Hello all,
@Bonzocat wanted to see some of my paintings so I thought I would post a couple of them.
I finished The Cat only this morning, and the Rocks In Lake was completed last month.
Constructive criticism welcome.
17 Likes
no constructive criticism⌠just delight at seeing these paintingsâŚ
cheers
Wow photographic realism! Bravo 
1 Like
Like the framing of the cat!
Thank you.
We are all our own worst critics so itâs nice to get feedback from others.
@JaneJones: I wasnât sure what you meant so had to look again. The painting isnât framed, what you see is the drawing board on the easel which I place the canvas/panel on. But it does look quite nice so Iâll have to look for a way to make a frame just like that.
Or do you mean the dark background?
They are lovely. They are so rich and full that they almost become 3-D (even on my flat screen). The whiskers of the cat especially. beautiful catch light in the catâs eyes and that particular, intense stare when they are watching for a mouse or a lizard.
Nice mixture of light and dark in the landscape - how big is it? Again. that 3D feel with the front left stone. And youâve caught the light on the water - you are good with light.
Wow!
And in your first post you wrote, youâre leaning.
Bravo! 
Thank you Sue.
As vero commented - they are photorealistic (or as much as I can make them!)
I tend to use 30 x 30 cm MDF which is a manageable size and the smoothness of MDF is good for detail.
Do you paint?
Thank you Wozza.
Iâve been painting for about 2 years and I donât paint regularly. There is still so much to learn so yes, I would say Iâm learning.
I think being a perfectionist is helpful though!
1 Like
You can tell Iâve had a very long week, I saw this on my screenâŚ
⌠and spent at least 3 minutes looking for the cat that must be hidden on a rock or in the reeds or somewhere in this beautiful painting before I realised to scroll down further 
4 Likes
You donât need any constructive criticism as far as I can see, especially with the photo-realistic cat. I have had a lifelong fondness for cats, so take the opportunity of uploading a photo of my cat Max, the Siamese cat in my ID logo.
Iâd love to be able to draw and paint, which I can do, but have not the patience or perseverance. But I see you have.
Have you considered your own art website? I came across a cat portraitist some years ago whoâd take on cat portrait commissions but cannot for the life of me find her. But there are others such asâŚ
1 Like
I adore the cat.
Yes, a frame just like that.
The rocks in the lake is worthy of Bob Ross, the American artist and teacher⌠his TV programs show how he makes up the scenes with a palette knife, building the picture as he goes in the space of a half hour programthe joy of painting. Fascinating to watch if you get the chance.
Bob Ross reference
I meant the way you had positioned the cat on the canvas, so an off-centre framing or composition. I like it a lot as makes one look harder at an image.
Some years ago, I overheard a comment at a local Art Exhibition⌠the French equivalent of
âItâs no good, it looks just like a photoâŚ!â
and (in my best French) I countered that remark withâŚ
âIn my opinion, anyone who can produce something so exquisitely detailed has to be extremely good!â
and I would suggest that @Beanybag is âextremely goodâ.
@Beanybag please donât be tooo much of a perfectionist. I could weep for the paintings my niece has destroyed as she was dissatisfied with themâŚ
So I suggest, if youâre not happy with something, just tuck it away for laterâŚ
keep up the good work
No I donât Beany (sadly) but I do take photographs, so understand a little about composition and the use of light.
1 Like
Thank you all for your kind comments.
Neither drawing nor painting come naturally to me but Iâve always wanted to give them a go and Youtube is a great resource for tutorials and general guidance.
I also belong to an artistsâ group on Facebook which consists of a range of artists from beginners to professionals and they are extremely helpful.
In fact, a couple of the pros in the group choose photos from sites like Shutterstock and Alamy for us to paint and guide us through the work so much of the credit must go to the tutors.
Hereâs one I did without guidance but it took a looonnnggg time:
@graham Yes, I know of Bob Ross and Bill Alexander, Rossâ tutor. Both would practise for hours and days before doing a show because you canât afford to think about what youâre doing with just a 30 minute time slot!
A piece of trivia - Bob Ross loved squirrels and would rescue injured or orphans squirrels. He ha d a favourite that he would sometimes tuck into his shirt pocket and bring into the tv studio when he was doing a show.
@Bonzocat Thank you for the offer, Max is gorgeous. I too love cats, and dogs and rabbits and âŚ
and have loads of photos of my cat who always looks the other way when she sees me pointing my phone at her!
Iâm nowhere as good a painter as many of those out there, but maybe in my next life.
I used to make wedding invitations with all the decorative calligraphy and wotnot, then rheumatoid arthritis hit and I had to give it up because there were days I couldnât hold a pen and the same goes for a paintbrush. 
1 Like
I think artists are their own worst critics.
I gave up on drawing and painting as a hobby because it was such hard work for me and I was never really satisfied with anything I did.
Photography is so much easierâŚ!
I attempted again relatively recently with a much younger Joan Bakewell and Bruce Willis on an IPad Pro using Procreate software, but again too much brain turmoil!
Sorry to hear about your rheumatoid arthritis. My ex-boss living in Nice is an architect and painter. At the age of 98 he finds it difficult now to write due to arthritic fingers.
But even at his age he keeps going and did a self-portrait recently using a sort of daubed pointillism, as probably the easiest way to apply paint.
Keep at it Beanybag.
3 Likes
Those drawings are great, I donât think I would have done as well as you have. They do say âpractice practice practiceâ to get the old muscle memory going and then it wonât be so difficult.
My first painting took at least 7 attempts - wiping off again and again until I had ruined the board and had to turn over and start again. All in all I ruined 3 MDF boards front and back, and my final attempt on the fourth board was barely passable but I learnt so much from all those mistakes.
Procreate is a good app. there is a guy on Youtube whoâs done a couple of tutorials on his channel, mainly cartoon type images but you get to know your way around the program and doing cartoons is great fun!
I think you should keep at it too!