Snow leopard cub painting progress

I'm really enjoying my first foray into oils on canvas,it has such a nice feel to it and allows so much more work to be accomplished over a period of time compared to working on boards.i think its a little looser but thats not a bad thing altogether.

Snow leopard cub painting

a couple of months ago i was rummaging around in an artshop which was a real aladdins cave of goodies and came across some stretched fine detail canvas and a friend accompanying me urged me to try it as i'd never painted on canvas before.it didnt take much persuasion to purchase as i'm never one to look a gift horse in the mouth and the two i bought were on sale at half price so result!.ive finally overcome all my own objections as to why i shouldnt use it and so here is the start of my first ever oil painting on canvas.i have to say that,thus far,i'm loving using the canvas,it feels really nice to work on and i can use slightly bigger brushes to scrub colour into the support and then build up paint almost immediately rather than having to wait for the underpainting to thoroughly dry.this has meant progress has been relatively swift(for me at least) and after a couple of sessions this is where i'm at.the subject of course is a delightful snow leopard cub and ive decided to keep the image simple so as not to distract from the cats lovely soft colours.

Making for cover-Snipe 15" x 24"

It may not be readily obvious what ive added to this piece since my last posting and indeed i didnt add a lot.in fact i chose to merely alter some of the colours on the vegetation and add another hint of wet area to the foreground.i have to admit to having seen no obvious benefits to the piece,other than the potential for completely lashing it up,by adding much more to it.ive called it a day with this piece and i'll leave it to sit in the studio for a while in case any new ideas arise but i'm quite happy that ive managed to illustrate my encounter with the Snipe on a freezing cold day last winter at Oare marshes in Kent.

Snipe painting update

after the brief return to graphite ive now turned my attention back to my snipe painting and hopefully will have this finished very soon.this is a shot of it on the easel this morning and i'm currently concentrating on adding dead vegetation to the foreground and trying to reach a point where theres enough of it to make a believable composition without it becoming too repetitious.

Horse complete

horse portrait now complete and awaiting framing.the image finished up at approximately 17" x 12"

Horse portrait nearly there

After a couple of days away from the studio including a stint as a tutor at The Marwell Art society's Big 5 art workshop event this past weekend ive resumed work on my horse commission today.i have deliberately chosen to do this drawing in a photo-real fashion following closely my own reference photos as i really liked the angles and effect of the head and neck being thrown forward.i am no horse anatomy expert and so tend to never venture beyond head and neck portraits for my clients but in this case i wanted something a little more 'arty' than a standard head and neck profile.

Working up the horses neck and tinkering with tones here and there before attempting the rest of the animals body.