"THE BRONZE COWBOY"  

   

Here is day one. Leigh photographed him Sunday evening on his ranch in Clark. He is holding his favorite lasso, leaning against his classic "buck rail" fence. The piece is traditional oils on Masonite. The overall size is 18" x 24".
   

   

Close up of the face
   

   


 

Here is day two's work. The hand and shirt are still pretty rough. These are two items that I have to let set up over night then work all the detail on top tomorrow.

 
   

   

Here is today's work. I spent almost the whole day, detailing Don's shirt and hand and I am still not quite done. Still quite a bit of detailing to do once the paint dries more. Stitches, highlights and so on.

   

   

Version 4
   

   
This is today's work. I roughed in his left leg and chaps. I then detailed his chaps on his right leg and his boot.
   

   

I have got the background started here. It is still pretty rough, same with the wood rail. I should be able to smooth all that out with a dry brush tomorrow and finish all the detail in the wood. One thing that I forgot to mention was that we photographed Don just after the sun went behind the famous "Bear Tooth Mountains" behind us. It just gave the sky a slight pink hue and the mountains in the background such a great blue color.

If everything goes well, I should have the background and the "buck rail" fence roughed in next.

 
   

   

Finally! I have the background all roughed in. Now you can see why his foot was at an odd angle. Each section of the "buck rail" fence has its own brace. That is what Don's foot is resting on. I detailed Don's chaps on his left leg. Still quite a bit of detail on the wood. It will also take a while to smooth all the edges on Don. No matter how careful you are, you still get a little paint on him where the background bumps up to him. For me, it is still easier painting the subject first. Lasso and detailing next. Hopefully it will have my signature on the next post.
   

   

Here is the final. The lasso actually took me two days to complete. I had to rough in the texture, let it set up over night and I finished detailing it today. I added more detail to the "buck rail" and several other places as well.
   

Here are three close-ups.