Vi Thurman is America's premier decorative artist in the field of portrait painting.
Her paintings, reflecting her love of people and animals, have an outstanding quality that
brings not only realism to the canvas, but captures each subject's unique personality
and characteristics.
Her paintings, executed in oils, acrylics, and pastels, usually begin from photographic
studies, many of which she herself takes.
Vi is the author of over 125 instructional packets and six books designed especially
for the decorative art market.
Her video, Portraits, a Simple Method, featuring Rachel Elizabeth, was released in 1992.
She has also completed a line of pet and country greeting and note cards featuring portraitures
of pets and farm animals, as well as her catchy notepads.
Vi has been teaching decorative painting for over 18 years and was awarded the Master
Decorative Artist Award by the National Society of Toll and Decorative Painters.
In addition to teaching at their national convention and affiliated shows, she also
teaches 8 to 10 seminars a year throughout the United States and Canada.
Her students appreciate her easy, calm, and fun way of approaching portrait painting.
Let's join Vi as she shares her unique techniques of painting and stroking animal fur.
Her subject is J.C., a six-month-old brown tabby Maine coon cat.
I'm really excited about this painting and you'll love the subject.
This Maine coon cat is so expressive.
I want to start at the very beginning giving you a step-by-step plan on how to paint your
favorite cat.
First of all, you'll need a good photograph.
If you're going to take the photographs yourself, you want to be sure that you take them at
eye level.
In other words, get down to the surface where the cat is or bring the cat up to your eye
level.
Then you want to take a number of photographs so that you have quite a selection.
You want to select one for your painting.
Now when you have selected the one that you're going to paint, you may want to have it enlarged
to an 8 by 10 so that you can see good detail.
I have my photograph here of J.C. and we need to make a design.
So I have with a ruler, I have sectioned off this photograph into four equal sections horizontally
and vertically.
With the ruler, I made the little dots so that these were equal.
And then I secured tape across and up and down.
I also at the same time prepared a piece of drawing paper with the same grid as the photograph.
Now what I want to do is to draw what I see in the section of the photograph on the drawing
paper.
And I've just started it here using just a pencil and I draw what I see.
I've done the second one, I would go across, just come in and I stroke what I see.
If you wanted to stroke in the darker areas, you could make them a little heavier.
And then start with the ear and just go across.
If it would help to have a little window viewfinder, let me get one here because I
made one, this helps, put it on one section at a time, it helps to isolate each section
from the rest of the photograph.
I also have a completed drawing here, let me show it to you.
And when I looked at this, I saw that I was missing a left ear.
With the face forward, I took tracing paper, put it on the right ear, traced it, flipped
it over, lined it up with the top of the head and the side and put it in for a left ear.
I also looked at photographs for the long fluffy fur that was in the front.
I also added the fluffy fur, took a piece of tracing paper and traced the whole thing.
Now that's my design.
Then I decided, needed to decide on a canvas, an 8 by 10, 9 by 12.
And when I have that done, I need to take the canvas and the design to a copy center
and have it enlarged, this is an enlarged copy, I chose an 8 by 10 canvas and you need
to check it for placement.
You want a little more subject than background and if the head is tilted a bit, you want
a little bit more in front of the face than behind the head.
Then I prepared my canvas and you can see that I have prepared it with a gray.
I have prepared it with white plus a nimbus gray plus equal amount of sealer.
I allowed it to dry and then I transferred my design or pattern with transfer paper.
Placing it in, you could secure it down, place it in and using a stylus you go over all the
lines and you will have transferred the design to the canvas.
I have my paints here and I'm going to get my palette ready and I'll be right back.
I am using Chroma Acrylics on a Stay Wet palette and my paints are white, yellow oxide,
raw sienna, provincial beige, naphtha red light, burnt umber, sapphire and black.
I have five mixtures, the first one is white plus yellow oxide, second one white plus provincial
beige, third one is provincial beige plus white.
Sky color for the fourth one is sapphire, white, little raw sienna and a little burnt
umber.
Number five is the nose color, naphtha red light, burnt umber and white.
I'm using retarder because these acrylics, even without the retarder, have more open
time because they have no sealer in them.
With the retarder I will have even more open time.
I have painted the left half of my painting and I'm now going to paint the right half.
I am going to use a brush for the retarder so that I can dampen the area, just dampen
it before I paint.
