I love art in general, and painting is one of the hobbies I use to express my passion for it.

I feel a strong resonance with dramatic natural lighting. Thereis a style named “Chiaroscuro” (Italian for “light-dark”) that focus on this. One of my hobbies is capturing “chiarocuro” moments from the internet or in real life by taking photos, which will be used in this painting.

My style is inspired by many artist and photographer, but the main inspiration of this painting is: Yuming Li

The model for today

Moo-dang (translate to “Red pork” which is a Thai dish) is the model for today. She is the most well-behaved and lovely cat of all; her only flaw is being too clingy (how cute?). I saw her lying on top of the refridgerator and love the play of light and shadow, so I captured the moment with my iPhone.

The painting process

Even though I had never taked a painting lesson and didn’t even know which specific colors I was using (because I painted in a café that provided the supplies). I still have the courage to show you how I did it!

1. Sketching: I skecthed her with a pencil, I don’t really have a technique on proportion (and it shows), but I do have a techique for deciding on light shadow area. I imagine the picture is in black and white, and focus the light and dark values. Then, I draw lines to separate them and mark the dark area with crosses.
2. Adding values: I painted with basic colors to block out where it’s light or dark. When you hesitate, just choose a lighter color!
3. Adding depth: I went further with the values. Where there was brown, I applied dark brown. Where there was the beige, I applied yellow or ivory. This was also a time to apply bold colors like red and teal.
4. Finishing details: I touched it up with white where the light hits and finish small details like the eyes and whiskers.

What I learned

Surprisingly, painting taught me to create a system and stick with it. What comes to your mind if you only stare at the second step? Well, I thought it was ugly, haha! But I had faith in the process. Just blow the worries out of your mind and trust the system. Keep the details for later, and Voilá! you got a cute, dramatic kitty!

My aim isn’t perfection. It’s just to finish it and show it to the world. Feedback from others is often better than being wrapped up in your own vision. For example, I showed this to my mom, and she instantly commented: “Her eyes are too big, and her nose is too small”. I totally agreed, but I hadn’t noticed because I too busy worrying about themessed up whiskers!

I realized it is better to finish something and receive feedback than try to be perfect and keep it hidden away in your bedroom.