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| Tyger, Tyger, 8x8 inches, acrylic on canvas |
Another critter. I really like this guy, he has a spontaneous, primitive quality that I'm always trying for when I paint, but which all too often proves elusive. Maybe the fact that I painted him in December, whilst half-freezing to death in my drafty workspace, precluded any temptation to overwork the piece.
It probably also helped that I drew it without use of any reference, except for a quick check on the internet on the shape of the ears: I thought they were roundish, but could I be sure? No. Like many essentially untrained artists, my visual memory sucks. Maybe that's the secret, to draw from memory/imagination, but I wonder if it would work out so well with animals less familiar than cats; I've lived with cats for many years and sketch them endlessly. I have no such intimacy with coyotes, say, however much I admire them.
Whatever the difficulties, I do think working this way is one of the more promising lines of inquiry I've happened on in a long time. It feels exciting, and that's one feeling I'm always ready to go chasing after.
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