I'm going to use one brush for light colors and one for dark colors.
Now I will just dampen the area of the sky quickly and even the ear so that I can put
the sky in.
I just base it in with the number four mixture.
I'm going to pick up number one and just lighten above the head.
Going back to my sky color just to blend it in next to the head.
I'm going to add a little black to the color that I have on my brush, that's the blue
with a little black, and splash it into the right ear, the inside.
Should be just a tad darker.
I'm going to shade next to the edge with burnt umber and I'm stroking in the direction
of the fur.
I'm going to pull out a wash of burnt umber, add a few of the little hairs, the little
fur that is right above the ear, and add a wash of burnt umber in the edge.
Should be a little darker, probably because I have the retarder in the paint as well
as on the surface.
I'm going to lighten within the ear with the number two mix.
Just tap it.
The long fur within the ear is also stroked, I'm just going to stroke it with the chisel
of my flat brush and then later I'll go on with the liner.
I need to start at the top of the head but before I do I need to talk about fur for just
a minute.
When you stroke fur it is very important to stroke it in the direction that the fur lays.
Fur starts at the outer edges, putting one layer over another, working toward the center
of the face.
I'll make just a little drawing here to show you that let's say, this is a little
face, let me put some ears on quickly, and these would be eyes and here's the nose.
The top of the head, if this were center coming through right here, the top of the head the
strokes would be up to the upper right, up to the upper, this would be left to the upper
right.
When you get to the side this would still be to the upper left, as you get even with
the tear duct it starts going to the side and then slowly downward.
On the right side, again, this would be upper right, even with the tear duct, out, slowly
downward, curve slowly downward.
For the chin area, again, this is down, so these would be down, lower left would be curved
to the left, lower right curved to the lower right.
We also have to think of fur as being more than one layer, just like the hair on our
head.
So if we have more than one layer, we put the first one on, and I'll just do a little
row here, just part of one, the second one has to go underneath but also on top.
Now I started with a zigzag, when I first started I would do, you know, pull up a zigzag
or half of a zigzag, and then I got to where I was working a lot of fur, I would almost
be nervous and kind of break it, you know, so that it was kind of up, down, and the length
was not the same, and this is good for fur, and that's what we're going to do as we
start back with the top of the head.
This is just giving you stroke direction for the painting.
I'm starting at the very top, I'm going to start with a layer of number two.
Kind of hard to see.
I'm also at the same time going to put it in, I know we talked about one layer over
the other, and we'll have to do that, but I'm also going to place the lighter areas
so that when I get there, I will just stroke that back in and over.
Now here I have another layer just to indicate.
Then I'm going to pick up burnt umber, and I will stroke burnt umber layers of fur
I'm going to work these down to the eye, this is going, I pull it over a little bit, even
helps to be a little nervous.
I'm going to put, place a little burnt umber right behind both edges of the ear, just to
shade it.
I'm also going to put the burnt umber right around the eye, as long as I have it in the
brush, I just use a chisel of a flat for most of the paintings.
Now I have to pull this out also in the direction that the fur lays, we try not to have lines.
Then I need to go back to the light area, just to show you that this number two mix
that I put in here has to be pulled over into the burnt umber, because it is underneath.
The same thing with the area above the eyes.
This is drying just a little bit, so I'm going to pick up a little provincial beige, which
will help the transition, just from the light value to the middle value and the dark value.
Then the burnt umber would have to be pulled down at the bottom, would have to be pulled
up and into the light color, just so it looks furry.
I'm going to base in the eye with just a mixture of yellow oxide and provincial beige.
I should have painted the eye in at this step, but I plan to do it in the second step.
But if I would do it now, then JC could look at me and check on me throughout the painting.
I'm going to also base in the nose.
Now I'm going to start on the right side.
I'm going to stroke the fur, starting again with number two mixture.
I'm going to stroke the fur downward.
I'm going to add a little provincial beige on top of it, just to soften it in right away.
Now I'm going to add burnt umber, and I don't have a long layer, but one that comes down
just a little ways, stroke it right over.
This time I'm going to stroke in the burnt umber areas just to indicate, then I'll have
to go back and soften.
I have another area that's coming down right here.
If you're a little nervous, that helps.
See, that brings us up to the cheek area.
I'm going to add a little bit underneath the side of the face, and we'll go back to light colors.
