a little more done.

the last few days since my last post have been very busy,however none of them with work!. Ive finally managed to get back to the easel and worked on some of the highlights and whiskers and then over a three hour period i added the second coat of oils to the spots.some of the paler colours are taking a long time to dry thoroughly and so i keep having to put the painting to one side.fortunately the time away will not be wasted as i'm already working up ideas for the next group of paintings.

first coat of oils complete

Ive now gone over the whole cat with a layer of oils getting the basics in place.at this stage the head is finished except for some very fine detailing and of course the whiskers.as i mentioned before the body is mostly in shadow in this painting,hence the subdued colouration but it will become brighter on the final coat of oils especially as i add in the highlighted fur areas where the sun catches fur within the shadowed areas.ive now put the painting aside for the weekend to dry and hopefully i'll be able to continue working with it shortly.

Life at last

first layer of oils is now complete on the cheetah's head and this morning i painted the cats eyes in to bring the painting to life

Cheetah painting progression

The first layer of oils is being applied on my cheetah painting and i'm pleased with progress thus far.most of the cat is in shadow with only a few areas brightly highlighted by sunshine and as i work on the piece i have to keep altering the tonal values to ensure the shadows look strong enough to make a statement without getting overly dark.

Tiger cub complete 18" x 24" oil on canvas

Finished up my tiger cub painting today.I'm yet to think of a title but i'm sure it'll come to me eventually,i always find giving paintings a title the hardest part of the job and never give it any thought whatsoever until i finish the piece.This is the second painting on canvas to be completed,at the moment i'm still using pre-stretched canvas's which means trying to draw an image to fit the canvas size.i havn't quite got it spot on yet as this cub is a little closer to the edge than i would ideally have liked,another headache for my framer!.

seeing spots!

whilst waiting for my tiger painting to dry ive moved back to my cheetah painting and today ive been roughly blocking in the spots.as soon as the eye stripe goes in it becomes unmistakenly cheetah-like! this will now be put to one side once more to dry before i make a start proper on the cat.

Tiger cub painting almost complete

tiger cub painting has been put to one side now to dry prior to strengthening some of the colouration and adding final detailing.