Boxing Day - Round Two

It has been a strange Christmas. Not particularly relaxing and I guess the fact that I'm working in between Christmas and New Year has taken away any real holiday feel. Not that it isn't positive, being self employed it pays the rent only if I am at work. However I also have two courses on the go and accounts that need to be finalised before the end of January.....a whole month away! Yes one whole month away,  but it is one of those tedious jobs which I have always hated doing. One of those jobs, that I will always find a replacement for instead of doing!

The fact that I received an easel for Christmas will probably prove to be one of the biggest procrastinations of my accounts. In fact, make that two! I received two easels believe it or not, (thanks to my two generous benefactors who failed to exchange notes on gift buying), so now I have one for home and one I can take to work to be used in any down time! Uh oh, one senses one will never get the accounts done now!!

I am sitting here looking at the monster of beech wood feeling slightly intimidated. Owning a proper easel feels like you should then go on to produce proper art on big canvases. It should stand upon a protective sheet spattered in colour and experience and the air should be tainted with the smell of oil mediums. I feel so far away from that at the moment!

Anyway as there are no recent gutsy performances with the brushes, here is a sketch I did earlier in the year. This is actually the second version I did. A couple of years ago I did the same picture, but in oils and to be honest you would think I'd used two different references. I wanted to draw attention to the leopards eyes and liking the look of black and white photos with a one element highlighted in colour, I decided to try the same here. Due to the poor light when the photograph was taken of the sketch, I have done a little lightening on photoshop.

Graphite pencil (various grades) with watercolour pencil.