Palette knife kitty- starring Millie

After several technical glitches and delays, I finally got to paint online last night with some awfully patient friends to chat with. I'd changed my mind about working on the current commission, as it would mean carrying a wet painting on the bus to the gallery- something I've done, but would rather avoid. So I was going through my reference folder with the viewers and showed them a photo of my cat, Millie. Sue Bailey, a pastel painter friend from Austin, suggested that I paint Millie with a palette knife- that's how this painting came to be. In the photo, Millie's feet and tail can't be seen, so I made them up. This morning I realize Millie has white feet. I'm actually thinking about changing them, but will need to wait until the paint has set up a bit more. I did make up a white-tipped tail as a compositional device to direct the viewer's eye back into the painting. There was no black used in this painting. It's all a mixture of red, blue and green. Since I painted on a grey-toned canvas panel, I couldn't just scratch down to white to make the whiskers, so had to use the palette knife. Much harder!

When I paint with a knife, it always leaves me wanting to do more. It's an exercise in letting go, that's for sure!