Having drawn the cat quite roughly, I masked off some whites: paws, whiskers and ‘drawing marks’ for light fur sitting over a dark base.

Working with the board on its side as I wanted any paint movement to be across rather than down the paper, I used my mop and quinacridone gold for the marbled floor – using the side, rather than the point, of the brush gives rougher marks and covers the area quickly. You can see an unused ‘bead’ just under the cat’s tummy.

I sprayed water from an atomiser to soften edges to help the paint run and move naturally. I used a crumpled sheet of kitchen towel to blot, smudge and lift in the area behind the cat.

While still damp, I used a rigger to add some marble ‘grain’ lines allowing some to bleed and others to stay hard-edged

With my No 4 mop, I painted a mid-tone layer for the cat’s body using a varied mix of warm yellow-browns: burnt sienna and quinacridone gold.

I reserved paper for whites in some areas of the coat. I started to start to shape the cat’s head starting with the mid-tones, then made a second mix of manganese blue/permanent rose and used my size 4 mop for one mix and my ½in filbert for the other.

I dropped in some of the other mix and individual colours into the mix I was working with at the time

With my No 4 mop, I painted a mid-tone layer for the body using a varied mix of warm yellow-browns: burnt sienna and quinacridone gold.

I reserved paper for the whites in some areas of the coat.

I began to shape the head starting with the mid-tones, then made a second mix of manganese blue/permanent rose and used my size 4 mop for one mix and my ½in filbert for the other.

I dropped in some of the pure colours used in both mixes as I worked to create more intense colour in small areas.

I let the painting partially dry to ‘moist’ rather than wet (angle the work and look for a soft sheen rather than a shine), then used a ‘one touch’ approach to paint the cat’s head.

I added permanent rose and red orange to the inside of her left ear, then re-wet the base layer with a mix of burnt sienna and lavender and worked over with a mix of ultramarine blue and brown madder.

The ‘three layers of fur’ idea still applies, but the top layer is also dark in colour. The difference from the bottom layer darks is that the top layer contains some highlights.

I kept varying the mixes and allowed wet edges to ‘bleed out’ to give the effect of finer hairs.

I painted her front legs in the same way.

As the fur on the top of the cat’s nose is shorter and has a ‘velvety’ texture, I used tones with more contrast, but within a tighter colour range.

While this was drying, I painted her lovely eyes using manganese and cobalt blues but felt that they were too dominant, so I put them in shadow using the ultramarine blue/brown madder mix while leaving just a hint of the lighter blues in her left eye. This gave the impression of her dozing rather than just looking down and gave me my title: Catnap.

As the fur was now dry, I used my synthetic flat brush with clean water - using a subtractive technique to lift and re-establish soft edged lights in her ruff.

For her body, I turned the board for two reasons: firstly, I wanted any movement of paint to go with the lie of her coat towards her tail; secondly, by turning the board sideways (or upside down) it is easier to spot drawing errors and assess the tonal values.

Half closing your eyes or squinting at the image also helps you assess proportion and values.

Using two brushes and mixes of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue and brown madder and ultramarine blue, I worked in areas of fur, leaving a lost edge where her back would be.

I continued to work towards her tail, making my mixes more watery in consistency as her body angles away from the viewer and varying the mixes in stage six or dropping colour in with lavender and permanent rose.

By this stage I was suggesting shapes but otherwise allowing the paint to make its own textures. To promote this, I sprayed more water in between layers of paint. This is really a matter of experience and a certain amount of luck in judging how much water to spray and how ‘wet to leave it’ before adding more paint. I didn’t want it to dry fully as that would give too hard an edge, but working too soon just dilutes the paint which then mixes with the underlayer to a muddy colour rather than the colours interacting.

Finished painting

Catnap, watercolour, (30.5x35.5cm)

To finish her tail, I mixed some of the ultramarine blue and brown madder on the paper rather than on the palette, working with two or three brushes.

To keep the tail behind her body, I avoided a hard edge where her tail met the floor.

I worked with a less watery consistency to show the darker side of the tail where it was further from the light.

As the light source is cool, and my warms are in the cat’s coat and ruff, I used permanent rose instead of brown madder at the top of her tail, where it is closer to the light.

I glazed some of the same mix above her eyes to further soften some of the transitions of fur colour and texture.

Ruth Buchanan worked and taught in graphic design and illustration before becoming a full-time artist in 2001.

She exhibits nationally and internationally, and her work features in private and corporate collections in the UK, Europe, USA and the Middle East. Ruth has led workshops in the UK and the USA.

Her book Hoof, Hide and Heart: The Art of Drawing and Painting Animals was published in 2019.

www.ruthbuchanan.co.uk