Leo - completed

As completed as it will be for now,.. since I think I will be touching up and retouching this piece for a long time, (even after I took this photograph for the blog I tweaked it here and there). It is my impression that these are always more impressive in person anyways.

Having said that,.. I am not impressed with my work here.

Pros; the Lions face,  the Lions paw,  the Lions body,  the lion cubs face and head  and  the angle of their eyes in respect to each other.  (I am also pleased with the look of the rock they are laying on)

Cons; the Lions mane (it is almost embarrasing, but showing it helps me learn),  the lion cubs paws and body (encompass so many future corrections I prefer not to list them now).



All in all I think if I cropped it as shown below I would be proud to show this partial piece and even make it available as shown. Much like many of my pieces though, I suppose I will continue to revisit this one and make the necessary corrections as my skills improve. I am reluctant to try too much right now since my mind and heart are simply not in it.


















For the record,.. I am not self deprecating all the time.

I do think I did a wonderful job on the partial below.
I wanted to capture strong, predatory , animalistic
eyes, that for just a moment felt tenderness, worry
and maybe even the love only a parent can feel.












I think I managed to dojust that.












The original is 14"x11" on 80 lb white paper.  HB pencil, 0.7mm and 0.5mm mechanical pencils, hard and kneaded erasers, and the blending/shading done with a combination of tortillon, finger tips and a soft cloth.

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I did not notice until early yesterday morning the significance of this piece. In all fairness, anything to do with fathers and sons always tugs at my heart strings (just like brother to brother) since that is my experience having had and still having the best of both. This one is a Lion,.. symbol for the astrological sign of Leo,.. Leo was my fathers sign,.. this is a drawing of a father and son.  There is certainly something there to analyze,..  I'll bet this one piece alone would pay for a therapists weekend leisure boat in no time.  In all seriousness, it might have been subliminally suggested to me, but in reality I recently saw a similar picture in the news and it simply stuck with me.


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