Oil painting of Boudica the cat, as Boudica queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe (also known as Boudicca, Boadicea, Boudicea or Buddug).

My cousin has a cat called Boudica.

I painted cat Boudica as her namesake. You can compare cat Boudica’s expression with the photograph in the progression montage.

The head and paws are those of cat Boudica, whereas the helmet, clothes and posture are that of Queen Boudica from the painting “Boadicea Haranguing the Britons” by John Opie.

Top: The oil painting shows a black-and white cat wearing a cream-coloured tunic with a brown band around the middle. Over the tunic is a red cloak with a gold lining. The cat is wearing an iron helmet with a metal crest with her ears sticking out on either side (whilst this is unrealistic, it is cute).

Bottom: a montage composed of eight panels: 1) “Boadicea Haranguing the Britons” by John Opie, 2) a rough PowerPoint mockup of the final picture (cat head and paws, Queen Boudica’s robes and helmet), 3) a traced outline, 4) transferring the image to low tack Frisket film, 5) the painted background after the Frisket has been removed (leaving the cat silhouette), 6) colour blocks for each major area (e.g. black and white for the cat’s colours), 7) adding detail to the robes and 8) adding colour depth and detail to the cat’s features.