A girl and her pencils.... Leopard painting

Well, Friday is here again, far too quickly as always. It seems that I may just about be searchable on Google at last! I still can't get used to writing to no one and yet to absolutely anybody who might find me, at the same time! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I have begun a new piece of work. My first ever big cat painting. A leopard, I said cheetah in my last blog. Completely different to look at. I was absolutely amazed by the beauty of this cat's eyes. They look like opals, stunning fire opals. Although only one is clearly visible in my reference photo, (from the fabulous wildlifereferencephotos website http://www.wildlifereferencephotos.com/), I really want to try to capture the beauty in them. So here is the beginning shot of my piece.

There is a long way to go on the parts that I have worked so far. Those eyes are going to just be layered and layered. As I get tired towards the end of the day, I start working the background. It is plain and does not take too much concentration, just a lot of patience. I will lose count of the amount of layers needed to get it dark enough. There are only three so far. You can make out the whiskers already penciled in, in white Caran D'Ache Luminance.
This piece is being worked on Stonehenge paper and I am using Faber Castell Polychromos, Caran D'Ache Luminance and Caran D'Ache Supracolor pencils.