Artist's Note:

After the African Wild Dog, I wanted to paint another animal portrait, but I wanted to mix things up having spent so much time with the fur on the dog. I also wanted to paint another distinctive animal, and so settled on the Sphynx. It is a very noble looking animal, which conjures romantic images of ancient civilizations, even though it originated from a random genetic mutation bred in Toronto in 1966 . They are sturdy, strong animals whose short fur (or sometimes complete lack of fur) demonstrates their musculature amid flaps of loose skin. Unfortunately their selective breeding has lead to health complications many of them suffer. This does not deter from their beauty.

With this painting I aimed to convey the texture of the animal through the use of differing brush strokes on it, on the silky sheet it is wrapped in, and in the heavily textured background. Keeping the texture thick on the background, and yet its content (the floral pattern) blurry helps to solidify the sharpness of the Sphynx Cat and the sheet. The colour choice for the background also helps make the foreground pop through colour contrast, and helps emphasise the subsurface scattering of the light through the animal’s iconic ears.