FINISHED *Snow Leopard Painting*

Presenting ' LITTLE MONKEY ' snow leopard cub

' LITTLE MONKEY ' snow leopard watercolour painting
original 12" x 8" 

Finally here is the high resolution scan of my little monkey cub! This painting has been a very valuable lesson and a master class in young fur, I have overcome great difficulties with varying aspects of its progress but have come out the other side having learnt more about how to tackle certain areas.

I am still really enjoying the background process and have many more ideas for paintings to come! Be confident with colour, as there is nothing in this world that embraces colour quite like nature. I chose these cooler colours with a touch of feminine pink to enhance this little girls cheeky personality. Always causing chaos and mischief she had to be painted plotting her next escapade! Curiousity and playfulness helps a cub learn valuable lessons, teasing and attacking other siblings will engage the cubs hunting behaviour.


A huge thankyou to Mikion for their generous permission to use this image :)

snow leopard cub progress - eye detail

Here I have been working on refinement of fur types infront of her ear and working through her markings, I look forward to the 'clash' of cheek fur against the start of her body - this was something that really enticed me into this painting. I have completed her other eye now and lifted out some more layering colours from the other one to balance the two together.

Still lots to do, but as I move further towards the body fur it will require less precision and more experimenting painting the dense fluffy hair and how the mini hoops react within it :) I hope you are enjoying this one as having this cheeky face on my easel all day keeps me smiling!

NEW snow leopard cub painting

Now from painting one of the oldest (if not oldest known in captivity!) snow leopards in the world, to a tiny ball of fluff of a snow leopard cub!

I couldn't resist this cheeky face, and wanted to learn more about painting the snow leopard fleece old and young. I have left her left eye with only a faint amount of colouring to show how I build up the eye colour in subtle layers, mostly lifting and pushing around the paint to achieve the 'glow' of realism. This is far from completion however I thought I'd show you a progress shot. I chose a wash of blues / pinkys / yellow for the background reflecting different colours in her face, with a faint stripe effect to show this little one forever on the move - exploring her new life and curiosity!

NEW facebook ART PAGE

Hello Everyone! Please join me on my new facebook art page, feel free to share this link with your friends and family, here I will add new art works and details, thankyou!

http://www.facebook.com/Wildartcapture

FINISHED *Snow Leopard painting*

Presenting ' FALLEN WHISPERS ' (Love Bites) snow leopard

' FALLEN WHISPERS ' (Love Bites) snow leopard watercolour painting
original 16" x 9"

I've now finished my latest snow leopard painting :) I've seen photos of this old regal male for a while now and was just captivated by his rugged dishevelled appearance, he is so full of life with his aged face (23 years old) complete with battle scars and matted wet fur. I loved this image of him looking inquisitive and almost cheeky and youthful, this lead me into the idea of the backdrop for him. A very masculine old male softened by the pretty colours that are picked out in his fur colouring / nose and eyes, with falling snowflakes to bring the piece together as a whole.

The proportions of the piece are always very important to me, this includes the colours / spatial arrangement and awareness. Balance was brought into the piece using the base foliage and even the snowfall. The head positioning within the 'window frame' is also important, these are things I consider before I start the picture.

I've chosen the title 'Fallen Whispers' for this piece, I wanted to dedicate it to all the wildlife we lost in 2012 through the greed and heartless crimes of humans. We are their voice. Wildlife conservation and protection is needed more than ever as numbers of endangered wildlife plummet. Please do all you can to help these causes - some of which can be found on my 'links' page above.

A huge warm thankyou to Steve Tracy for use of his photo :)

snow leopard progress - adding foliage / whiskers

I'm nearing the end of this painting now, although still more refining and detail to be added, I also need to sort out the right side foliage. As his head is more or less face on to the viewer, you need to imagine the shape of the head when adding snowflakes. I wanted Shynghyz to look almost like he has been interrupted from shuffling around the snow floor or something has caught his eye - possibly prey or a distant sound. He seems calm but alert, the empty space to his left allows the audience to interpret the painting :)

snow leopard progress - adding snow

Another quick update showing the addition of snow and foliage parts at the bottom of the picture. It was very nerve racking painting the snow over the top of hours of hard work and I was very hesitant to do so. It is confusing to the eye when I've been looking at him for so long to then add quite a different feeling to the image but I really like it, my intention was to always have this as a snow scene, however, the time spent painting his face allowed me to wobble on my initial choices. Due to the pale muted colours in the picture the scene is very calming, I wanted to reflect the elusive nature of the snow leopard, the silent big cat that can't roar.

I quickly learnt that when painting snow fall you must commit and go with the flow, not making placement too military and uniform, it has definitely helped having snow here recently - very inspiring!