Keeping Watch - Completed Cheetahs

Here is the completed painting, finished yesterday afternoon. It has taken what seems like an awfully long time, but before last year's manic run of commissioned work, this is how I used to paint, slowly and painstakingly. I don't know if the results are any different but I feel a lot happier in my mind that I have done my absolute best and no corners have been cut.

This has been painted using acrylics - Liquitex this time and I was very happy with the results although it did take a while to get used to a new brand. The colours seem to be richer and I was able to create the hues I wanted with very little effort. The only annoyance was that they weren't as opaque as I am used to and needed going over several times in some places, but in the long run I think this contributed to the richness and depth of colour.

This painting is for sale, but first refusal has to be given to the lady who supplied me with the photographic reference - I am so grateful to possess over 300 photographs from her holiday in Namibia, so many of which are going to be used for future work. I plan to start another one today - squeezing as much into my last day of 'freedom' before the day job resumes tomorrow....how many weeks until the next school holiday?