This week’s Illustration Friday cue is “Opposites” so here are the opposite ends of Busby and Fiona. I was teasing them with a kitty treat to get them to pose for photos in the first picture, and they were standing up to look out an open window in the second. I wonder if I need to put in a background so you can tell they’re standing on their hind legs.
I started with pencil on 8 x 11 Arches watercolor paper, then added a little ink with a Micron Pigma and then painted with watercolor.
Jana Bouc, Artist 
29 replies on “IF: Opposites – Heads and Tails”
Fantastic! Great idea and great execution.
LikeLike
Lovely! I don’t think you need a background, the shadows under their feet make it clear that they are standing. This way it’s nice and clean.
LikeLike
HOW ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Super painting, Jana! I just LOVE those cat standing up pictures and the way these so nicely fit ‘opposites’ just brings such a chuckle!! GREAT!
LikeLike
I just found your blog and I love it. The cats are lovely. Mine stand just like that, looking out the window. I love your tree photos too.
LikeLike
I’m a cat lover so these cuties got me! What a great idea, too. You handle your watercolors so effortlessly….
LikeLike
Lovely watercolor illos!!
LikeLike
Oh Jana these are lovely!!!
LikeLike
I could tell right away they are standing on their hind legs. I think these are wonderful!!!
LikeLike
Add about 6 pounds to the darker cat, you would have painted my cat Lucy. Very nice.
harmoniousjosh
LikeLike
What a fun interpretation of opposites!! Love their faces-so much personality!
LikeLike
How masculine Busby looks and how feminine Fiona. (I’m talking about their faces 🙂 ) Nicely done. I’ve been wanting to draw my cat — maybe I’ll take this heat wave as a cue.
LikeLike
Your kitties are very nicley done. This is wonderful
LikeLike
Great colour and character! And cats are hard (they always seem to know if you’re drawing them).
LikeLike
I love the expression on the cats’ faces… This is a beautiful vivid watercolour, so much so that I feel like I have met these cats!
LikeLike
this is wonderful Jana.
great sketch and topic
LikeLike
Jana,
This is just way too fun!!! What a great way to express opposites!
LikeLike
Great idea! Your cats are beautiful and I love your technique.
Thanks for stopping at my blog and commenting. You do excellent work!
LikeLike
this is wonderful on so many levels!
LikeLike
Those are wonderful!! Great job. And thanks for the kind words on my blog!
LikeLike
i love this solution to opposites. Great illo.
LikeLike
I saw this when you first posted it to illo friday, and I thought it was just charming. I spent some time thinking about how this painting made me feel- it’s one of the first pet portraits I’ve ever seen that wasn’t overly precious, with that wierd, stale vibe to it.
Yours is fresh, and full of obvious affection for your cats, and their energy comes through loud and clear. I love the loose mingling of those wonderful colors.
I want to try to paint norton now- my folks’s white and calico cat. 🙂 He was the ‘whiney cat’ in the sketch you commented on in my blog. Thanks for the encouraging feedback, and have a good one!
LikeLike
This is wonderful! I can definitely tell that they’re standing on their hind legs…you have the posture down purrfectly!
LikeLike
i really like how loose but expressive your watercolor and ink are. great faces and opposite ends!
LikeLike
Stunning! Busby & Fiona are gorgeous.
LikeLike
I love the rear end shot – the comedy element is just wonderful – thank you for making me smile!
LikeLike
I just found your site and I love it.
I especially love the kitties but all of your work is awesome.
I love your style.
Thanks for sharing.
I know where to go when I need to smile.
k
LikeLike
Oh, I love this! Very lifelike and cute as well! Excellent watercolor work!
LikeLike
As a cat lover I find this sketch absolutely brilliant! Well done!!
LikeLike
[…] Feline Resolution: After too many sleep-poor nights, I resolve that I am not going to not sleep with my cats anymore. Night after night they keep me awake. They lay down with me when I go to bed and as soon as I fall asleep they want to play, dropping toys on my head for me to throw (I have the only two cats in the world who play fetch, bringing me plastic squiggle toys (Fiona) or felt mousies (Busby), which I’m to throw and which they promptly fetch and return for another throw). They attack me and each other. Eventually I half sleep through their romping and chasing each other back and forth through the house. I guess they eventually go to sleep, but at 6:00 a.m. they’re attacking me again, ready for more play. Starting tonight, it’s exile for these two naughty kitties. I’m tired of being tired! […]
LikeLike