Preview Christmas Cat Digital Painting - Rowdy

I've started work on my big Christmas cat painting. In this painting, there are 6 cats who so graciously modeled for me in priority mail boxes. :) The painting is being airbrushed, one cat at a time. Thought you'd like to see a preview of Rowdy and how he's coming along. His Christmas box (and all the others) will have ribbons/bows painted on later...this is how it looks like to begin with though and as you can see, it's really basic and rough looking at this point. After I finish the background, all the cats, and all the blending, then I'll add finishing details such as ribbons and bows. Click on the photo to see it a little closer...you can really see the detail in the larger image!

Also, I've shown the original photo that I started with below:

Cat Family Update (and dogs too!)

Got chewed out by Allyson for not having shown any photos on here of our zoo lately...so here we go! Anyone want a cat planter? These work great for holding at least 4 of these furballs - the two in the middle might have to overlap, but as you can see, they don't seem to mind!

Here's Oreo laughing again...giving us a good look at her tonsils, too!

Gee, I guess that belly laugh wore her out...right to sleep she goes.

Rowdy, on the other hand, has been making himself useful. He's become quite the little household helper...here he is shown making sure the dishes are in the right place in the dishwasher.
A week or so ago, we were visited by this little fella. The cats were quite intrigued by him.

Here's Nikko giving him a good sniff. Shooey!

And here's the newest addition to the family. This is Sassy. She's probably related to ours (yeah, another one of Mr. T's offspring, I'm sure). She and Nikko look so much alike and she has the same mannerisms. Sassy isn't tame yet - Allyson has managed to get her to allow limited photos and limited petting. By her - only - of course. The rest of us are still out in the cold with this cat! Rowdy loves her...when she visits, they play and sleep beside each other.

Here's Nikko having some fun over in "the dirtpile" (previously where the tree used to be). She's playing with a stick and showing us her belly like she always does.

Mr. T. is still around - he comes up daily and eats and spends some time. Here he was feeling particularly lazy.

Nikko has her very strong opinion about Mr. T's presence. :)

Bootsie watches the goings on around her very intently - always alert - always studying the situations.

Rowdy loves to mess with our destroyed gutter. (yes, it will be fixed soon - hooray!)

And Lady...well she just watches on, wondering if there will EVER be a day where she doesn't have to compete with all these cats for attention!

Dog painting in progress

After a t-totally rough week (you know the kind...the one you hope you never have to do over again), I have gotten back in the studio. This is the bare-bones-beginning of a painting of Lady, up close and personal. She has a very intense and studious look in her gaze, and I'm going to try to capture that in the painting as well. I usually don't put a background color in until after I've completed the dog, but I thought I'd try something a little different, as I wanted more softness to the background in this piece of art.

I figure it's about time Lady had a painting created...I've been so focused on the cats and neglecting my pups. After Lady, I'll do Max's painting, and then I have a commission work on the schedule.

This painting will be painting # 12 in my pet paintings series. If you would like to nominate your pet for inclusion, please visit GalleryJai.Com to see how.

Many of you have asked about the cats, specifically Mr. T and how he fared after the tree fell on our home this week. Nikko is doing quite well - she seems to be everywhere. I think that trunk hitting the ground must have really shook her energy level up! Here she is sniffing a dandelion:

And here's the elusive Mr. T...lounging on the very driveway that took the hit from the tree. He's laying under a row of pines here, and doesn't seem too worried. As you can tell, he's fine and quite healthy. :)


P.S Don't forget to nominate your pet!

The Cats Response to the Fallen Tree

When the tree fell on our house Sunday night, all but one of the cats were on the carport. In fact, it was seeing their little heads pop up at the firecracker sounds of the tree initially coming down which let us know something big was happening. Bootsie had actually been spotted running from the direction of the falling tree up to the carport. (I TOLD HER to quit using that tree as a scratching post!)

So when the tree hit and shook our house to the core, all the cats disappeared over the wall. Rowdy was the first to come back and explore. In this first photo, he's shown checking out the hole where the tree uprooted from:

A few minutes later, he's shown climbing the part on our roof...going up to explore the roof:

The next morning, here's Oreo, sitting on the fallen tree in the midst of the foliage:

Bootsie checks out the tree...this smells funny!

Bootsie takes a walk on the tree:

Nikko returns...what in the world happened here?!

Rowdy...hmmm...wonder what's under here?

Nikko...this is unreal!

Nikko again...

Rowdy comes back to explore the uprooted portion again:

Bootsie...what am I gonna do with all this mess?

And last but not least, when we finally let Max out the back after cleanup, he runs over to check out this huge, empty spot.

It looks so weird now! Hard to believe the tree is not there anymore! My neighbors are probably even more shocked than I...as they've lived here 30 years and were as much married to that tree as they are to each other!