Painting a Tuxedo Cat in Real Time: A Minimalist Watercolor Approach

Painting a Tuxedo Cat: Keeping It Real (Time)

Hi, I'm Valerie Englehart, and today I'm doing something a little different. I'm painting a lovely little tuxedo cat on Fabriano 1264 cold press paper, and I'm keeping this video at real time so you can see exactly how slowly or quickly I work on a piece.

This paper has some nice texture to it and it's a student grade, which means it's pretty inexpensive—perfect for experimenting and playing around without worrying about wasting expensive materials.

Starting with Those Striking Blue Eyes

I'm using really just three colors for this painting, and mostly just one. I wanted to start with the cat's eye, and I'm using Rockwell Art—I think it's Angel Eyes. I don't know exactly, but it's a very light blue with a shimmer to it.

I picked this eye color because even though the reference photo in the lower corner is in black and white, this cat had beautiful blue eyes. I don't usually see that color on tuxedo kitties, so it was very striking. The photo is from The Whole Cat and Caboodle in Kirkland, Washington. I went there for my anniversary—it's something my husband and I love to do. On our honeymoon, we went to San Diego and visited the cat cafe there, and we really love hanging out with cats.

I'm pulling out a little bit of pink for the nose, then going in with water to soften the area around the eye. I don't want things to look cut out. Also, because this is a black and white cat, I want form and shadow to be created using the colors around it. Any shadows I put in are going to be that light blue or that earthy pink.

Working Without a Sketch: The Grid Method

I left part of the eye unpainted for that highlight, and it's pretty small. I don't work with a sketch—that's why there's a grid on my reference photo. I use a knot and grid app so I can isolate values and see where elements need to be placed on my paper. That way I can paint loosely, but it gives me a reference I can easily follow and use my imagination for where those lines are on the paper.

Going Hyper Modern with Black and White

If you saw the thumbnail, you know I'm going really modern with this one. Other than the cat facial features, everything else I'm painting is going to be dropping in black paint and leaving white areas completely unpainted. I'm going hyper modern with this approach.

Right now I'm painting with clean water, and I'm tilting my paper. I even turned on the light above because in order to see where I'm painting without a sketch, I need to see the reflection. My plan is to paint shapes in clean water, then use Daniel Smith Lunar Black to drop in fresh, juicy pigment.

This color is incredibly granulating, and my idea is to see what sort of patterns I get if I just drop fresh, juicy pigment into areas of wet paper.

The Puddle Problem (And How to Manage It)

One thing I didn't think fully through—and you'll see this come into play later—is when I drop in my colors, I wanted everything to be very wet, and that means it puddles. But if I want good movement, I have to lift my paper, and that puddle becomes so heavy that it will drip. I don't want drips!

So I have to be very careful when lifting and tilting my paper because I want my shapes to stay right where they are.

Using an Oil Fan Brush for Texture

I'm using an oil fan brush for this part, and that's because I don't want to introduce any more water—I just want to introduce pigment. The fan brush, because it's an oil brush, is very hard and bristly. It's great for creating fur textures without being too soft. I want this kind of hard and grungy, but also soft and flowing. It's a contradiction—it's black and white!

I'm using the tip of that brush to place the ears of the cat. One thing I'm enjoying about this method is how the heavy paint moves and creates natural areas of light and dark. It's not just a flat block of color—there are subtleties, and that's just the watercolor doing its thing without me.

Painting Slowly: You Don't Have to Rush

Notice I'm going pretty slow. Often I speed up my videos because I don't want you to be bored, but even though I say I'm speeding something up, I watch these videos too. Even when I know it's sped up, I get the idea that I have to paint fast. Plus there's this idea that watercolor is something you have to work quickly with because you don't want things to dry.

But sometimes that means I rush, and I don't want to rush. I don't want you to think you have to rush either. It really can be a nice, slow, meditative process. Just take your time. It's fine.

Following the Cat's Form (Mostly)

As I go, I'm going to follow that coat pattern as closely as I can because that's why it's my reference—I like that you can get a good sense of form just from the black patterns on the cat. But it's not going to be exact because I am going to change some things up slightly.

Since I'm not painting a pet portrait, I'm just painting inspired by a photo I took. If I was painting a portrait for this cat's owner, I would want to be much more careful about getting those shapes perfect. It's one thing to paint a cat, but another thing to paint a pet portrait.

Adjusting the Composition: That Curving Tail

I've got my soft size 10 Princeton Neptune round brush, and now I'm painting in that big block of color on the back of the cat. I'm tilting my paper just so I can see it—I want this shape to be convincing.

In my reference photo, the tail is coming down and swinging outward, but I don't have room for that on my paper. The tail would end up going off the page or be too small. So I decided to change the curvature of that tail. Since I'm an artist, I can make that choice!

I want the cat's tail to all be in frame, and I want it to wrap back into the composition. In a painting, the eye travels from one area to the next. I'm trying to encourage the eye to go back into the face of the cat—you start looking at the head, go down the body, see the tail going down and back up, and you're back at the cat again.

Dropping in Pigment for Natural Texture

I'm just dabbing in paint—not rubbing or scrubbing, just dotting it in certain places. This creates a dappled effect of light. If you look at the face of the cat, you can see where some of that watercolor has decided to pool, and thankfully it's pooling around the eye, creating great contrast and shaping the skull of the cat.

It's a fun little experiment to drop in more pigment and watch it bloom. Word of caution though: don't do it too much. If an area is getting too pale as it dries, go in with another hit of pigment because you'll get an interesting texture mark. But don't just do it because you're feeling good and having fun—at some point it becomes too much and you lose some of that magic.

Don't Pet Your Paintings

I would encourage you to maybe have a couple of these going at once so you can play around. Do one in one color and see what happens, then do one in another color and see what patterns you get. Maybe try a splitting, granulating pigment—like a blue that splits into brown.

But remember: sometimes too much of a good thing is no good. We pet kitties, we don't pet our paintings!

Adding Those Final Details

Now that the area of the eye is dry, I'm taking a very small liner brush—a size double zero synthetic—and painting the pupil of the cat. Cats often look like they're wearing lovely eyeliner, so I'm outlining some of the eye.

Looking back, I wish I'd picked a turquoise for the eye to really make it pop and give incredible contrast. The color I picked dried really pale and cold.

The 18-Minute Painting

I'm able to see how long this painting actually took me, and it clocked in at 18 minutes, 22 seconds. I know things are really busy right now, especially getting into the holidays, but try to find some time to just paint for yourself—to do something fun. Painting with watercolor for me really helps quiet my mind. It grounds me. It's a fantastic way to let stresses go away and just focus on playing with paint.

White Whiskers on White Paper

No kitty is complete without whiskers! The whiskers on this cat were white, so how am I going to paint white whiskers on a white background? I'm using a very light blue—the same blue I used in the eyes. I like it because the whiskers are shimmery, giving a little shimmer to those kitty whiskers.

And there's the finished painting—a modern, minimalist tuxedo cat created in less than 20 minutes!