Charity Postcard - Leopard Portrait

The exhibition to sell artists' postcards to raise funds for Save the Children has now ended so I feel that I'm finally able to share my painting with you as it had to be anonymous before now. Unsurprisingly I chose an animal theme for my postcard and as the size was so small I chose to paint a close-up portrait of an animal rather an a larger scene so I could capture more detail. I photographed it as I went along so you can see the stages of the painting.

I attended the artists' preview the eve before the exhibition was to be opened so was able to see all the postcards as well as find out whereabouts mine was. It was fun to see it there on the gallery wall and it had even sold by the time I found it!

Here is the finished painting in my hand. Read on to see the stages of how the painting was made below.

Although it was stated the card was suitable for oils I decided to further prime the surface with gesso and finely sand it so I had a smoother surface to work on which I prefer for fine mark-making.

Using thinned down paint I sketched onto the postcard marking on the facial features which included the spots as well as the eyes, mouth and nose. You can just about see the horizontal lines I used to make sure they were aligned which helps prevent proportions from getting skewed. The eyes look a bit creepy at this point as there are no highlights just some general colours and darks. I've also begun blocking in the muzzle colour.

I've added in the highlights to the eyes and it makes such a difference. I've also built up the colour in the eyes and added some detail to the irises. I also added some texture to the nose and roughed out most of the spots and fur below the head which I want to keep fairly lose so not to distract from the face. I also started to add some darker details and colour to the muzzle.

The darkening continues with the cheeks being blocked in. I've also added some fur highlights under the head and around the eye including 'eyelash'-like hairs which helps settle the eyes into the rest of the fur.

The highlights are growing further, working their way to the bridge of the nose. Dark details have been added to the checks and I just started work on the mouth. The same process of blocking, darkening and highlighting continues until the face is done and then the fine details of the whiskers are added to complete the image.

I hope you like it!