Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Wrangler Waiting for the Lil' Dude


I did a similar painting of this subject last year, but I messed it up by making the background too busy. Had wanted to try this again with a simple background so that the focus remained on the wrangler taking a break leaning on the dude horse.


There's a story behind this one. When I worked at the guest ranch, I was ready to take my ride of 8 dudes out on the trail. At the last minute, the youngest rider, a boy of around 8, decided he needed to use the restroom. I snapped a photo of Ben, the head wranger and the boy's mount, Lil, waiting for him to return. We worked long hours at the ranch, and learned to take our "catnaps" at every opportunity.


The background on this is showing bluer than it really is, due to having to use studio lighting to photograph. It's snowing and overcast here, so couldn't use natural light. In real life, the background in the painting is more gray & cream than blue. This is 11" x 14", oil on canvas.


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