Thank you so much!
The jaguar was a helluva struggle, but I got it done in the end :)
I normally don't fancy animals in landscapes, but in this one it just seemed right.

Now it basically finishing things off. Plants, grasses, fine-tuning details etc.

I love jaguars but then again the big cats are one of my favorite animals.

It's amazing how many positive reactions I've gotten concerning the leopard/jaguar!
I have sort of decided to do a 2nd one as well. But I do want to finish other details first.
I think it will enhance things even more if there's a 2nd one, relaxing in the shade :)

It'll have to wait though. Got cleaning help over today, tomorrow going to pick up my mum, and Sunday I might go see something in the afternoon.
So no painting for at least 2 days. I'd love to, but it'll be good for my neck to have a bit of a break!

That is an option indeed. And yes, the oracle deck! Good one, hihi.

OT - gotten quite the bit further since last posting, which is on the previous page.

I have now done the basic tree trunk to the left, the plants alongside the path/sandy bit in the middle, worked on the grass there too, added the grass in the bottom left corner and... I did do the 2nd jaguar after all! I just could not resist, hihi!

I need to do minor tweaks on all the things I mentioned above. Like the jaguar still needs its whiskers and tail, its left eye's pupil needs adjusting as it got too large. Just small stuff.
And I'm still not happy with the grasses in between the stones in the middle section. The grass itself is okay, but I don't like their shadows.
Of course the tree to the left won't stay like this either.

But in essence it's finishing off & fine-tuning.

Good job .

Thank you so much, Julie!
I looked into how to finish it off, the final things, and dang, lots and lots of fine detailed work... I was really looking forward to that, not, hahaha.
I'll do it regardless as I don't want to ruin it by doing a botch job.
Even though the ones with the cottages took quite a lot of time, I don't think I've ever spent so many hours on one painting as this one.

WOAH! The jaguars make the picture!

The Zen aspect with the juxtaposition of feral.. Perfection!

The closeup of the jaguar is very similar to my black jaguar tattoo.

I love the push and pull of this painting!

Your progression is brilliantly exquisite!
I agree with Storm about the jaguars. They pull focus and yet compliment their surroundings.

Thank you so much, Stormy & Merry! Love how you describe it

And...

I finished it this afternoon!
Took me more than a month and many, many hours of painting.
I'll give some close ups so you can see more of the abundance of details that is in everything:




The building is from temple complex Ta Prohm in Cambodia and the buildings there have the carvings in the walls as well. AND trees growing on top and through the buildings. In some they have even used shoring jacks to support both the building and the massive trees that rest on them!




I like this section too :) The Buddha has more definition when you see the real work. Camera takes away from that unfortunately...
But I also love the mountains, how there's this diagonal sunlight hitting everything etc. etc.



This afternoon I did the last work on the jungle floor in the foreground. Took me a lot of time to get done due to the many details.
In the end putting in some purple flowers as the rest of the paintings is so green/yellow.

Bravo!! Exceptional work Crystal!!

I don't know if you are a person that celebrates, but the completion requires that.
The details and close ups are fantastic.
The only thing better than this would be seeing it real life.

Well Done! Well Done!

Thank you, Merry!

Finishing a painting is always a bit of a weird moment for me. On the one hand a lot of joy and very pleased with what I've created, on the other hand side a bit of "now what?" What am I going to do tomorrow?? Hihi.

But a bit of a break won't hurt. My neck will certainly appreciate it, haha.

Good as always .

Thank you so much, Julie

The beginning of my new painting: The Great Wall in China.

Nice beginning .

Thank you, Julie!
I ordered a transparent white today so I can go over some things to make them a bit more hazy. That'd put them a bit into the background.
As it is I only have opaque white, never felt the need for anything else, nor did I ever think of it. But now going for Zinc white. Seen some things done with it and the difference in what that can do is astounding.
So for mist/haze etc I'll use that.
Learning all the time, right?!

This is how far I got before dinner. I'm quite happy with how it's progressing.
Values will change a tad later on as I will do some glazing.
You can now also see why that first mountain range I painted in needs to be put into the background a bit with a whitish glaze. Doing that will create way more depth, and also separation between the front mountain section and the one at the back, which really is needed otherwise it become one blob of trees and mountains.
I suspect the Zinc white I need for that will arrive tomorrow.

The orange-like cliff will of course also be worked on.

More work done :) Background haze (might do a tad more, not sure), details, colour changes on the side of the wall and so on.

Still a work in progress. I'm very happy with it so far!

Looking good. Keep up the good work .

Thank you, Julie!

OT --- Yesterday I finished off the trees in the foreground. That was a lot of work, phew! And when done the values didn't look right and shadow areas were mostly gone. Lost too much of my negative space so I had to do more work to correct it.

I also did a 2nd glazing with Zinc white to soften the mountain in the back and the part of the wall that's furthest away (to the right).

Now with that out of the way it's time to focus on the wall.