Creeping Tiger

Creeping tiger, hidden leg.  Just a simple painting of a tiger creeping. . .ready to pounce. This is the first painting using my new set of M Graham watercolors.

                                           Watercolor on 98 lbs paper 7x10

Smoosh Faced Tiger

This tiger is cute in his own, odd way.  His face got a little smooshed and he is a bit cross-eyed but he has oodles of character.  

I knew the proportions of his face were off when I first sketched it.  Instead of redrawing, the plan was to correct it during the painting process.  Obviously, that did not happen.  That said, there are many technical aspects of this painting that I am really pleased about (mixing colors on the paper in the background, the use of negative space, dry and detailed brush strokes).  So show this smooshed face guy some love!

                                       Watercolors 6.9 x 9.8 on 110 lbs paper (PS)

Saber Toothed Tiger

I was reading a National Geographic article on reviving extint species (de-extinction).  The article dealt with the science and of course the morality of the decision (would these reintroduced species become invasive and kill off other extant species?).  The article described the work of a team of Spanish and French scientists who reversed time to rivive a wild goat known as a bucardo, or Phyrenean ibex.  Unfortately, the one hybrid clone out of 57 that was born alive died within minutes of birth.  The science of "how" is far from being completely elucidated.

One of the cooler parts of the article (as if de-extiction is not cool enough itself), was the various artist renditions and models of animals like the wooly mammoth, thylacine and of course, the saber-toothed tiger.  Of all the species described, this one fires my imagination the most.  And like the drawing of the rhinos, I again choose to make my own toned paper and drew with a dip nib and brown ink.  Parts of the drawing does look faded as I tried out an newer brown ink (which I did not like) before finishing with the nut brown ink.

                         Nut brown ink on toned 140 lbs watercolor paper 9x12

Tiger, Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Tiger

William Blake

I bought a bunch of new paints, including several different greens (yes, I know, if I was better at mixing colors, I would not need so many greens. . .but new paints are cool) and I have had a photo of a tiger for years. It was the perfect excuse to use the new greens.

I love drawing big cats and tigers most of all, but this is the first time I have painted one.  It came out a bit more "cartoony" then I wanted (his face is a bit too long, more like a lion's), but I can see several technical improvements in my painting from even a year ago.  I like how the colors are layered on top of each other (wet-on-dry) and the brush work on the stripes.  It has truly been a long time since I drew directly with a brush.

Watercolor on 140lbs watercolor block 9x12