Golden Eye the Majestic Lion / Oil Painting

I really wanted to paint this male lion, I loved the warm and cool colors of this late afternoon scene. But what really attracted me to this subject was the golden eye of this lion reflecting a dash of sky blue, and a tiny white glint. I started the blocking in stage by using liquin so as to speed up the drying process. I generally like the slower drying time since it allows me more time to manipulate the paint. However, since it is our winter and a bit cold the paint has been slow to dry. After the block in stage was complete, I then came back to fill in the details. Now instead of liquin I used odorless thinners with a little linseed oil, a ratio of 1/4 oil to thinners. Watch the creation of this painting on Youtube .