How To Paint A Picture of Your Cat With Oil Paint

By SweetiePie

If you like to paint you are probably wondering about how you can paint a picture of your cat. The answer is to paint your cat anyway you like, but you could also purchase a few painting books to give you ideas. In the past I have read painting instruction books, but when it comes to painting, I like to go with my own style. Oil paint is one of my favorite mediums, but please make sure to wear something you are not worried about staining because I got oil paint one of my cutest dresses the other day. I know, it was silly of me not to wear something old when I was painting my cat, but I am just warning you because I know will be upset like I was if you get paint on any of your nice outfits. Also, remember to put newspaper on the table where you will be painting if you are afraid you might stain it. I used old computer paper to protect the area of my table underneath my painting, but made the dodo mistake of accidentally dropping a paint brush in my lap as I was painting. Anyway, to get on with the story I love cats, so I have decided to paint a picture of a new cat, which is a composite of several photographs that I have taken over the years.

See all 18 photos

The oil painting of my cat turned out quite well. Read my hub to see how i painted this special feline.

This picture of Maxx helped to inspire the angle of my painting.

This picture of Stripey gave me the idea of including a vine near the cat in my painting.

This morning glory served as the inspiration for the solitary morning glory in my painting.

Painting Inspiration!

At first I was going to paint a picture of Maxx, but then I decided to incorporate the details from the picture I took of Stripey. As you know I have been writing lots of garden hubs, and I decided to incorporate a solitary morning glory in the picture because I knew this would add interest to the painting. So now it is time for me to set up my painting. Sketch the drawing on your canvas as on outline for your painting, which will save time when you get to the painting process.

Here I began to draw the outline of my cat.

Now I have added leaves as were pictured with Maxx.

In late September I became bored with the concept of painting leaves next to Maxx, and my garden hubs inspired me to paint a monring glory next to him instead.

The leaves of the morning glory are based on those in the morning glory picture, but the vine is out of the picture of Stripey. I love the vine that hangs in front of Stripey in that picture, and I just had to incorporate this into the outline.

Here I am using gray and white paint to fill in the details of Maxx's face.

Now Maxx's face is completely painted in, and I quite like the way this painting is going.

I have completely painted in the picture of Maxx here.

Here is another picture of Maxx when I had finally painted him in. Maxx was not exactly gray, but I wanted to finish this painting in one night, so I made him gray!

I added underpainted tones of red and blue to highlight and shade in the morning glory.

Painted over the morning glory with blue paint mixed with white paint to achieve the look of the real flower.

I used two shades of green paint and white paint to highlight the leaves and the vine of the morning glory plant.

Here I am using brown paint to fill in the ground the Maxx is sitting on since this scene takes place in a garden.

Here is the painting of Maxx before I added the whiskers.

Another picture of Maxx before I added the whiskers.

Maxx looks quite fetching since I added the white oil paint for his whiskers.

Let The Oil Paint Dry

When working with oil paint you need to give it a couple of weeks to thoroughly dry, which what my cat painting is doing at the moment. Some people like to use acrylic paints because these dry faster than oil paints, but you can use which ever medium you prefer.

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Start Painting Today

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Shirley Pisa 19 months ago

The way you presented this hub is splendid. I like it :)

Earth Angel Level 3 Commenter 19 months ago

Sweetie Pie!!

"How To Paint A Cat With Oil Paint" really caught my eye! Painting kitties with oil paint can literally kill them!! I know you love animals and are not one to harm them in any way!!

There are a lot of crazies out there who may take your opening title literally!! It's the Season of Halloween and kitties are especially suseptable to those who use and abuse them!

After reading the first paragraph of your delightful Hub it was clear you meant painting a PORTRAIT of your kitty - not putting toxic paint on your actual beloved pet!!

You did a wonderful job of documenting the process!! Looks GREAT!!

Blessings to you always, Earth Angel!!