Penny the Plant Killer - Limited Edition

Penny the Plant Killer Limited Edition Giclee Print.

Original painted with Golden Fluid Acrylics on wood panel.

Penny lives with me. I would say she is my cat, but I don't think she is anyone's cat. We adopted her from a shelter in a nearby city around 2 years ago on my birthday. I have a huge heart for animals.  We brought her home from the shelter and within an hour she already ran the place, and over the next several weeks, murdered all of my houseplants by biting them to death.  

Her other hobbies, besides plant murder, include: 

• Stealing whatever she can carry

• Hoarding her ill-gotten treasures under the bed and behind the washing machine

• Biting my elbow (weird way to show love) 

• Sleeping in the clean laundry. 

It is no surprise that I eventually found her taking cat-size bites out of my fake plants in my art studio and that's how this painting came to life.  I caught her in the act and snapped a photo for reference so I could paint her crimes.  

My painting process always starts with a sketch, then I follow it up with a detailed value study using markers. I like to preserve the sketchy style in my underpaintings.  Next, I wash a layer of color over the entire sketch to create my underpainting. I usually use warm tones of orange, for this painting I used Azo Gold in my underpainting.  Then I layer on the color and the art really comes together on it's own.  I really aimed to capture the mischief in her eyes and her lack of remorse.