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

CASTIEL, another Maine coon cat

Feline beauty has me on its grip, very firmly. I cannot stop creating cats, and I don't complain as it is really a pleasure when they stand proudly on my shelf ready to be admired and adopted!
This is my last born, another Maine coon. His name is Castiel and he already found a new home!

MINA a calico Norwegian forest cat

Calico cats have such special colouring, I was always fascinated by it. As I can't seem to stop creating cats lately, I decided it was time to try my own rendering of a calico lady cat.
I am really very pleased with the result. I have also tried a new way of doing paw pads in a realistic style, sculpting them out of Apoxie clay.
And here is dear Mina.

Mina is now ADOPTED, thank you!

Maine coon cat: from fur to completion.

I like to browse on Pinterest looking for an inspiration. I have a 'cat beauty' folder, full of pictures of beautiful cats. I have discovered a cat breed that is exceptionally fascinating: majestic, feline, powerful...absolutely stunning. The Maine coon cat has suddenly become part of my day dreams, and soon I was drawing and experimenting, in search of a new, fitting design.
Maine coons have a lush fur. I had to buy some new fur for this project of course....

The 'perfect' fur for my dream Maine coon was this. Faux fur is great for scissor sculpting, and this fur in particular is nice because the base is a darker grey than the tips, which are actually silver white, or, as they describe them, 'frosted'. This means that I would reach the grey when scissor sculpting and have a lighter fur in the long strands, just what I had in mind.
This is the cat when already sewn and turned.

My first go with the scissor sculpting was on the ears. I prefer to scissor sculpt the ears before sewing them on, eventually leaving the fur a bit longer than needed and do the last trim in the end.

I generally do the head before the legs, but this time I wanted to see right away how my new design for the feet worked....so I chose to do the boring part before the rest, and stuffed the limbs, complete with 'bones' (wiring).
To get to the feet shape I really had to do extensive scissor sculpting, and also some nice shading on the pads. Again, the final trim is always done when the 'beast' is put together...but here we have a headless cat enjoying his first posing!

This playful cat now needs a head. Finally, I get to do the really fun part: the face.
Here is a picture of the head before I started working on it. It is stuffed and has the cat spine coming out of it. The ears are not sewn yet, only pinned, and the eyes are not the golden green eyes that I will be using, but merely position eyes, to give me a rough idea of the proportions.

A CAT WITH NO FACE

TRIMMING SPACE FOR THE NEEDLE FELTING

DECIDING WHERE THE MOUTH GOES

DEFINING MOUTH, CHIN AND NOSE

NOW ON WITH THE GREEN EYES!

ADDING 'FLESH' AROUND THE EYES

SIDE VIEW

Now that the needle felting is completed, I just need to sew the ears on before I have earned my favourite part of the process: I can paint the face, seal the nose, insert whiskers and trim his mane. More hours of pure fun  and... this is the result:

THE MIRACLES OF MAKE UP!

My Maine coon now has a face, therefore I can give him a name. LUCIFER.
I am proud of Lucifer, and I can't wait to have him whole.
After some more sewing, stuffing shading and trimming, here is Lucifer, in all his majesty!

LUCIFER is now adopted!