This painting is the first big painting I have done in a long time. I have spent the last 2 years painting , as fast as possible, medium to small street scenes, portraits and other small commissions.

So having a large canvas in front of me was something new. (60x80cms)

I knew what I wanted to paint. I had taken  several photos of our cats at the house in the country and this photo was just perfect.  Some of the others I have used in part since then, but this was just about right in every way , but one. The light had been wonderful that morning , just before its completely light and the shadows are really well defined. I was lucky to get smokey joe looking out of the door just before he jumped down. He was standing on the box we keep the cat food in on the porch and looking out the  door into the garden. I love these doors and the way they frame the view.

So I started by painting a rough version in any old colours I had left on my palette, which was actually quite a lot of fun, and then it just went from there. What a treat it was to not have to paint lots of little things and I was lucky enought to get smokey’s head at just the right angle first time.  I think It took me about three days , off and on  to complete.

Or at least I thought it was complete. Then i put a photo of it on twitter and a kind artist pointed out that the cat looked like it had a balloon on the end of its tail.( the round thing is actually a thermometer and tells us how hot we are in the shade!)

So I artistically straightened Smokey’s tail and that was it.  I was so pleased with it. It was my choice,  my photo, not a commission and one of the very few paintings I have done simply because I loved the subject  and to please myself, not anyone else.

And now it’s sold.