Welcome to part 3 of my work in progress of my Puma painting.
After spending so much time working on the extensive rocky background it was a relief to get painting the puma. The background still however isn't complete at this stage. The trees to the right and left of the puma need to be worked on. I've made a start on the tree on the right as well as some rocks and snow in the foreground.
It might seem that I'm building up the puma in an unusual piecemeal fashion, and maybe I am, but I'm making sure to work the furthest back parts of the puma first as there is some overlap of limbs and paws for example. I find this works to give more of a natural overlap than just painting it all at once.
As the sections are built up I add more detail before moving onto the next section. I've added some of the snow detail in the branches and ground at this point.
With the puma nearly done (just a few head details to go) I work on the tree to the left, just visible in this shot. The snow on the ground and the right-most tree is done and I just have to add it to the remaining tree and darken the side of the tail a little.
And there finally done! I hope you like it.
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.:
