The first lioness

Now that the first lioness is mostly done, it might seem that the second will be a piece of cake. All the colors are mixed, the lights and darks are established...should be simple.

With the second lioness closer and in a different plane of field, all the colors will need to be slightly adjusted. I'll be making the cools a little cooler, the warms a little warmer. Darks will be magnified and there will need to be more detail inferred in the fur.

Most artists dread the "ugly stage" of their paintings. The place where it doesn't really look like anything yet and they need to drag the piece into their vision. For me, this is the stage I most dread. The painting does look like something and I need to paint the rest of it with the same quality and dynamic range.

While I'd like to get right on the next cat, I have a show on May 30th in which I will be doing a quick-finish demonstration. In a quick-finish, the artist can have as much of the painting done as he wants. He just has to finish it in an hour and a half. For these types of events, I like to have most of the painting done with the edges dry. I'll be working on the piece this week and then I can go back to my kitties.