Following on from the start of our painting last week I've began to work on the background. Unfortunately I'm not as far along as I would have liked by this point due to the black paint that I used for the shadows being a little 'too oily', hence that after a week and a half the paint is still not totally dry. To improve the situation I've removed some of the black paint and reapplied it diluted with a little liquin which is a fast-drying oil medium. Hopefully this should solve the issue.
I've been working on the rock texture and using light to add volume to the rocks. Once the rocks are done I can work on other elements of the background such as snow and pine branches and finally focus on the puma.
Here's the intermediate stage between last week's and now, which was where the black paint issue arised.:
.. or cougar, or mountain lion, or one of the other dozen of names it has (I think I'm going to stick with puma) is my latest painting in progress.
The Puma is the largest of the small cats (Felidae) and the fourth largest cat with males around 2.4 metres from nose to tail. It ranges across the American continents from the southern Andes to the Yukon of Canada with larger animals generally further away from the Equator. The Puma and its sister species the Jaguarundi are the closest relatives to the Cheetah. It is a powerful ambush predator relying on short bursts of speed to catch its prey such as White-tailed or Mule deer.
Here is my rough sketch on canvas for the painting. I'm aiming to put the puma somewhat sheltering from a snowy environment with snowed-up branches of pine peeking through but you can't really see that at this stage.
More to come soon!
