King of the castle!

King of the castle, that's the title my 7 year old son has given this. The drawing stage is taking longer then usual, especially on this pastelmat which is like a fine sand paper that wears down my pencils, meaning lots of pencil sharpening, my broken wrist has been getting lots of physio!

I'm ready for the pastel painting now, I think this needs to built up slowly to achieve the sleek glossy sheen on the fur. I've started to consider the way the fur follows the form of the otters, and how to achieve that strokeable texture!

Otters, otters and more otters!

 In my opinion the more the merrier. There will be a pile of them by the time I've finished! This is going to be an A3 pastel painting.
I was lucky to meet these guys last year, sunbathing in London zoo. The otters fur is so sleak and glossy, the painting has the otters entangled, heads resting on heads, backs and bottoms! All the otters are in bliss, sunning themselves!