Round Two with the Windup Cat

There is an earlier post here with my first attempt depicting this vintage windup toy aka the Happy Cat Windup toy. This is my second attempt at it. See The Windup under recent posts.

I am rather fond of the Happy Cat. I know just how she feels – wind her up and she can give that ball a mighty juggle and roll around with it but the mechanism is just a tiny bit creaky. A bit of grease on the gears would be more helpful than  allergy pills and cough medicine cup I added to the composition, but I thought it would make for a thought provoking picture. I think it came out very well.

I always study the picture when I am done – evaluating my strengths and weaknesses.Some days I feel quite strong in my skills and other days I see nothing but weakness. If I can see both in one picture that is probably a realistic assessment. From there I can set myself goals. I think the right side of the cat could be detailed better as far as the drawing and the shading in the area needs some help too. I like the way I was able to depict the impression of movement throughout the piece.

I feel it is finished though and to learn more I would do another study. I enjoyed doing it. Not knowing where something will lead is an intriguing aspect of art practice. Big plans go nowhere and a bare germ of an idea can become an involved work.

repetition drawing

 

 

Thumbnails are a good way to get going. By the time I have done something at least twice, I have a pretty good grasp of my subject going into the third drawing. These were all done with no preliminary pencil.

The top two sketches were done with a rapidograph, the bottom left is colored pencil and the bottom right is acrylic paint. These little studies give me a chance to evaluate how much I enjoy working with a particular subject before I invest time effort and materials into a larger piece.

I haven’t done much lately because I don’t feel so well. But I am always looking and thinking about art. I like the work I have been doing and hope to begin to plan more for more complex compositions although I am not ever get a chance to do them or even finish some things I started. Woe is me.