Kitty close-up

There are people who don’t appreciate a handmade card; there are those who never say whether they do or not, so who knows; some who don’t pay enough attention to even realise it is a handmade card; and there are those who really do appreciate it. And it shouldn’t really make a difference to how much effort I put into a card but, especially in these days of limited energy, I have to admit that it does. It’s not the only factor of course, but…

January is far from my favourite time of year for creating, or anything much really, but when a birthday comes around for someone who definitely deserves a special card, I have to pull myself together and come up with an idea.

For Christmas 2021 I adapted a digi stamp and turned it into a portrait of her kitty Tommy. For this birthday, I decided to get more arty and create a kitty close-up. I snagged a photo off Facebook and used it as a reference; I was stretching the level of detail in the photo, so it could definitely be more accurate, but I like the way it turned out.

The black areas were created first with a fineliner and then I used my Polychromos coloured pencils to add the shading. I originally thought I was going to use watercolour markers but I’m not sure the paper I was using would have held up well to any amount of water and I haven’t tested these new Winsor & Newton fineliners with water yet.

There are things I would do differently next time I do something like this — find a more detailed source image for a start — but I’m happy with it and, more importantly, the recipient loves it and has already framed it.