Snow leopard SIBERIA

Still very much in the feline mood, I have been working on a new design for a snow leopard. It has been a challenge as the face features in those animals are so peculiar and striking. I really wanted to do them justice, and I had so much fun in the process.
Some pictures on my work in progress on the face.

Pinning the area that I need to trim

Some trimming has been done

The 'rough' head is ready so that I can shape the face features with the needle felting. I have also sewn another pair of ears, smaller, because those in the pictures looked too big.
I painted 16mm diameter clear glass eyes with several shades of blue.
The nose has been needle felted, sealed and shaded.
I have also rooted strands of white mohair into the chin area and successively trimmed it.
This is the head-face before the painting begins.

Front view

Side view

As for the painting, this time I opted for acrylics. I sometimes use part acrylics and part oils, but this time I needed a kind of black that could better blend with that of the fur. Oil black didn't do the trick. I also noticed that if you soak with soapy water the needle felted areas before you start painting on it, the paint distributes itself better, and the result is homogeneous.
This is the end result.

Front view

Side view

I still have to insert the whiskers, but, surprise surprise, I thought it would be a boy at the beginning, and now I see it is a girl!
I have called her SIBERIA, and here are a couple of her first pictures.

SIBERIA has been specially made for the coming September Artist Bears International auction event. This is the link:
http://artistbearsinternational.com/en/content/49-auction-event-preview