Always aprivolege to see your cherished brushwork outstanding my friend!!!

Very nice!

JUST STUNNING! Goes right to my heart for some reason?

Stunning. xxx

lovely

Your brushwork in this beautiful image is fabulous and I love how you have echoed him in the sun. Very well done. I am always amazed at how every living thing is different. ☺

Taj really is a special soul; superb and beautifully sensitive treatment in this gorgeous artwork!

Beautiful as always!

Just beautiful Carol, so very well done.

Beautiful !

So beautiful - both the tiger and your comments, very well done

This is so amazing really wonderful work So love it and your comments..

Astonishing, as is all your beautiful Art!

Btw, you mentioned a huge snow storm coming your way. I hope you're not inundated now. (Or still.) I know things are different in the mountains---we had our final snow last week, and it was only a dusting...

As for your painting, a beautiful compact vision of the tiger, his head in total sync with his body, as if he assumed this posture for your brush. He's composed beautifully across the lower portion of the piece. And he peaks with his ear, pointing to his ghost or spirit head in the sky---something you've done in many animal paintings, and which gives the feeling of an overseeing spirit, or even the spirit of the animal you painted, looking over itself as if to protect itself. (I hope I made that clear. It wasn't easy to say...) It's an overseeing spirit, and it makes the vast space of the painting seem protected.

Even his back leg---his "shoulder," if that's what it's called---points to the giant orb in the sky, an embracing bit of composition to add to how well you portrayed the tiger. And the tiger's near-peach-amber hues work beautifully with the deep oranges of the sky. In the lower sky---on the right---you have flame tongues: I love that stylization, it has a near Native American feel. And the huge orb is broken up by more tongues of hue, in signature oranges and yellows (signature for you), where we believe that's a huge sun but it could be a late day moon, or it could just be an orb of light, period---as your orbs often are archetypal, and they transcend the orbs we know by name. And, like all such orbs in your animal pieces, it dominates the piece while being wholly unobtrusive. You get real balance between upper and lower in these paintings, as well as between open and compact---the compact being the tiger's beautiful body, folded in on itself.

A gorgeous buttery, burnt ochre, late day piece, with a beast of great nobility and awareness, and yet a beast who seems wholly at rest. Not an easy combination to get, but it's all present here. Great to see this in the midst of your explosive alcohol series; reminding us of how broad your art is. Gorgeous, Carol.

(Carol, I'm at an hour and 15 minutes and I have to leave now. I can't do all I want in one session, unfortunately, esp as I spend time before I write in your gallery, as well. But I'll be back. I read your poem here, and how it reflected on your losses and of course on the loss of Violet. Maybe Violet has become a magnificent resting creature like this one, basking in the bath of this beautiful light, and overseeing us all. I'm again, sorry for your great loss.) ,

Thank you for your beautiful comment, Mark. I always appreciate your observations as well as the time you spend with my art. You really honor me and my work in ways I can't express, but are so meaningful to me. The big cats have always held a special place in my heart, and in my life, since I was a child. Today I pay tribute to them with my art. When I was a young child, they gave me nightmares, and I used to awaken crying because I dreamed they were chasing me. And even though I feared lions and other big cats, I was also fascinated with them. As an adult I filled my home with big cat art, and even painted a giant mural on my living room wall, of lions. Into adulthood I continued to have the recurring nightmare of being chased by a lion. When I met LJ, we talked about the dream, and I finally realized the lion was my father. When I was a child I couldn't pronounce my r's, and instead of saying girl I would say gil. So he would sit me on his lap and roar like a lion, telling me to do the same as I said the word girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl. It half terrified me as well as made me laugh, hearing him roar so loud. So I would roar with him, and I learned to say r. Throughout my growing years, I had a love/hate relationship with my father. When I met my soulmate, LJ, we talked about it all and that's when I realized the lion chasing me in my dreams was my father. Because my dad was still alive, I was able to heal my relationship with him. And when I did, the lion stopped chasing me in my dreams, and then I allowed him to come closer, and then pet the lion, and then he left my dreams. However the fascination for big cats stayed with me and now I pay tribute to their strength and beauty through my art. This golden lion spoke to me because he is so rare, and it did make me more aware of how precious and rare we all are. I think there are many people, like Violet, and my dad, and many others whose spirits are resting like this irreplaceable creature, as you said, basking in the bath of the beautiful light, overseeing us all.