Monday 15 February 2010

Spotted - Amur Leopard

Over the last month I have been working on this beautiful Amur Leopard. I was very lucky to get this shot of him in the only patch of sunlight there was in his enclosure. He lives at Cricket St Thomas Wildlife park, (I have just read that in fact the leopards will be going from here as will all the other large animals, sad as this was a good place for me to get reference photos for my art). I had no idea that this species of Leopard is so critically endangered. There are only 32 animals alive in the wild and 200 in captivity, where their gene pool is getting dangerously small.

The picture is A3 in size and I used mostly Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils with a few of the old Karisma pencils. The support is Clairefontaine Pastelmat in pale yellow.


7 comments:

  1. Stunning!

    We have a Big Cat Sanctuary hidden away in Kent. They participate in breeding programmes for Amur Leopards and other endangered cats. The sanctuary isn't open to the general public but they have regular photography/art days to help raise funds and I attended a pastel drawing day (Vic Bearcroft) and was able to get lots of photos (they've been sitting on the 'to do' list for ages now :o)

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  2. A magnificent animal and you've done him proud.

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  3. The fur is so detailed and a joy to view. It is a spectacular drawing and animal!

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  4. I really loved drawing him, it was one of those drawings that just seemed to flow out of the end of my pencils...don't get many of them.
    I was really sad to read that they are not having animals at the park anymore, they are turning the grounds into gardens. The place holds so many memories, we took my son there for days out when he was little and had some lovely days there. The TV programme 'To the Manor Born' was filmed there.

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  5. He really is lovely now he is finished, the grass is amazing and I love the shadow in the bottom right, great composition. I look forward to seeing him for real.

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  6. Beautifully done Bev! Love the composition and the way you have rendered the fur - awesome. Cats are so beautiful, big and small!

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  7. Wonderfully done. I like the design and the way you have utilized it.

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