I live in Simi Valley, California, a small valley to the west of the much larger and more famous San Fernando Valley which pop culture has designated The Valley." It's not wilderness by any means. The Toobe Hooper/Speilberg "Poltergeist House" is just a mile or two away from me. It's suburbia. But my house is backed up to a mostly undeveloped hillside. The shrubbery is home to many birds, squirrels, rabbits and the like which draw predators like hawks, coyotes and, making an appearance for the first time, bobcats. There are mountain lions in the hills but I've never seen one here. So here he is.
So since I had pictures of this cool cat, I thought I'd try painting him. Pretty quickly, I got lost in the spots. I did take a couple of process photos. I tried laying in basic values first. I believe I was working with a limited palette, although I couldn't tell you what it was. I have to say the hues of the bobcat's fur eluded me, even before I got to the spots but I soldiered on.
I went in, getting more detailed that I originally set out to do, although I don't know how to approach impressionistic bobcat spots. I got to a point where I was just going to call it done and move on. The cat seemed chunkier than it should be and I realized the forward leg had no stretch to it. I don't know how I missed that paw placement in relation to its nose.
I remembered James Gurney videos where he just wiped off half the gouache on the paper and painted the correction. And so I set out to do the same. You can see the lines where I marked the correction.
In addition to changing its leg position, I lifted its stomach to reveal the horizontal bar of the fence behind it. You know, the fence that he should be on the other side of. I'm glad I went back and did the changes. I never conquered the spots or the color of his fur but I learned things in the process. That's the point of this sketchbook. So the final version is below.
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