Cougar, Acrylic
14" X 18" Canvas

In this shot you can see how Carl has begun playing with Yellow Ochre and some of the browns that will be needed to develop the Cougar's fur. Carl noticed at this point that he was starting to "chase colors around" as he calls it, trying to find his way to the balance needed to create a lifelike painting. Carl says the demonstration provided by Kalon Baughan in his book of painting animals (the demonstration used to develop this painting) is completely inadequate for a beginning painter. There is very little step by step guidance. Basically Mr. Baughan's book says "this is how a nice painting of a Cougar looks - go paint it". One of the most noticeable contradictions in the demonstration is the color change between the underpainting photographs and the final painting photographs. There is huge shift in color by no explanation about why that happens or how to produce it. Carl shrugged off the concerns, though, and just kept "chasing colors" trying to figure out exactly how Mr. Baughan created such fantastic animal paintings.

This project is taken from a book authored by Kalon Baughan, "Painting the Faces of Wildlife"

Copyright(c) 2002, 2003, 2004 Carl E. Gluck. All rights reserved.