I have some exhibitions coming up very quickly and need some more drawings to show. I have been so busy with commissions (happily) that I have no smaller drawings at all so I thought I would attempt something a little different.
This is Egor
He is one of the tigers from the wonderful South Lakes Wildlife Park that carries out some wonderful conservation work.
For some time I have been playing with the idea of combining watercolour with my pencil drawings and concentrating the detail in the centre of the drawing and fading out towards the edges.
I decided to go for a size of around 12cm x 12 cm.
I prepared the paper by taping it down and soaking it before waiting for it all to dry……patience is really not my strong point! How long can it take?
When it was finally dry I used watercolour for the darker edges. Then waited for it to dry. I remember now why I work in pencil!
I did start on the eyes before I remembered to take this photo.
Now I can happily work in pencil without the drying thing.
It is strange to be working this small again. I have been working on much larger portraits for a while.
He is magnificent though. Isn’t he?