Abby

[Diane Miller]

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.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

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???

[Sandy Witvoet]

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!

[Kerry Perkins]

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!

[Diane Miller]

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.

[Judy Howle]

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

[Diane Miller]

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.

[Nancy Bell]

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.

[Anita Bower]

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

[gary ellwein]

Wonderful job of accentuating the beautiful eyes.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

gorgeous kitty, they are sooo hard to photograph.

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