| It is now 6 months since Bella joined us and she is
a little gem of a cat. She is a great companion to Red and he seems to have gotten over the loss of Casey. Her personality is similar.
As I've said before, a new cat will continue to adjust and some take longer to adapt. They need time, patience and love. We get excited when we see them playing together or snuggling next to each other.
|
| This weekend, February 19th - 20th I'll be at the Big Apple Bazaar, West Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach for
Art Scape in the City. Saturday from 10 AM to 5:30 PM. Sunday from 11 AM to 5:00 pm. Stop by for a visit!
| |
As promised, in the last newsletter I showed the progression of a painting from beginning through the various stages. I take a photo after each painting session to evaluate and decide what the next steps will be. I am working on another music themed painting but it isn't far enough along yet. I was hoping to have it ready for the Art Show this weekend. We'll see.
One of my most popular paintings is Meowjongg - Cats Playing Mahjongg. I think you will find it interesting how it progressed. As usual, each photo was taken at the end of a painting session of 2 to four hours. There were more than the ones shown here but I've just included the more significant ones and skipped the ones that were just refining the technique.
|
| I only had a vague idea of what I wanted at this point.
The cats were roughed in. The top left cat more so. I didn't decide on the kind of table or chairs. I liked the tablecloth and thought blue seats for the chairs would work nicely. I had no idea about the background yet.
|
| I worked more on the cats to establish the colors and
decided on the color of blue that would complement them. For now I kept the background dark but hadn't decided on the setting. I thought it would be an interior room setting.
|
| As I worked on the cats I began to think about
their personalities and interaction and concentrated on each cat's stance, body language and color. This included the patterns on their fur. The two front chairs got some attention but I didn't decide on the style or material yet.
|
| I thought metal tubular chair backs and frame
would look good with the other colors and I wanted an open, airy look. I went through magazines, etc to find the look I was imagining and came up with a shape and design I liked. This proved very difficult to execute and took ages.
|
| After realizing that the chairs I envisioned were
actually more for an outdoor setting I began to work on a garden for the background. I roughed in some sky, palm trees, hedges, grass, etc. Now I had to think about the ground and decided it would be a patio with pavers.
|
| The background began to emerge as did the floor. I spent
a lot of time and effort on the chairs. I worked on the shape of the chair backs and bottoms. Getting the perspective right was difficult and I had to make a lot of design decisions.
|
| After many painting sessions I was happy with the style
of the chairs and worked on the details of each one. I generally worked around the painting. I brightened the sky and defined the pavers more. At this point I took lots of photos of my mahjong racks, tiles and card.
|
| The next part was a real challenge . The racks and
stacked tiles were difficult enough but just as difficult was depicting the cards and tiles set up on the racks and around the table. The dice were fun too.
|
Here is the final version of "Meowjongg". It has received many awards and has sold on all kinds of products from apparel and home decor items to metal prints and puzzles. Most are on www.karenzukrosenblatt.com. Click on the Cat Collection. More products are on www.redbubble.com.
| |
I have been enjoying my blooming orchids. They love the South Florida weather. Here are some beauties and some of my other photographic works. All my images are available on www.karenzukrosenblatt.com. Some are also in my other shops with additional products.
| |
Calendars are still popular. Cats, Dogs, Africa and Venice are available in 3 sizes. Click on the image to order.
|
|
