What About the Background? Pet Portrait Tips

'Maya'                 8x10             pastel               ©Karen Margulis
available for purchase $95

Painting animals is always a fun change of pace for me and my pastel classes. The same questions inevitably come up during my demos. "What do I do with the background? " or "I can never figure out how to treat the background". Ahhhh, the Background Dilemma!  We often agonize over the background choices and treatment forgetting that the animal is usually the main event!

I have an easy way to resolve the Background Dilemma. It involves asking myself a few questions before I begin the painting.

• What kind of painting is it? Is it a traditional head shot type pet portrait? or is it a painting of the animal in it's environment? 
• How important is the background to the painting? Can it be just a color or do I want to show how the environment around the animal?
• Is the painting about the landscape/environment with the animal only secondary in interest?

Once I answer these questions I can plan my background attack!

If the painting is a traditional portrait where the environment around the pet isn't important,  I either leave the background alone (leave the paper color showing....which only works if you are very neat) Or I choose a color that works with the animal. I usually like to put the same colors that are in the animal into the background. This way there is a nice harmony and color relationship between the animal and background.

Sometimes I like to SUGGEST elements that are in the background. I paint them loosely and without a lot of detail. For today's Siamese cat painting I wanted to include the rich red blanket. I chose to loosely interpret the blanket.  Whenever I paint objects in the background I make sure they have soft edges. I don't want them to draw attention away from the animal.  I also like to 'share' the colors between the animal and the background objects. (notice the hint of red in the cat's fur in the top painting)

I hint at a chair, blanket and pillow

TIP: Whatever treatment you decide for the background it is important that you develop the background AT THE SAME TIME you paint the animal! If you wait until the animal is finished you may end up with an animal that looks pasted on or not integrated into the background. You might also be afraid to paint too close to the animal leaving a halo effect. Remember that every color you put down will effect the existing colors so waiting until the end of the painting can change the whole look of the painting!  

TIP: My preferred paper for animals is Sennelier LaCarte. I like the softness and the variety of colors. I also like Pastelmat. If I use any white or pale  paper for dark colored animals I make sure I tone it a middle value color so I don't fight with the light bits peeking through.

How to Paint Whiskers with Pastels

'Bathtime'               8x10             pastel            ©Karen Margulis
sold

We are painting animals in my pastel classes this week.  Painting animals can be a stretch for artists like myself, who mainly paint landscapes but there are many valuable lessons to be learned. Often concepts become clear when presented in another way. Changing up the subject matter can often spark an 'Aha Moment'.

I use a different approach for my animal paintings that rely in creating a value map. My goal is to lightly layer color by value without worrying about getting the exact local color.  In other words white fur is not white and brown fur is not brown.  These lessons can be transferred to the landscape. Clouds are not white and tree trunks are not brown!

Another valuable lesson which can also apply to the landscape is how to paint whiskers. Whiskers are the last thing I add to an animal painting. The whiskers can make or break the painting. (the same is true for grasses in the landscape)  If they are painted too heavy, dark and regular they will look cartoonish. Here are a few tips to effective and painterly whiskers:

a selection of Nupastels used for whiskers

 COLOR:  Whiskers are white. Well we say they are white and maybe they seem white but pure white pastel can often look flat.  I rarely use pure white in a painting. I prefer to use light values of color....almost white but with a touch of color.  When I paint whiskers I like to use a warm light for whiskers getting the light and cool colors such as pale blue for whiskers in the shadows.

PASTELS:  I like to use well worn Nupastels for my whiskers. I like them best when they develop a thin point from use. These hard pastels will cut through the soft pastel layers and make the best whiskers. I don't use pastel pencils. I tend to want to draw with them and my whiskers come out too thick and heavy.

Heavy flat whiskers vs colorful painterly whiskers

TECHNIQUE: The goal for whiskers is to make Lyrical Lines.....line that are broken and not regular in length and width. This is best done with a light hand that is allowed to dance across the paper.

See the illustration above. The top whiskers are too white, too heavy and too regular....cartoon whiskers. The bottom 4 whiskers have subtle color and a light touch. Practice!

TIP: BE CONFIDENT!!  It can be scary to paint whiskers. Since they have to come at the end of a painting it is easy to fear that the whiskers will ruin the painting. I find that the more nervous I am, the worse the whiskers will be. I will press down to hard and make them too thick because I am concentrating so hard. When I relax and just DO IT.....the whiskers come out free and painterly. 

If you are a landscape painter try these tips for painting grasses! and if you would like to try my lesson on painting animals check out my PDF demo on Etsy.

