Cat pastel portrait finished

Right, here it is. The British Shorthair cat pastel portrait is finished. The background is really a soft light green not neon - thank you very much yet again, scanner. ^^

What is it that makes cat portraits harder to do than horses or dogs...or is it just me? I'll be doing a pastel on velour next...a sweet Jack Russell Terrier pup on velour. Looking forward to that one! Well apart from one thing..the puppy is being held by a human hand. Oh dear... I have drawn hands before and thought they were a nightmare. Oh well maybe it'll be easier this time. I'll keep you posted!

Help Betsy Campaign - pastel portrait work in progress

I have now started working on the portrait of cat 'Betsy'. If you are not familiar with Betsy and her story, please check out the following blog post:

http://www.finepetportraits.co.uk/2008/07/kitten-to-cat-help-betsy-campaign.html

So I am painting a pastel portrait of Betsy in order to support this campaign. I've already spent several hours on the painting and I think it's coming along nicely.

Here's a scan of the outline:

I chose coloured paper because I think it'll make Betsy's special colours and markings stand out. I started with Betsy's eyes, added the first layer of white and am now in the process of blocking in the darker areas. I'll post more scans soon so watch this space!