Mimi Torchia Boothby

Category: cats

  • Painting a tabby cat

    I have been studying a book on watercolors written by Tom Hoffmann. His book touches on a lot of the issues I have as a watercolor painter. For me, one of the hardest things to paint is a tabby cat. Their fur is marked in specific patterns, composed of individual hairs. I am not the…

  • Enza in a sunbeam

    In Seattle, where I live, the winter sun is pretty spectacular. It shines from the southern corner of the sky. It is not very warm, but it can be quite bright, and unfortunately, it is rather rare. My cat Enza was sunbathing in a sunbeam yesterday on our oak floor. The brilliant white of the…

  • Peter, an Italian cat – commission

    Just finished a commission on a lovely brown tabby cat who lives a great life in a large walled in yard in Italy. Peter is a very friendly cat, having wiggled his way into the hearts of his people. The trick with this portrait is that it had to be opposite a portrait of their…

  • Lion Guard – Monselice

    Another wonderful thing about Italy is all the statuary. Outside of a castle, there is a gate. On each side of the gate stands a bigger than life sized lion, standing guard. In case you didn’t know he was the king of beasts, he wears a crown to remind you. I painted this with only…

  • Bobcat – our small North American Wildcat

    Bobcats, nocturnal hunters, can be found in almost every state of the union, but most people have never seen one, except maybe in a zoo. They inhabit the borderlands, hunting small prey like mice, squirrels, possums and rabbits. Unlike the Lynx, the other small North American wild cat, which will only hunt rabbit, the bobcat…