The in-between

 Before starting on the interstices (painting between the spots) I decided to block in the rest of the background. This is the area which is fully in the sun. Once this base is dry (or mostly dry) I'll paint all the bright sunlit grasses on top.

 

 

 

 

I chose to start on the male. With his position partially in the sun, he'll have the most variety of colors.

 

Speaking of colors, below are my palettes. The one on the left is the one I used for all the background and the spots. The smaller palette on the right has colors ranging from cool to warm for the cat. 

 

 

 I started out a bit too cool on the cat so have warmed it up with cadmium yellow deep toned with some burnt umber.

 

You can see the spots look two-dimensional. That's due to their sharp edges. This is why once the rest of the cat is painted I'll repaint the spots and feather their edges in to the wet paint of the lighter colors.

 

 Keep in mind that this entire cat is about 10 inches long.