A pet portrait

I don't do pet portraits, and I really prefer to paint landscapes. This painting, titled "Littermates" is of two of my cats. They are 14 years old now, and Delilah (the fluffy one) has kidney problems, so who knows how much longer I will have them? I decided it was time to paint them in my favorite pose.

We got Dusty and Delilah as tiny kittens from the local shelter. I had planned on only getting one cat, but took a friend with me who insisted I take her brother too, and I am glad I did. They are Siamese mixes. Dusty looks very Siamese but Delilah is soft and very fluffy. She does have darker tail and ears, typical of Siamese. They have always slept like this, provided Dusty gets in the kitty bed first, then Delilah can join him. If she gets in first, he chases her out, but then lets her back in after he gets the prime spot. She always has her paws around him as she does here. She puts up with a lot from him, but she seems to realize it is a fact of life in her world!

A painting tip from from my sister that I will pass on. Normally I try not to paint with anything smaller than a number 4 bristle brush. It is tough to do fine lines with it though, and a rigger doesn't really give me the control of the line that I want. Adele, now an oil painter, used to be a watercolor artist. She suggested a water color brush that comes to a fine point. I happen to have one and it works like a charm. It allows you to put down that fine line you need for whiskers, and also lets you to make it even finer by cutting into it from the side, picking up paint you don't want. It is absorbent, so with a little turps on it, will take out a line that is in the wrong place completely. I waited until the painting was pretty dry to add the whiskers, and that made it easier.