16”x20”, acrylic on canvas
I’ve had a this tiger sketched on a canvas since September with no real plan or desire to paint it.
Then a few weeks ago I pulled it off my shelf and started loosely blocking in the darks from my sketch and immediately realized how much my sketch was off.
I was ready to bin it at this point, I had no desire to really paint it and it was so far off that I’d need to do some serious cosmetic surgery to get it more in proportion. I decided that since I already hated it it was a great piece to just go with it and play around with my brush, loosely scrubbing in paint and just having fun.
Feeling pleased with my ability to bring the entire bottom half of the face up, I decided to keep going and add some glaze to see how it looked.
More cosmetic surgery needed
Then finally I was starting to like it, time to tackle the background
It was almost there, just needed to fix the background and add the whiskers (I seriously overthought this)
Finally pleased with it, it was time to varnish! The first swipe is always so satisfying when you can see the colors come back to life.
And after 3 layers of glaze. Here he is, the tiger who almost wasn’t.
I’m so incredibly proud of how he came out for so many reasons, the main one being that I pushed through. Thank you for looking at my painting, he’s proudly hanging on my wall now 