I'm going to come down with some number three, pull it over the burnt umber, and I'm going
to pick up my retarder brush and just add a bit more retarder on this because it's beginning to dry.
Now some provincial beige could also come in here.
I'm going to go ahead and pick up my retarder brush, and I'm going to pick up my retarder
brush.
I'm going to go back and pick up burnt umber, and again, so that I can get the side done,
and just come back and show you, just stroke it over, and again, stroke over.
Sometimes you can just zigzag and soften the areas where one overlaps.
As I come to the face, I'm going to go to number two mixture.
Add a little provincial beige to break it up.
Now I've quickly put in number two, but I will need to pull some of the burnt umber
off of this mix again in order to break up the solid color that I have.
I'm putting in little touches of burnt umber in the area where the whiskers will be.
I also have a little area right above the nose where I need to tap in some burnt umber.
If it isn't dark enough this time, then next time we will deepen it.
Just stroking burnt umber.
Now we have a lighter area right on the cheek in this area next to the nose, so this time
I'm going to pat, sometimes the fur is very short.
I have also a light area to the inside of the right eye
and also below.
I will soften that light area, again picking up provincial beige,
stroking it right into the edge above and below,
and then I wash a burnt umber.
This is a tear duct.
I'm just going to put a wash of burnt umber, just tapping it right in here.
A little provincial beige right in this area.
That's all given on your color map, which is included.
Now I'm going to start with the body.
I'm going to stroke the burnt umber, and these strokes will be longer.
We talked about the short strokes, but these will be longer.
Start at the outside, downward,
and again I'm going to stop, pick up my brush and add a little retarder because my surface is drying.
This is going to be more or less burnt umber strokes, layer upon layer.
Sometimes I pick up burnt umber and it has more paint in it, so it'll be a little darker.
Other than that, that's how I'm going to get my values.
Working up toward the face, I'll add some provincial beige,
but the majority of this will be burnt umber.
Remember to stroke in the direction that the fur lays.
I'm going to deepen under the chin again a bit much.
Just do a zigzag, and I will need to blend in into the lighter areas.
I'm going to add a little of the sky color right along this edge,
and you can see how easily the blue will soften it.
Blue over any of the harsh browns will really soften.
I need to just add, to finish this, I just need to add a little more of the light,
just to blend so that one area blends in with the other.
And the same thing on here, on these edges.
Just as long as it's wet, just kind of go back and soften it.
When you have this done, then you need to allow it to dry thoroughly.
Then we'll come back and put on the second step.
For the second step, you need to look through the painting.
Does it need refining? Do areas need to be lighter or deeper?
If you look at the sky and you want to lighten it,
then repeat the first step and just lighten in the area above the head.
I'm going to go on to the area of the cat so that we can spend most of our time on the cat.
I'm going to dampen the surface with retarder.
I do not use water because if the painting is not quite dry,
it would react to the paint and would lift.
I'm putting it down further probably than what I need
and can redampen as I work if it is needed.
I'm looking at the ear and the ear needs to have some of the lighter fur
stroke through the center.
Just these little long hairs coming out.
And I'm doing that with a chisel of a flat brush to start with.
Then I'll take a liner brush, come back, and with the number one mixture,
just lighten where the curved area would be.
If I would like to deepen any other area of the ear,
I can pick up a little burned umber, deepen it near the edge.
Whatever we did in the first step can be repeated in the second step.
Then I look at the top of the head.
If I want to deepen it, I will again pick up burned umber.
Sometimes you don't have to do all the stroking in the second step.
I will show you right here.
I have picked up a wash, a burned umber,
and I'm going to deepen the top of the head.
I'll show you right here.
I have picked up a wash, a burned umber,
and if I stroke this, I can even do a broad stroke.
You see what it does?
It softens the area and deepens it, both at the same time.
If I want to cut through some of the light areas, this is like a wash.
All I have to do is do this little zigzag and cut through.
Now I have an area here that is a solid burned umber.
I think that it should have a lighter value coming into it.
So I take provincial beige, and I'm coming in from both sides just to break it up.
Any place where I have a solid area.
If you do the zigzag and it's more of a wash, it will work very well for you.
Now I'm going to, well, let me cut through this just a little bit more.
And some of these burnt umber strokes could be a little darker.
