The Orange Cat (Oil Pastel Painting)
It’s hard to believe this oil pastel painting is of an real orange Maine Coon cat. In fact however, it is. The concept began with a photograph of the artist Sheila Alden’s cat, Cecil. In the middle of the photo the cat sits quietly basking in the light pouring in from an unseen sunny window on the right. The background is made up of a vase filled with multicolored tulips and a piece of draped orange fabric.
Photograph Transformed Into Oil Pastel Painting
Noteworthy draftsmanship blurs the line between painting and drawing. As a result of Alden’s radical new style of oil pastel painting this cat became one with its environment. And in turn the objects have become part of the cat. Along with the cat, the vase of tulips and piece of hanging orange fabric with yellow dots are still discernible as objects which originated from reality. However the middle area in the background has dissolved into lines and abstract triangular shapes. In the foreground, the cat sits on a piece of folded cloth. But that is were reality leaves and the artwork moves into the nonphysical realm. Line, shapes and colors work together to transform the artwork.
Oil Pastel Painting Blazes With Energy
The Orange Cat oil pastel painting is alive with an electrical charge. All colors under the sun have been used to set this artwork a blaze with energy. The triangular shapes and forms of the elements within the scene blend and merge into one another. Yet there is a harmonious theme interweaving the various regions together. The effect is a radical new sensory encounter for the viewer. The effect is like a vehicle, a mode of transportation to a new world never seen before.
The cat’s gaze pulls us into the painting, this strange but beautiful world where life melts into the surrounding objects. In effect there are sensual qualities not ordinarily attributed to the subject matter. There is a blur between life and inanimate objects. In conclusion the artist has dramatized a visually strange imaginatively charged painting. As well as created a distinct visual sensory experience. In conclusion – an image that transcends words.
About This Cat Oil Pastel Painting:
Title: The Orange Cat
Medium: Oil pastel on Arches 140 lb. hot press watercolor paper
Size: 24″ x 18″
Framed Size: 31″ x 25″
Availability: N/A
The Orange Cat, Original Cat Oil Pastel Painting Exhibitions
Magnolia 40th Annual Art Show & Sale 2017, at the Magnolia Library and Community Center, in the Magnolia section of Gloucester, MA
2017 Newburyport Art Association Fall Members Juried Show, Part Two, Newburyport, MA
More Cat and / or Flower Paintings
Surprise!, tulip flowers, oil pastel painting
Harmony, peonies floral motif, oil painting on canvas
Bliss, cat and flower still life, oil painting on canvas
Oil Pastels Of Other Subjects
Surprise!, tulip flowers, oil pastel painting
Heavy Weather, marine oil pastel painting
Winter Island Lighthouse, seascape with lighthouse oil pastel painting