Sunday, May 31, 2015

Cat in a Box

Here's a pencil sketch from more than 10 years ago, when we had a kitten named Sunlight, and she always loved to curl up in an empty box.

6 comments:

Steve said...

Sweet sketch. May I ask a question related to yesterday's post...what was the Emerson quotation about the sky?

David Webb said...

James, you can guarantee that if you leave an empty cardboard box around on Christmas Day, one of two things will happen:
1. The cat(s) will get into it.
2. The kid(s) will get into it when they're tired of playing with their presents.

Lovely sketch.

Rick Robinson said...

Very nice indeed. I'm estimating this took you 15 minutes or less? How I wish I could sketch like that.

James Gurney said...

David, you're right -- the boxes and the packaging are often the best thing.

Steve, it's Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on the OverSoul: "By the same fire, vital, consecrating, celestial, which burns until it shall dissolve all things into the waves and surges of an ocean of light, we see and know each other, and what spirit each is of."

Jim Douglas said...

Jim, do you still make many sketches using only a graphite pencil?

Since you are fully capable of working quickly and efficiently with colored pencils, casein, gouache, watercolor, and/or oil, do you see any particular value in limiting yourself to just graphite and paper?

James Gurney said...

Jim, yes, I still sketch in graphite, but I tend to zero in on a certain medium for a few months and experiment with it, then cycle back to the old favorites. At the moment I'm still experimenting with gouache a lot, so I try to bring at least a minimal gouache painting setup everywhere. Pure graphite has so many of its own wonderful virtues, and in the future I'm sure I'll really get into that again.