Made by Connie Kulow
I found an old bird cage at a garage sale and decided it would be cool to paint it and make a scene with a cat. I like the paw up in the air look as she is so interested in the birds. I attempted to make fur strokes with the brush while putting paper mache clay on the armature. It looked really cool.
But then, after adding the gesso, it took a lot of the detail away even while making small brush strokes. The birds are not paper mache as I am truly working to make smaller items, but I’m not there yet. Next project, I hope to work on a rabbit, and it will be smooth with the paint being the detail for the fur. Mrs. Morris is a great addition to the family.
She was interesting to make, not just with trying to use the brush to put on the paper mache clay, but I had to figure out her eyes. I didn’t have any styrofoam and couldn’t find anything else to use. I rewatched your cat video on how to paint the eyes.
Then, I added eyelashes and rummaged through my husband’s fishing box to find fishing pole wire for the whiskers. It worked out good. My goal now is to study up on how to use the paints for shading and making highlights.
Your cat definitely has the pose of a real cat. That’s hard to do so congrats. Great idea!
What a wonderfully active pose – great job!
Thank you!! I had fun trying to figure out how to show that she is very interested in the birds.
Even if you lose some of the sculpted fur, you really don’t need it all, you just need the “suggestion “ of the fur. It makes it more artistic and lets the viewer(admirer) use their imagination. Nicely done….you’ve captured that seemingly innocent pose of the cat that anyone who has ever had a cat can recognize!
Thank you Eileen – you make sense that I don’t really need all the sculpted fur. I was really concerned when the gesso filled in the strokes of fur. I had thought that the sculpted fur would give the appearance of hair direction. I see what you are saying. Thank you!
Connie. Nice to have you back! That poor bird, no matter how innocent-looking the cat is.
I know what you mean about the gesso filling in the details. It is difficult to learn to exaggerate the fur texture so the gesso makes it perfect. Wonderful little critter (the cat, not the bird)! Thanks.
Hi Rex! When I found the old bird cage at a garage sale, I knew that my next project would be a cat. I wanted her to be curious and appear to be focused on a mission. I am happy with how her pose turned out. The fur… well, really wanted the brush strokes to reflect the direction of her hair, whether it was on her hips or around her elbow, so this was a learning experience for me. I need more practice AND more members to add to the family 🙂