Subjects

Hello There !  It is brisk and chilly in Sydney this week.  And I have been very busy at work, with a short work week this week (Monday was a holiday--Queen's Birthday).  So not much painting getting done now, but soon on the weekend I will have one whole weekend before the biz travel away.

So what to paint ?  Well a few thoughts.  First, here is a photo that inspired the first lion, the one I just finished on Sunday (see previous post to this).  He is pictured with my daughter Karen, who loves lion statues !

And the next lion is my likely next subject.  I got a canvas for his painting this Saturday, 24 x 30 inches.  So a size or two down from the big one I just finished...but it is nice to vary them up some.  And the proportions are good for the next one I think.  Here is the photo I will use as inspiration for the next lion, on the left.  These two verdigris lions flank a gate of the Louvre in Paris called Lion's Gate (port du leons).  This was photographed on a crisp and brilliant November day, in mid afternoon.  I will be painting the lion on the right, the one showing a good profile.  So a very different pose and look than Lion #1 that I just painted.  On the right you can see a better shot of the lion, I cropped this photo from the one above left.  I like the shadows on the background, not too dark, 

but still nice.  The lion is standing at attention, guarding his gate very well and he has great muscle tone too.  I also like the platform he is sitting on.

This is not a new photo, it is from nearly 2 years ago, when we last went to Paris.  On our return, I had the photo of the two lions above done into a larger glossy photo that I sent to be framed at an art framing shop.  Plus I did an enlargement of a panel of stonework as you see behind the lion.  Each panel features a different set of symbols.  And I spotted one with bees.  Not sure how or why I noticed this, but I did and I photographed it too.   It is amazing and every panel was detailed differently.  At the time I did not photograph many, but think it would be nice to go back and take more photos of them, there is some great material for inspiration there (what's not to like about Paris !).  The bees are on a background of honeycomb with a crown in between them.  This photo is also framed and looks awesome !  I painted one of those bees as well, on its honeycomb ground.  That painting is in Ian's workshop, maybe material for a future post !