Neck and Neck

I have been working on this one for two days now, & it almost sent me crazy!

The giraffe is a wonderful animal, so magestic and calm, and these three, although from different photos I took a few years ago ( at the same animal safari park north of Austin), make a cute composite.

I began as with all my very detailed animal pastels on velour, with the pastel pencils, sort of getting the road paved for the soft chalk pastels later.

I drew all these animal paintings freehand, another challenge in itself, but I know I must be feeling more confident to even tackle them, a far cry from when I began this velour paper journey a few weeks ago.