Man with a Cat

My recently completed drawing, "Man with a Cat," serves as an interim work between my loosely rendered pastels and my upcoming completion of tightly articulated illustrations for my Book of Marvelous Cats. The drawing is a good transition, not only stylistically but in subject matter as well. The man in the drawing was an old friend from years past. I sketched him some time ago at his home while he was holding his beloved tabby cat. Completing this drawing from a very rough sketch was somewhat difficult on account of the lack of resolution and details in the original sketch. But that opened some opportunities. My husband had happened to have purchased a few caladium plants which I incorporated into the drawing by sketching from life. I included pottery in the background from my own collection. I then invented patterned tiles on the fireplace and in the background floor. The painting above the mantel was also invented. The shoes are my husband’s shoes. Altogether it as an amalgam of findings, invention and memory.