Women Over Fifty

Today’s task is to show you how to have a good time painting a cat in watercolor.  Note that watercolor can be messy.  You will need:

• Three or four different colors of watercolor paint
• Some watercolor paper.  Mine is 7 X 10 inches Arches, but you can use what you can find
• A 1 or 1 1/2 inch painting brush from your hardware store.  If you aren’t into doing watercolors later, you can use this brush for other projects around the house.  You want a good quality brush that is supple.
• A detail brush for painting eyes and whiskers.  You could also use a marker for this.
• A soft pencil.
• Containers for water (fresh water and used water)
• A palette or a china-like dinner plate.
• Paper towels

1. First, on scrap paper draw a cat.  If it helps, you can copy the above photo and print it on your printer.  This is your drawing test, not the paper you will paint on.  Lightly pencil in the eyes, nose, mouth, and whiskers.
2. Then transfer your drawing (or mine) onto the watercolor paper using a light touch with the pencil. Try not to erase.  You can hold the drawing and the watercolor paper up to a window and copy it that way if you choose.
3. NOTE:  You can see that I sized my cats so that I got two on the page.  I didn’t think to take a photo while they were still one with the paper.  Here they are just laying on the paper so you can see their shapes.
4. We’re done with the drawing for a minute.  Now take the big brush and begin to wet the watercolor paper.  Be careful not to erase the pencil lines and leave the paper dry where you’ll paint the eyes.  Your entire paper (except for the eyes) should be shiny, but not drippy wet.  Use a paper towel to get off the excess if you need to.
5. Wait until the shininess is gone from the paper.  If you paint too soon, you probably won’t like the result.
6. Now get out the watercolor paints.  Put a small dab of paint out on your plate.  (Windsor-Newton paints from Michael’s are fine for this task.) You need to put a few drops of water on the the paints to soften them a little more.  Then wet your brush (just wet, not drippy) and make a small puddle of water on your palette.  Then dip your brush into the soften watercolors and color your puddle of water with the paint.  Do this until you have a fairly concentrated puddle of color.  We are going to paint from this puddle, not from the actual dab of watercolor.  Make a puddle for each color you want to use.  Clean your brush in the “dirty” water each time you change colors.
7. As soon as your puddles of paint are ready, clean your big brush in the “dirty” water container and dab off the excess water.  Your brush should be wet, but not drippy.
8. Get a lot of paint on your brush, then paint your paper - everything but the eyes.  I painted all of the paper even though the cats were only on part of it.  That way your strokes are free.  Remember, you are not painting a wall.  You are allowing the watercolors to come into contact with the paper.  Brush gently.  Don’t bother about covering the whole paper with color.  Let one color flow into the other.  If you paint colors together you get new colors.  If you let the colors run into each other without your help, you will get more interesting results.
9. You only get one chance.  Don’t go back and touch up.  You can make spots on your cat by dabbing the nearly dry paper with a soft tissue.  Experiment on the part of the paper where your drawing is not.
10. Let it dry.  Totally.
11. Go back with a fine brush or a marker and paint in the eyes, mouth, and whiskers.  One chance only.  Don’t try to fix it.
12. Let it dry.  Totally.
13. If the paper is wrinkly, wait until it is already, absolutely, dry, then protect the surface and put a heavy book on it for a day.

Remember, this is fun, no grades are given.  If you don’t like your first effort, toss it and try again.  You can decorate your finished cat by giving him a collar of ribbon or gold elastic, flowers, whatever.

If you try this, I’d love to see the results.  If you send me a picture of your cat, I’ll post the results.  Send pictures to maxiegirl68@cox.net

Marilynne

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