Cougar at Rest — Original Pastel Pencil

There is power in stillness. This pastel pencil study — rendered on sandpaper to capture the subtle texture of fur and stone — depicts a cougar at rest on a rocky outcrop beside a tree. His eyes are open. He is not sleeping — he is watching. The cougar does not announce himself. He simply is. This piece was drawn on sandpaper, which gives the pastels a depth and warmth impossible to achieve on traditional paper, pulling the animal out of the surface as if he might step off the canvas entirely.