Midge Cat Rest

6x9 ink and watercolor of my cat Midge done last month on Canson 117 lb cold press paper. I've used black India ink applied with a wooden chopstick for this pet portrait. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2026

Happy Cat (Note: Switch from Feedburner to follow.it effective 1 July)

7x5 watercolor, no pencil sketch, done last week as a quickie on 140 lb cold press paper. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith Speaking of quick, effective tomorrow on 1 July, Feedburner is going away. I have switched to follow.it for additional features followers can now use (which didn’t exist on Feedburner), e.g. on https://follow.it/kaysmithbrushworks?action=followPub&filter you can now define filters and have more delivery channels, e.g. to receive your news via Telegram, news page etc. So do check out https://follow.it

Midge Half Asleep

9x12 Brusho watermedia on Canson 140 lb cold press of my rescue kitty Midget. I used the complimentary set of 12 colors Dick Blick sent to the moderators who do watercolor as a thank you for working on WetCanvas. I sketched kitty in pencil then lightly spritzed with fine mist water sprayer and shook out the black pot of Brusho, transparent ink powdered crystals. This was fun. Lots of youtube videos are out there and take a look at Ward Jene Stroud's website, the king of Brusho, which is amazing to see. Brusho is made in the UK and has been in Europe for 40 years but only recently been used and learned here in the US. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Indoor Cat

12x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done recently of a mostly white cat with some black on its forehead, an imaginary scene of one kept inside, looking out and possibly wanting out.  With this cat pet portrait I've tried to show some emotion the cat may be experiencing.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2018

Neighbor's Cat

24x18 watercolor of a very curious cat looking outside his house to some intriguing object, probably a bird or a moving tree branch or even another cat.  Painted wet in wet on Canson Montval block I used Daniel Smith, DaVinci, and American Journey paints.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2018.

Poppy Cats

15x22 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper, a painting using my fractured image style where various rectangles are marked on top of a pencil drawing.  Then each section is painted differently but the whole composition jives in the end.  These three cats belong to the owner who commissioned this unique pet portrait.  Flowers were also to be included so I chose poppies that would set off the neutral colors of the kitties.  This work is SOLD.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2018.

Teo - Black & White Kitty

7x8.5 watercolor and acrylic markers on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done in 1 hour this afternoon. Blue areas are the markers as well as the yellow splotch. I had tested it yesterday doing a pigeon and decided to use the scrap paper for Teo; of course watercolor would not cover it so it looks like a sunshiny area. If he had a thin white stripe down his nose he would be the twin to my little Chili who crossed the rainbow bridge in 2011.  This is part of a weekend WetCanvas challenge; photo courtesy of Wendy.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Sophisto-cat

12x9 watercolor painted today of a much more sophisticated cat than yesterday's kitty on a card.  So this one's title is Sophisto-cat.  Support used is Canson 140 lb cold press paper.  I'll put such a pretty stray in the last of the 30 Cats in 30 Days challenge.  I love to paint white animal hair and fur, and black, too, to show all the shades and hues within such neutral colors.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Chester Cat Slap

6x8.5 watercolor of our adopted altered male cat, Chester, who is the meanest cat on the plantet.  Not even Jackson Galaxy could tame him.  I took a photo of him trying to slap me and if close enough, the claws come out.  He has been with us 3 years now along with a very sweet little black and white female named Midget.  Both were rescued from our Animal Shelter aka the pound, a kill shelter.  Chester is missing his top eyebrow area whisker and another prominent one by his nose.  No doubt he was sticking his nose in someone else's business.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2014.

Midge cat

5x7 photo sketch of rescue kitty Midge.  I took a shot of her then manipulated it using Color Sketch iPhone app which makes it appear as a hand drawn art piece.  She is laying on my zebra desk chair.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Joyride - cat designated driver

6x6 watercolor and ink on Masters paper of my cat Midge learning to drive, painted a few days ago.  She is ready to assume responsibility for being the designated driver for those who need it on New Year's Eve Tuesday.  Midge will take you on a joyride for sure.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Disappearing Act - cat art

11x15 watercolor on Canson paper of black and white cat with his head stuck in a paper bag as cats do! Painted last week, this work demonstrates the inquisitive nature of our furry friends.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Lookout Cat

12x9 watercolor of a black and white cat looking out the door window, painted today on Canson Montval paper, ref courtesy WetCanvas RIL.  Image is COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Graffiti Cat

8x5.5 watercolor, Caran D'Ache crayons over Pigma Micron 01 ink drawing on Strathmore Visual Journal done today.  At first I just put in watercolor and it looked so blah boring! So the crayons were added for a little graffiti touch.  Now I like this cat and tail!
COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith

Black Thomas and Garden Frog

11x15 ink on Strathmore wc paper, drawn with ink tip and blended with wet brushes.  This fellow was lounging in the garden with a frog planter looking on.

Cat in the Hat

11 x 6.75 ink and watercolor of my tuxedo cat Chester in a Santa hat.  Chester is huge and a big boned boy we adopted September 2011 from Big Spring Animal Shelter.  I've been playing around with ink cat sketches as well as other animals, adding water, and seeing what develops in this watermedia piece.  The Santa hat is watercolor and the painting is done on Canson Montval 140 lb cold press paper.

Purrfect Harmony cat

15x22 watercolor done several years ago of black and white cat playing his own harmony purrfectly with just the right key piano notes.This work has been SOLD and is in the collection of Leada Wood, Studio Twenty in Colorado City, TX.

Cat-tortionist

3.5 x 5 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, drawn yesterday and painted today.  This is none other than the famous Chester the Molester, our shelter adoptee.  Here he is practicing being a contortionist, twisting his upper half over his lower.  I'm now reading animal behaviorist books to try and have the two rescue kitties get along with our older tabby Chuy who is ten now.  I would highly recommend works by Dr. Nicholas Dodman and Pam Johnson-Bennett.

Chili with Pink Zinnia - a pet portrait

15x22 watercolor of my tuxedo kitty named Chili.  He is now 10 years old this month and I've painted him many times.  A few years back I set up a still life of fresh zinnias in a sunflower pitcher, an old quilt and napkin and he jumped on the table top and decided to be part of the not-so-still still life.  Although this painting was not done today I'm posting Chili's portrait in honor of his birthday.  It was painted wet in wet with no masking for his whiskers.  This set up was in my living room that has dark Hunter green walls...there appeared tiny marks in the paint so after it dried I added different pieces of color for an unusual pattern.

Kitty Love

11x15 watercolor of Elizabeth's 2 cats Chloe and Big Ears, who is licking Chloe's face and she does not look too happy.  Finished today after 2 hours from pencil sketch on Italia 140 lb paper, American Journey paints.