Abby

If any of you are followers of Carol Leigh (http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/) you may recognize the infamous Abby. She dances to her own drummer and wasn't pleased to pose so I had to sneak around on the floor on my belly with the 70-200 and rely on available light. Not easy to sneak around that way and I can't imagine doing it with a 500 or 600 -- maybe it's easier in slippery pond mud. I got one halfway usable shot which served as a good enough basis for Corel Painter -- I love painting cats!

And from what I've learned in Avian, I need to so something about the catchlights -- they were from a lighting fixture.

Beautiful kitty Diane! The eyes are luminous. I wonder about keeping the fur on the nose sharp in keeping with the rest of the DOF and more blurry (painterly) towards the outer edges???

Mesmerizing, Diane! Maybe work the catch-lights. This is fantastic! I have a friend who is a pro water-color artist here in MI, and specializes in cats.... she would DIE for this beautiful kitty as a watercolor subject (I think!). I would be happy to link you two up if you are interested. If not, that's ok too. Great work!

Lovely kitty and I really enjoy your painting technique. I have Corel Painter but haven't used it that much. You have given me something new to work with though - thanks! I like the way she is blended into the background. I would probably evict two of the catchlights and keep the one that is in the center of her left eye (right eye in the frame). Very nice!

thanks, everyone! I do need to go back and play in the wet paint on this one.... I'd tweak quite few brush strokes, subtly.

Just FWIW, here's the original.

I admire anyone who can paint on photos and make it look good, and you definitely succeeded! Beautiful cat and painting!

Thanks, Judy, but give the credit to the people who designed Corel Painter. It is an amazing set of realistic-feeling brushes that pull colors from the image and "clone paint." I don't know how they do it, but if you go too far and smear things in the wrong way, some of the brushes will bring back the underlying image.

Cats make such elegant subjects and you really did a beautiful job with this one! Your images are good inspirations for "painting" and I am intrigued. I also suggest removing 2 of those catch lights in the eyes.

Outstanding image. Great "painting." I like the results very much. Nice focus on the clear eyes, and beautiful fur.

Wonderful job of accentuating the beautiful eyes.

gorgeous kitty, they are sooo hard to photograph.

nice PP, although I like it a lot I also prefer the original, not sure why.