Monday, June 23, 2008

Louis Wain Tribute


This started accidentally.
I was fooling around with painter. At one point I thought That looks like something Louis Wain would paint. I steered it in that direction.
Louis Wain drew cats. His cute anthropomorphic ones made it to postcards and calendars. His zany, psychedelic wallpaper-looking cats were often used to demonstrate how mental illness (he had schizophrenia) affects art.
p.s.
The correlation between his mental deterioration has been exaggerated.

15 comments:

Sally said...

That's a gorgeous one. Though Wain inspired, it's uniquely your own. Another Painter question, do you work with lots of layers or stay on the canvas?

booda baby said...

What a spectacular kitty!

And that was a great cartoon. It's one of the most magical things to me, a character in a story-in-panels. You got those poses down so well. Do you worry about getting everything right in the next picture? (I'm sure I asked that ALLL wrong. Please fix it.)

Linda Davick said...

ZOW!

meow.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Sally.
Right after I posted it I thought hmmm... I could have made it more wain-esque but maybe it's better that I didn't.
I usually work with two layers- a background (texture) and then the drawing layer. Sometimes I throw in an in between layer to add color or effects. (The cat involved extra layer mischief.)
How about you? Canvass or layers?

Hi (and thanks!) Boodababy.
I sometimes worry about getting things right but I try not to let it drive me crazy.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Hi Linda,
Looks like you snuck up on me while I was answering the other comments. :).

BillGoat said...

That should be on a postcard! Or framed! It's elegant and strange in a lovely way... I don't know Wain, but I really, really dig this!

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Billsey! :D

Anonymous said...

Fabulous cat painting. Really stopped me dead in my browser. Wonderful.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks for stopping by, Marylin.
I'm glad you liked him.

Chase and Mel said...

I LOVE this picture!

chase the cat
www.chasenoface.blogspot.com

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks for swinging by, Mel! :)

Anonymous said...

That's awesome.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Hey thanks, Horrorshow11 :)

Anonymous said...

This image is so bold and fabulous. Too Shy to Stop writer Michael Zelenko actually just did a piece about Wain's life and work. You can read the article here.

Anonymous said...

This is one special kitty. Made me smile.