of both Full and Associate members of SOFA members. On show will be approximately 300 paintings of cats in oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel and etchings - making it the largest exhibition of cat art in the country.

I'll post an update when the exhibition goes online - which usually happens before the exhibition opens at the gallery.

Private View

The Champagne Private View is held on Tuesday 1st September between 12pm and 3pm. The exhibition is officially opened by the Society's Patron David Grant MBE at 2.15pm. (He's that really nice vet from RSPCA Harmsworth who we all used to watch on the BBC programme Animal Hospital).

I'll be at the PV so this is a call-out to friends to let me know if you'd like an invite to see the work.

A different business model for an art society exhibition

The SOFA exhibition is somewhat unusual compared to many art society exhibitions and I thought it worthwhile highlighting the differences between the SOFA exhibition and most other art exhibitions.

Most art societies rent space/weeks in a commercial gallery. They then need to organise the selection, receipt of works, cataloguing and hanging - which depending on the arrangements with the gallery, very often falls to Executive members and helpers

SOFA has an agreement with Llewellyn Alexander that it will hold its exhibition in the gallery each year and it is a regular fixture in the gallery's schedule of exhibitions. It always has 'regular' exhibition status and thus has to 'pay its way' as it were. Hence the selection of works to be exhibited is done entirely by the Gallery.

The Executive have no involvement in selection, do not have to receive works or store works, do not organise the catalogue and do not need to hang works. There's also no submission fee for the artists because this is a strictly commercial exhibition albeit one held on behalf of an art society. The commission deducted from sales is payable to the gallery who also look after the previous buyers' mailing list.

I would add that it is also one of the most successful art society exhibitions I know. This is due in no small part to the expertise and efforts of the gallery's directors and staff.

I'm always pleased to get work into this exhibition - and this year I'm ecstatic that my work has made the front cover of a brochure which I've been getting and keeping for many years now!

Llewellyn Alexander Gallery: 124 - 126 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LN. Telephone: 020 7620 1322/4

Auditioning for SOFA

(left to right) Meet the Kittens, The Kittie Sitter, Kittens rule OK!
all coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These are my three coloured pencil drawings which are currently auditioning for the catalogue for the Society of Feline Artists 13th Annual Exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery (28th August to 18th September 2009). The Gallery likes to have all the images in by mid April. My submission scaped in just in time as I had to get both the new computer and then the new graphics package sorted out first!

This is a quickie post today as today I'm off to the Private View for the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists at Westminster Hall - which this year includes two of my drawings! The show opens to the pblic on Friday.

I'll be doing a review tomorrow with photographs plus a count up of how many coloured pencil artists are included this year!

How do you draw? #1

drawing is essentially about "I'm here and I need to go there. How am I going to get there?"
Michael Archer - Comments on The Draw of Drawing

How do you draw? This is about what you do with your paper - or any other surface that you use for drawing - when you draw. You're invited to participate in two polls about how you draw.

Swamped - a work in progress
coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Reading about how somebody drew yesterday reminded me that that we all draw in quite different ways - but maybe aren't aware of quite how many different ways there are to draw.

I've certainly come across people who've been genuinely surprised to find that other people don't draw in the same way that they do. I'm less surprised that many people aren't aware of all the media that can be used for drawing - or making marks in our space or environment.

I think this past blog post Comments on The Draw of Drawing (11th October 2007) - about a lecture given by Michael Archer, the Head of School at the Ruskin School of Fine Art at Oxford University, - is helpful to understanding some of the different perspectives.

Here's a short extract

• drawing involves making a representation of our external world - but this can be done in different ways and can involve sculpture
  
• drawing pathways is a drawing of a human relationship with the world
  
• landscape architects may design an environment and include paths but people will walk where they want to walk. We can observe (or make) a line across grass made by walking (Richard Long 1967) - a real path across real grass is a desire line (although I'd also observe it's often the shortest line between two points when people are short of time - which also makes it a practical line within all possibilities!).
  
• another way of drawing a line or lines is by removing part of the environment - such as by mowing through the daisies (You can see more examples of lines in the landscape on Richard Long's website)
  
• the drawing for and sculture of Alberto Giacometti's L'homme qui marche' shows how a very insistent additive process of a man walking in a line, making marks as he goes with the same movements again and again, can be reduced to almost nothing (You can see other drawings and sculpture by Giacometti in the MOMA collection; Tate Modern and at Artcylopedia)

Comments on The Draw of Drawing

However - back to the readers of this blog!

How do YOU draw?

I'm looking at two aspects of the how we approach the support which I originally had combined until I realised they were obviously quite different issues. This is about the mechanics of drawing.

The Angle of Drawing

First there's the issue of the angle of your support and what tools or equipment you're using to help you draw. Most people probably assume that drawings can only be made using paper. However much contemporary drawing is done using digital tools or 'found' media in the environment.

How we draw also depends on the tools which are available and our very individual preferences. For me it's not a question of 'right' or 'wrong' responses to the question about how we draw - even if ergonomics suggest there are 'better' ways of drawing.



Static vs moving the paper around

Then there's issue of whether you keep the paper/support static or whether you move it around and approach the drawing from different angles. Whether or not you move the drawing around greatly influences your approach to drawing.



These polls will close at on the morning of the 18th April and I'll report on the results the same day.

Drawing Note:
"Swamped" - alternative titles welcomes - is a picture of Uncle Cosmo acting as a big warm furry bed for Polly's kitties. He really loved those kitties and those kitties really loved him! I don't often show a work in progress but thought you might like to see this one given it's at a slightly weird stage in terms of colour!