A Sketch Portrait of Shakespeare the Cat

A portrait of a ginger cat with blue background.

Shakespeare. 8x10, oil on linen. 2014

Last weekend one of the patrons at Upperville Stable Tour asked me if I ever painted portraits of cats.

In truth I paint about 30 dogs for every cat I attempt, although I'm not sure why there is such a great imbalance. After dwelling on this for a few days I decided to try this portrait of Shakespeare. I met him at Willow Hawk Farm, just around the corner from us. He is possibly the friendliest cat that I know.

I used a simple palette of cobalt blue, burnt sienna and yellow ochre over a raw umber block-in.  This will be on display and for sale at the Western Loudoun Artists Studio Tour in June. See here for more details: www.wlast.org


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