The Cat and the Cardinal

I've been wanting to include my partner in crime, Oreo, in my artwork for some time. This morning while waking up to my dear kitty making odd noises while staring at the morning birds - one of which was a cardinal - I got this idea. (Oh, and the title of this post is not the painting title, I'm playing with a few in my mind right now)

Having not a huge experience in animal painting to lean on, I thought that this composition was the easiest for capturing my kitty - profiles are always easiest, or to me they are...there's no need for symmetry with only half a face to worry about.


The first sketch is the one that I did on the watercolor paper. It's the one that will be painted. The second is the sketch from my sketchbook. It looks a lot better because it doesn't have the texture of the watercolor paper. I thought at first of just having the cardinal...but I starting thinking: what if the cardinal was just as 'curious' (yes, I'm calling my cat's natural hunting instincts, curiosity). That's when I got the idea for the cardinal to lean into Oreo. It's also a very interesting bird angle I find, a little out of the ordinary.