This was the last of a bunch of original artworks that I created during a small break in my pet portrait schedule in 2024. It is painted with acrylics on an 11×14 inch wood panel in early July. One of my friends really loves red pandas, so I decided to paint one. I have a long list of animal species that I (hopefully) will create original paintings or drawings of, and this was one of them. I want to paint as many carnivoran animals as possible, as many species from each family as I can find time for.

The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is the sole species in the family Ailuridae. They were once classified in the raccoon family (Procyonidae) and even in the bear family (Ursidae), until genetic studies showed that they are only distantly related to either of those groups, although more closely to the raccoons than to bears. They were the first animal to be called a ‘panda’ until the discovery of the giant panda in 1869, then the name was changed to ‘red panda’, even though technically they are the ‘true panda’. They live in the forests of Nepal, north-eastern India, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar, and the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China. Just like their larger cousins, the red pandas also feed primarily on bamboo. They are difficult to study in the wild, and most of what is known about them comes from captivity. They are a delightful animal to watch in a zoo, with their innocent stuffed-animal appearance, slow ambling gait, and silly playful behaviors.

This red panda painting was created from a combination of two public domain red panda photographs. The main reference for the body and pose was from one photo, and the tail from another. The reason I did this was because I liked the pose from one but the tail was extended outward, and I wanted it to fit nicely on the wood panel. Red pandas are already very colorful animals, being bright orange-red, so I amplified that by making it as full saturation straight-from-the-tube colorful as possible. For the orange areas, I used bright yellow, red, magenta, hot pink, and quinacridone magenta. The orange was achieved by layering the yellow with hot pink.

For the black areas, mostly the legs and belly, I used purples, blues, and teals. The eyes were left a natural brownish-amber color. The white areas were left mostly white with some blue and purple for shading. For the background I used teals and greens, as a nice contrast to the hot orange colors, and also to mimic their natural forested habitat. The red panda rests on a tree branch, which is also painted with natural colors. I used bold brushstrokes to create the fur detail, which can be seen in the larger image above. The background was also done in a painterly style, and the tree branch as well was created in a more impressionistic manner.

This original painting is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing it for your private collection, please send me an email message.