Painting 1

this is the origanal photo.

Paisley Rathje “Mexican Kitty”

9x12, Acrylic paint, 2025

This painting is of my cat, Phyllis. She’s our family cat and is almost two years old we got her in March 2024. I had already been thinking about painting her when I came across a picture of her wearing a sombrero, and I knew that was the reference I wanted to use.

I started the piece by painting the whole canvas green. once I was almost done with the bed, I realized I didn’t like how it looked, so I covered some of it with white. I used a bunch of colors throughout the painting, and I even used a toothbrush to add texture to the pillow.

The most difficult part for me was definitely painting the cat. It was challenging to get the details right and blend the colors in her face. I overcame this by just going for it carefully blending as I went and placing the stripes. If I were to start over, I would focus on blending even better to make the painting more realistic.

My intention was to create something very realistic, and even though I don’t feel like I fully achieved that, this is definitely the closest I’ve come to making it look real in any drawing or painting of my cat. It’s also unique because I’ve drawn her many times, but never with a sombrero, which I absolutely love in this piece.

Paisley Rathje “Bright Day”

8x8, Watercolor, 2025

I chose to paint this flower because I’ve always loved flowers. They're one of my favorite things about nature, they are super pretty and . I wanted to focus on just part of the flower, which is why it’s zoomed in on one side of the page so you can get like a close up of the flower . The blue petals and yellow background felt right to me and gave it a good look.

The hardest part was definitely making the petals look realistic. Blending the different blues and getting the shadows right took a lot of patience, and I had to redo a few areas before I liked them. The center of the flower was also tricky because I wanted it to have texture without looking messy.

My intention was to make something realistic but still show my style. To me, this artwork is about noticing small details and finding beauty in simple things. Even though it isn’t perfect, I’m proud of how real the petals look and how the whole piece came together.

Paisley Rathje "snow white"

statue, acrylic paint, 2026

this is the snow white statue i've been working on in painting, it was really hard getting the lines straight and painted well it took 5 coats to just get it all painted white then i painted her skirt yellow and shirt blue and the tan i had to mix to skin color, then i painted her hair black and the headband red. this took 5 class times to do just because the paint didn't dry as fast as i thought i would.

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