There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel.....

Well, luckily my case of the 'throw-it-in-the-bins' didn't last for long.  After staring at it and thinking it over, I decided that the problem was not the snow leopard but the lack of background which affected the picture tonally - I had planned for it to be a very simple study on the blue paper alone, but with the greys and softness of the fur, it didn't stand out as much as it should have.  So I spent an afternoon cheerfully dabbing away at rocks and melty snow and I am much happier with the picture now.  It still needs 'tweaking' - I need to go over it carefully and check there is nothing I have missed in the fur patterns and texture and also bring out some more detail and contrast with the rocks.  But it looks like I will complete this within the deadline for the competition which is great - also proved to myself that I can rush through a detailed acrylic painting without wrecking it!