Demo Monday...How to Paint a Cat in Pastel

'In the Sunny Spot'         8x10         pastel       ©Karen Margulis
SOLD  email me regarding pet portraits kemstudios@yahoo.com

Every once in awhile I like to paint a cat.  It is a good change of pace from landscapes and it helps me practice my drawing skills and values. Both of these things are critical to the success of an animal painting.  You can get away with more in a landscape but if you are off in your drawing or values with an animal it is obvious.

I was asked by a reader to write about how I paint an animal and how I decide what to do in the background.  I will address backgrounds in tomorrow's post.  Here is a step by step demo of a Siamese cat.

 I am using an 8x10 piece of Uart.  I begin with a light pencil drawing. I will measure when necessary to get the drawing correct.  I preselect my pastels making sure I have several colors in a dark, middle dark, middle light and light value.  I begin by squinting at my photo and massing in all of the dark shapes.

 Still squinting I layer several more darks in the dark areas. I don't really worry about what colors I use only that they are all the same dark value. When done I will have nice rich and colorful darks. The key to making this work is to use a very light touch.

 Next I mass in the light areas.  I use a cool light.  I will also eventually layer more light colors in the light areas but at this stage I just want to block in where they will go. I like to wait until the end to put in the lightest lights so they stay nice and clean.

 After blocking in the dark and the lights I should be left with middle values.  I block in these areas with a variety of colors all dark-middle to middle value.  I do choose colors that lean towards the fur color but you can see I have used peaches, greens, blues and purples....colors not usually thought of as fur colors.  I am also working on the background at the same time as the cat. More on this later. See my post about Fur Color HERE

My road map is complete so now it is just a matter of building up the layers of color and refining the drawing. I had to use some background color to carve away areas of the cat when he got too fat.  I Never blend with my fingers of tools. I prefer to let the layers of pastels begin blending themselves I am careful though not to overblend or overwork an area. Make a mark and leave it alone!

For the finish I add a few 'punctuation marks' or spots of color or marks that add the finishing touches. Look at the top photo to see if you can spot these punctuation marks.

I hope you've enjoyed this demo. Be sure to visit tomorrow to learn more about my background choices.  Sign up for updates on the sidebar on the right.

Why it is Good to Paint in the Dark

'Royalty'        2.5x3.5     pastel          ©Karen Margulis  BID HERE

'Kitten Love'              2.5x3.5         Pastel          BID HERE

Paint in the Dark! How can that be a good thing? I'm not talking about painting nocturnes either. Let me set the scene for you.  I don't watch much TV but I do enjoy the Olympics so my plan was to set up my pastels in front of the TV this week and work on minis while I watch the Olympics each evening.  I enjoy sitting at a table to paint these small 2.5x3.5 pastels so it would be a perfect combination. Paint and watch TV!  Only it didn't work out the way I planned.
The lighting in our den is great in the daylight. We have lots of big windows (it would make a great studio) But at night, the lighting is terrible. I didn't count on it being so dark!  I should have set up some lights but instead I was impatient and painted anyway in the poor light. I could hardly see my pastels. But I painted away and finished 10 cat minis.  It was a great lesson though....Here's why.....

My Olympic Cats painted by the light of the Television!

• Have you ever heard the saying the Value does all the work but Color gets the glory? That means that if you have the correct value you can get away with unexpected colors and make it work. Purple and green in cat fur? If the value is right then it will look like a cat.  In the bad light I couldn't really make out the colors of my pastels but I could tell how dark or light they were. I painted more by choosing the correct value rather than a specific color. Not seeing the color was actually a good thing!
• How about detail and precision? I couldn't see well enough to get very detailed and fussy. I made sure to get the general shapes in the right place....big shapes with a hint of detail. Easier to do in the dim light! It's a great way to loosen up.
• Surprises! I admit that I was feeling a bit frustrated because I was having trouble seeing the colors but after awhile I embraced the fun of just laying down the pastel and making marks. Bringing the paintings into the light and seeing some of the color choices I ended up with was a lot of fun!

 I don't recommend that you go into your studio and dim the lights. But it ended up being a very good exercise for me. I have a pair of glasses with red lenses that might do a similar thing....I'll try them and report back!

