My First Go at This - Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

#1 - Cat in the Sun, 8x8", Oil on Board   (SOLD)

This is my very first small painting, number one in a series of hopefully, zillions!  I chose to work from some of my references I keep for my work, and I've always liked this one.  It's from a photograph of a friend's cat who was trying to sleep in the sun until this HUMAN kept sticking a camera in his face.  Imagine the nerve!

He was tolerant.  Just.  But the light coming through his ears was what made me love this as a subject for a painting, so I went for it.

Bad choice for the first piece.

The demand for all those nuanced shifts of tone in the shadows of his face slowed me down considerably.  What I wanted to be a fast, maybe 2 hour painting became a time eater.  I think it took me two days of off and on work to complete it.  I was a little intimidated by the desire to keep working it until it felt over polished, but stopped short of that, vowing that the next one would be much less complex.   I often say that after finishing a demanding, complex piece.  I ignore my own declarations more often than not.

But, if the purpose of this whole project is to free my mind by allowing shorter start to finish times, then I needed to figure out less complicated visual problems to attack.

I'll get there.

In any case, here is "#1 - Cat in the Sun"  It is 8 inches square and painted with oil on gesso board.