I'm going to place in the eye.
My base was yellow, oxide, and provincial beige.
So again, I need to put the base coat on.
And I'm going to pick up a little raw sienna on the corner of the brush
so that I can just shade next to the burnt umber.
And if it won't shade, I might even pick up a little burnt umber to do that.
It's not coming dark enough.
It's like floating a little color right on the edge so that it will soften.
Then I'm going to pick up white,
and I'm going to come right through the center to lighten.
Here again I use a little zigzag.
The pupil will be black.
Placing in just a line.
And I don't go all the way down to the bottom.
And then I'm going to scoot it out a little to the side,
on the right and on the left.
Try to make it about the size as the left side.
Try to make it about the size as the left eye.
I may not get that quite.
I'm going to repeat the black to make it darker.
But I'm going to go back and whiten this to go with the left eye.
I'm going to come back with a blue line
around the outside of the pupil to soften it with the iris.
Then I'm going to add a highlight,
or we would say right about three o'clock,
and it's on the edge of the pupil.
I'm going to go ahead and work on the nose at the same time.
And I need to dampen it with the retarder and base.
Second time we can just put the base back on with retarder in the brush.
And I'm going to shade with burnt umber.
This would be at the bottom, coming around and up through the center.
The nostril opening will be burnt umber.
And then just the side of the nose will also be shaded.
And I make little touches just at the top to break up the line that we have.
And there would be a little bit of fur hanging over.
I'm going to quickly deepen also in the area between the nose and the eye.
I need to come down from the nose.
This is the division to the mouth.
This is with burnt umber.
And pull the little mouth opening,
coming down just fur-like strokes.
And I can break this up.
And if I want to shade, we need to shade just a bit.
This is just a wash, shade right next to the nose.
We can also put some of the nose color right at the opening of the mouth also.
Then the chin, while we are here, let's just go ahead and deepen
just to show where the, has a tiny little chin.
Okay, deepen this end right here just a little bit more to stop it.
The side of the nose.
And then I'm going to start at the side of the face, the right side.
And we had placed number two mixture.
And we put some provincial beige in here.
So we're going to start again just to break up any areas that are solid.
As long as we have the retarder on first.
With burnt umber in my brush.
Hold onto two brushes here at the same time so I can just go back and forth.
Just going to deepen.
It's kind of a zigzag that shows you how to stroke it.
Stroke it over.
Just work it back and forth.
Actually I'm just repeating what I did in step one.
I might add just a bit more provincial beige in at this time.
In places here.
Okay.
This is provincial beige.
Add a little bit more burnt umber in these areas and pull it over so that it gives the contour of the animal.
Okay, I'm going to start with the body and just repeat what I did before.
I will dampen with the retarder.
Each painting you do will be different.
You can't paint two paintings the same in the same value even.
They just all turn out different.
Okay.
I need to blend in these edges so that we don't have any harsh edges.
Soften it in.
As we come up we lighten.
We deepen.
Add a little provincial beige right in here.
And remember the blue touches we put in before?
We can add more of the blue touches right into the bottom area.
A little too much.
Needs to be a wash to go with what we have on the left half.
I'm going to also lighten using the number two mix and bring some of the fur over on the right side.
Just kind of stroke it the way it lays.
That's what we do through the whole painting is to lighten and to deepen.
Just to re-stroke what we did in step one.
I need to add whiskers.
I will place these in with the number one mixture.
Need to thin it down.
Use a liner brush.
Stroke these in.
I wait until my painting is dry because sometimes my first stroke would be a bummer.
And you can turn the painting so that your stroking would be more easy to do.
Some are curved.
Some are longer.
Some are shorter.
Then I go back and I take a little white and lighten only the area that is curved.
The forward area.
Again you have to thin it down otherwise it just won't roll off the brush.
If you get it too light then you have to go back and soften it again.
This one could come down longer.
Also you need to go back and if it's just with retarder and a little wash of burnt umber,
it's just to soften where these little whiskers come from the cheek.
Any of the areas can be done in a third step.
Now you may like it the way it is and allow it to dry thoroughly.
The other thing that I would like to tell you is that I hope by my going through these steps
and stroking the fur that you will be inspired to paint your favorite cat.
It takes a bit of practice.
It's a lot of fun and very rewarding.
I know you can do it.
Until next time, bye now.
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See you next time.