New WIP: Parliament Building Carving II - The Lion King

I've been working on a painting of a second Canadian Parliament Building carving. I am calling it, at this point, The Lion King. It's certainly a lion, but with very human eyes! It's on Fabriano Artistico 140 lb CP paper and is about 14" X 14". I am fairly pleased with it so far even if I used more darks than usual in the botton sections - I am always afraid that layers of darks will look too heavy or chalky.

The picture was taken inside with a flash...the colors are not absolutely exact: the top portion is less red IRL than it appears on my monitor.

I hope that you will let me know what you think of this so far....

Have a great week.

New WIP - Small Parliament Hill Carving

I have started over the small painting of the Parliament Building carving. It's only 8"x8" and the face is probably smaller than 4" high. I am using Fabriano 140 lb SP  - not stretched, not adhered to canvas or wood panel - just plain approach this time:-)

So far, I like it better than my previous effort. I still have to remove some masking and paint around the nose before I start the more colorful background. The face will remain mostly unpainted as it is now with just the deep shadows.

I hope that you like this start.
Happy Sunday and a great week to all of you.