The motif
Two amber eyes cut through the darkness like glowing embers. On a gnarled branch, bathed in the silver light of a vast full moon, a black panther sits enthroned – still, watchful, untouchable.
Brilliant blue flows over the muscular contours, quinacridone magenta flares on the shoulders and flanks, cadmium yellow traces the head and back like a seam of light. In long, heavy streaks the paint drips from branch and animal – as if the wilderness itself were bleeding colour. All around, the night stays monochrome: gnarled trees, a glowing moon. The colour names come from the pigments with which David paints his originals.
