This painting is traditional oils on museum-grade Masonite. The finished size is 24″ x 20″.

Here is version one. I am giving you a close-up first since I am working just the face area.

This is day two. I have smoothed out the flesh and hat while adding more detail to the face and hat. On the second day, the paint sets up and makes it easy to use a dry brush to blend and smooth everything out.

Here is a close-up of version two.

Day three. I pretty much finished detailing his face and managed to get the Courts saddle roughed in.

Day four. I’m still working all of the saddle detail. I just love painting leather and metal!

Day five. The saddle is just about complete. You can even see the saddle’s maker’s logos and the serial number if you look closely on the close-up below. Rick is wearing a plaid shirt. I roughed in the white background on his shirt. I will have to wait a few days for the paint to dry enough to paint the stripes up on top. This day, I managed to rough in his hands as well.

Day six. Meanwhile waiting for the shirt to dry, I roughed in his belt, buckle, gloves and jeans.

Day seven. I finished detailing Rick’s hands and his jeans. I also roughed in his boots. Next, those shirt stripes!

Day eight. I managed to get the stripes roughed in and painted his boots. I will finish all that and on to the background and sign it.

The final piece.

Here are some close-ups of my final version to show the detail.

Thanks for riding along. Stay tuned, there are many more of my works in progress to come.

Denny

This painting is traditional oils on museum-grade Masonite and the finished size is 18″ x 24″.

Here is day two.

Day three.

I finally got all the details finished on the mountain tops as well the area below which are actually trees, high meadows and rock formations. Where the trees stop is the tree line, which in the Rocky Mountains, usually stops in the 9000 feet above sea level range. As you can see, I got Sheldon’s face roughed in.

On this version, I laid down the base coat for Sheldon’s horse and added the rifle scabbard. I also finished detailing his face, beard and hat.

I have Junior’s head just about done. I will then move over to Sheldon’s shirt for the next go around.

I laid in the base coat for Sheldon’s leather shirt and pants. This was about a day and a half worth of work.

On this version, it took several days to add all the textures, shadows and etc. I was able to complete Sheldon’s muzzleloader rifle. Any elements with perfectly straight lines are a real challenge. This was no different.

As you look at this version, you will see that I have signed the painting. After much thought and discussion with fellow artists, I decided to make some changes to make the final piece closer to the time period which is in the late 1800′s. The Hackamore Bridle shown here dates from the 1950′s. I decided to date Sheldon as being a former “Union Soldier.” At that point, I reworked the whole bridle to make it an authentic Civil War Calvary horse bridle. I had to paint more than just the bridle, I had to rework all of the shadows they cast on Sheldon’s leather coat. I also decided earlier to remove the rifle scabbard shown on Junior’s shoulder that was on version seven. This took many hours to complete but I feel it was well worth it.

The final piece.

Here are some close-ups of my final version to show the detail.

Thanks for riding along. Stay tuned, there are many more of my works in progress to come.

Denny

Here is day two. I have added more detail to Dustin’s face, Stetson, shirt and hands. I was able to lay in the base coat for the upper part of his jeans.

This is a close-up of that area.

This is day three. I finished the base coat for his jeans and boots.

On day four I finished detailing his jeans and boots. I have also roughed in his lasso and the dirt at his feet.

This is a close-up of that area.

This is day five. I have pretty much finished up all of the details on Dustin and laid in a rough base for the barn wall in the background.

Here is the final. If you look, you will see the final details that I added to barn wall and the dirt.

This piece is traditional oils on my Ampersand “Gesso Claybord.” The size is 14″ x 24.

Dustin’s grandmother bought the painting for a wedding gift for Dustin and his fiancée.

Thanks for riding along. Stay tuned, there are many more of my works in progress to come.

Denny