I will be listing my Olympic Cat Series on Daily Paintwork's Auctions this week in case you'd like to add one to your collection! Click Here to see my auctions. Opening bids begin at $12

An Easy (and cheap) Way to Store Wet Paintings

'Naptime'           5x7         oil on panel     ©Karen Margulis  sold

Wet Paint!  It's a new problem for me. With pastels I didn't have to worry about letting paint dry. I could easily store my finished paintings in boxes separated by a piece of glassine paper. (I have other pastel storage ideas and you can read about them in these posts)  But doing an oil painting a day results in a lot of wet paintings to store. I can't just leave them propped up on shelves in the studio because of my menagerie of 6 cats and a dog. I do allow them into the studio so I have to make sure it is animal friendly. Fortunately I came up with an easy and inexpensive solution.

A mini table easel makes a good drying rack for a single wet painting

I started out using my small table display easels to store my wet paintings while they dried. I put them up on shelves. I quickly ran out of table easels so this wasn't a good solution for a daily painter. I knew of other artists who have narrow shelves built on their studio walls. (too skinny for cats) and I am planning on putting some shelves in. I have just the place for them. But until then I needed another solution. Thrift store to the rescue!

Re purposed CD racks for wet panels

I came across several CD racks at my local thrift store. These racks are perfect for storing small wet panels. They are great for small panels up to about 8x10. I even brought the smallest rack along on my latest plein air paint-out. It fit into my bag and was perfect for storing the day's wet paintings back at the hotel. It frees up the wet panel carrier for the next day's painting. 
 I never realized that CD racks came in such a variety of designs and sizes. Through trial and error I have found that some work better than others. Here are some things to look for.

• Bring a panel along on your hunt. You can test out your potential finds. (I didn't have a panel with me but found a 5x7 children's book as a stand in)
• Some racks hold the CD's flat and some show them at an angle. I prefer the flat ones which keeps the painting level.
• Some racks have wider slots which are good for thicker panels.
• I see the tall stand-up rack all the time but I haven't tried one. I'm afraid my big dog will fun into it and knock it over or her tail wagging will create unwanted brushstrokes!

The best thing about this storage system is the price. I got one for $2 and one for 77 cents!  How do you deal with wet paintings? Anyone have some great ideas to share? Comment below!


Today's painting is my first oil painting of my cat Tobi. I have painted Tobi many times in pastel. It was fun to lay on the paint and get textured fur!

A Great Surface for Animal Paintings ...My Review of Sennelier La Carte

Four Cats Mini Pastel Paintings each one is 2.5 x 3.5 "

paintings are available by auction at Daily Paintworks HERE

I love to paint cats. Every once in awhile I like to take a break from landscapes and paint some cats. When I want to paint cats I turn to my favorite surface for animals...Sennelier La Carte Pastel Card. It has just the right feel and tooth that allows me to get a soft painterly look in my animals. I can get fine detail if I want or soft dreamy edges. La Carte paper does have pros and cons but it is definitely worth trying.

La Carte is a sanded surface made by hand application of vegetable flake and cork to a 200lb card stock. It comes in 14 colors. The surface is very uniform and is able to accept many layers of pastel. I got 50 layers on my test. I would never even come close to applying that many layers.

The paper does have some drawbacks but for me the benefits outweigh these issues. It is important to know that the binder will dissolve in water so this paper cannot get wet. That means no wet underpaintings and you even need to be careful not to blow or even sneeze on the paper. Make sure your hands are dry! The vegetable sanded surface can be rubbed off if you brush it or rub too hard so I prefer not to hand blend and let my pastels do the blending. It can also be easily dented so if you press too hard with your drawing tool then you may have indented lines. I use a Nupastel for my drawing and I use a light touch. I find that I prefer to use my softest pastels for this paper and I never do an underpainting.

I don't want to scare anyone away from this paper because I actually really love it. Give it a try and see what you think! Read on below to see how I paint a cat.

'Naptime Again' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

'Siamese at Rest' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

'Siamese Beauty' 2.5 x3.5 pastel

'Purring in the Sun' 2.5 x 3.5 pastels

For these little painting I can't get a lot of detail so I am thinking about big simple shapes and implied detail. I start on brown La Carte card with my softest pastels...an assortment of Terry Ludwigs and Great Americans. I block in the dark shapes first with a few layers of dark values. Then I block in the lightest areas. The rest should be middle value. I continue to work all over the painting adding the brightest lights and whiskers at the end. I will plan to do a more detailed animal demo soon.
To see another painting on LaCarte along with a step by step demo see my Butterfly post HERE

Cat in the Sun

'Cat in the Sun' 5x7 pastel

As I was setting up for my workshop Saturday, my cat Jazzpurr made himself comfortable on the back of the big easy chair in my studio. The sun was in and out all day but came out briefly while Jazz was lounging. I managed to get a few photos while the sun was out. I knew I wanted to paint him. This is typical 'Jazz' ...mellow and relaxed.