Burnt The Fire - tiger oil painting

Burnt The Fire - 7" x 5" oil on hardboard/masonite

I'm rather enjoying this foray into wildlife and think I will paint a lot more of it. I love the expression in this tiger's eyes and the whole painting was a pleasure to paint. I hope you get pleasure from it too.

To those who have asked, the title of the painting comes from the same poem as Burning Bright: The Tiger by William Blake. This is an excerpt:

Tiger, tiger, burning bright    
In the forests of the night,    
What immortal hand or eye    
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?    

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?   
What the hand dare seize the fire?

SOLD

Burning Bright

Burning Bright - 7" x 5" oil on hardboard/masonite

SOLD

There is no question that the markings on some of the big cats are simply breathtaking and a real joy, and challenge(!), to paint realistically. It is only too easy to make them seem pasted on rather than an integral part of the coat and so it's important to blend them in with the other colours in the fur. 

It is of course the fantatic markings of the tiger which have made it prey to man's desire for unusual coats and rugs. This desire together with other pressures has led the tiger, the largest of the big cats, to become an endangered species - what a sad reflection on the human race.

This painting is straight off the easel and will need at least one or two weeks to dry before it can be shipped.