"Duel"
It seems the quest for supremacy extends beyond the surface of our planet. A symbolic painting representing the nuclear arms race in space. I had thought of putting stars and strips on the left cat and a sickle and hammer on the right one but abandoned the idea as I did not want it to look like a commercial illustration.

"Duel" was an excellent painting to learn the wash technique I use today. As I was experimenting with the technique and considering an illustrative type painting, the images of these two winged cats came out of the original umber paint doodling (probably from listening to too much news). Deciding to go with the image, I redrew the cats and wing structures at least 6 times trying to get the poses and the action just right. And as I draw with paint, that gave me the build up of washes that the painting needs to develop more depth of color.
Oil - 24" x 36"
See detail below.