I never used to like cats. And then...Pencil. Pencil, formerly known as "the cat," was "rescued" by a Manhattan socialite who my daughter worked for as a personal assistant, whose idea of "rescuing" was to throw the cat in the guest bathroom and keep her there at all times. Which broke my daughter's heart. When my daughter left for another job, she asked to take "the cat," who she had renamed "Pencil" because of her sleek silhouette and lead-gray color. I've always wondered what would have happened if the society woman had said "no" to my daughter's "request."
Anyway...although the background here seems neutral, it's actually made from two artsy papers: no. 2 over no. 4 on color-dodge blend mode, to wash out most (but not all) of the color and detail. This left me enough of a canvas to allow the addition of paper textures and brushwork from the Artplay Palette. I used the multi-layered Fotoblendz in the release to shape the photo and a third Artsy Paper—no. 3—on color burn mode placed over the photo to give some additional highlights. I'm a maximalist by nature and so it was really hard not to fill up the remaining white space with additional brushwork and textures, especially since the collection comes with some luscious Artsy Transfers.