Red Panda - a mixed media drawing

 

Last December we made the best of the weather and we visited 'Diergaarde Blijdorp' on a nice Saturday. There were lots of restrictions due to the Covid pandemic, but the animals were there and those that like the colder weather were outside. 

One of my favourites is the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and when it was walking outside I made some pictures, hoping for the best. This one was the best, the other pictures had the panda with its head in the other direction, so the face was not visible. This picture was not perfect either, the panda was walking so there are some parts that are not as clear as I hoped them to be.

For this one I decided to make a mixed media drawing, using watercolour for the background and the big trees where the panda usually goes for a good nap. I also added the tree stumps and some bushes behind the red panda.

I left the shape of the red panda white (not painted) and used watercolour pencils and Graphitint pencils to draw the walking panda, the grasses, herbs and fallen leaves on the ground.

The paper I have used has some structure and that is still visible where I used my pencils.

Once again the conclusion has to be that I need more practice, but I have no problem with that. I love red pandas so when the Zoo can reopen (after lockdown) I will certainly be back to make more reference pictures and in warmer weather I make sketches on the spot.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work can be found in my Tumblr blog