Focus

On our beautiful bank holiday, I was out in my garden, painting.
This is the result.

Focus

saunders waterford 140 rough

15" x 11"

Quo Vadis

Here he is, the finished painting:

Quo Vadis

and as I said yesterday, he will be a present to my husband..
because today is our 21st wedding anniversary - and because Paul loves lions!

Why Quo Vadis?

This goes back to my great love of books - the Lion would be Aslan, from The Chronicles of Narnia. As C.S. Lewis himself said, Aslan was what Christ may have been in an imaginary world.

Quo Vadis - the novel, by Sienkiewicz. It tell of the love of a Roman for a Christian and his subsequent conversion - set in the time of Nero as Emporer.

Quo Vadis, The Bible John 13:36 .. Where are you going?

So the three together are how I arrived at this title..

As ever, this painting will be added to my permanent gallery site
Pat Elliott Paintings

Lion IV

Working on the lion now, he had a first coat of a very pale yellow and now the parts of his coat which are not in the sun get deepened.
He's beginning to take shape.



and now I have a confession.. there are no more stages to show - I got so involved in painting him that I forgot to take more "stage" pictures.
That's because I wanted to get him just so, because he will be a present to my husband, who loves lions. There's not a lion I paint that leaves this house!
Tomorrow you will see the finished painting.

Lion III

In this stage, I have painted some shadows on the rocks below the ledge.
This is to help give a feeling that the rocks are 3-D and do go backwards into the painting.

Lion II

In this stage of the lion painting, I have painted the ledge upon which he was sleeping a sandy colour and also put in some shadows behind him - and a few on the rocks, some for shadow and one for a cave I intend to put in.


The original photo did not have the lion on a ledge, or have a cave behind him.. but I am not trying to reproduce the photo, I am trying to produce a painting. So I add some inventions of my own, to give the painting more of an atmosphere.

Lion Painting

In the forum I belong to - Painting Friends - Cindi posted a photo we could all use as a basis for a painting.

The photo was taken in the Wildlife Animal Park in San Diego.

This series will follow how I made the painting, step by step.

I hope you enjoy it.

First off, a drawing, complete with masking (the blue line) to stop any paint running onto the lion when I paint the rocks in a loose and runny fashion.


Then I paint the under wash for the rocks, using various colours to capture the feeling of the coloured rock.

Trojan

My lion has a name - and it is Trojan..

here he is, painted in the new loose style... Trojan.

Progress

Here's the next stage of my lion..

the colours around his mane have been deepened and shaped .. he's coming on well.
I think his name will come to me when I paint his eyes..

Work in Progress

This is my latest work in progress.
Background washes have been done, the first and second wash on the body of the lion done.
I'm quite pleased with him so far, I think he's looking good.
I'm hoping to do some more to him tomorrow - and maybe finish him at the weekend.
I haven't thought of a name for him yet.. I'm only hoping he won't end up a Clarence!