Black Cats and Japanese Watercolors

I was a bit stumped when I thought of creating this portrait of my friend Claire's adorable cats Pumpkin and Pieface. It is difficult to make black fur look as lustrous and lovely as it is in real life.

But then inspiration hit! The time was right to take a virgin flight with my Sumi-E Japanese watercolors. I am always looking for bright, vivid watercolors and I was so excited to find these! What is Sumi-E? I found out that "Sumi" means "black ink" and "e" means both "path" and "painting."

I also used a Japanese watercolor paper that is specifically for Sumi–e painting. This very absorbent paper is ideal for "freestyle" brush painting, a simple yet highly aesthetic drawing made of powerful, mostly chasing and rapidly executed lines.


One day I may well try Japanese painting although you need special brushes. In the meantime I just used a regular brush and put a bright background where the highlights of the cats' fur was and then when it was dry overlaid it with opaque black. My friend was delighted with it!


Have you ever tried Japanese watercolors and how did you like them? I was very pleased with their intense colors.

Linking up with Pet Parade and Paint Party Friday

Stay warm and do check out my new Fine Art America store!!

The Plight of the Parakeets

Human encroachment on natural habitats is a problem that seems to get worse every day. I am part of the Artist Warriors for Wildlife Group and this this week I was saddened to hear about the plight of the White-Winged parakeets in Mantua.

2-3 years ago the “Avenida das Torres” (Avenue of the Towers) was constructed in the city of Manaus (in the Amazon) taking down many of the native trees and palms where White-winged parakeets and other birds both nested and had dormitories for sleeping. In search of new homes, the birds found a group of Imperial Palms in front of a luxury condominium complex. As the residents did not like the chattering, singing and socializing of the birds, they managed to have huge plastic nets put over the trees, imprisoning the birds and many of them died. Although official reports claim the nets were to protect the trees from the birds now, just this past Thursday, 200 of the parakeets have been found dead, most probably from poisoning, 40 birds have been collected to analyze the cause of death.

Anyway luckily there were big protests about this issue a few days ago and now the authorities have agreed to take the nets off the trees. So that is a step in the right direction.

My painting of the White-Winged Parakeets is in alcohol inks on Yupo paper....somehow I wanted to show the great colorful clouds of them in the air. I wish them all the best ......

Let us all try to respect the earth and live in harmony with nature. 

Linking up to Paint Party Friday  and Sunday Sketches so come and join in the fun!