A good friend and fellow artist asks:

"Why did you choose to render this painting with more positive space than negative? Second, why did you choose to portray your subject from just below the waist up? and why did you choose to photograph his garb with such dark imposing colors? Denny, what more will you share with us more about your thought processes in your own words and point out to us the key elements that go through your mind when you envision the end product? In other words, what makes this painting/composition tick?"

Denny's response:

To explain the "negative positive" thing, I consider myself as "portrait artist" first and foremost, they just happen to be of the "western" flare, so my subjects are "the" main focus. I do paint intricate backgrounds from time to time, not often. My last painting of "The Mountain Man of Castle Rock" is one of the few exceptions, but I still try to make my subject the reason for the painting. I am a true disciple of the famous "western portrait artist," James Bama. Bama does the same thing in most all of his portraits, not all but most. We both are trying to immortalize the faces of the local west for history's sake. Many, many of Bama's subject are no longer living. So many of these great people need to be recorded for history. Each and every one is a "special" person to me and to many others in this great community of Cody, Wyoming.

There is no rhyme or reason to the question of why I painted Gene from the knees up. I try to mix up my portraits. Head, half body, full body, it doesn't matter what I do, I just want a good mix to my portraits. Of course, painting a head shot is a lot easier for me than painting the full body, plus there is the time factor. It always takes me a lot longer to produce a full figure. BTW, everyone asks me how long to do a painting. It usually takes in the neighborhood of fifty to sometimes over one hundred hours to complete. Watching the hours is probably the "graphic artist" in me. I like to know about what I make an hour when I paint. It usually averages at $100 an hour. Good? Bad? I don't know, as far as the "fine art world" is concerned, I would think this this about average for someone like me...unless you are Picasso! LOL! I am definitely not a Picasso or a Jim Bama!

As for the question of painting Gene with dark colors, all I can say is that Gene is wearing the "colors" of a native Wyoming cowboy. Many, many local men dress like this. When I get an opportunity to paint someone like Gene, I usually go to their home and meet them and we go through with what they are comfortable wearing and what are some of their favorite things. We both decide how Leigh or I will photograph them and if there will be a background painted in or not. Like I said in my first post, I decided to pose Gene in the same clothes that Bama was going to paint him. I thought it was so fitting to do so. What's good for Bama is good for me! (BTW, Bama never did paint Gene). But, back to the dark clothing, I find it more of a challenge to paint these dark colors. It is harder to get the shadows and highlights on a dark object just right. I really have to watch things like "local colors" that cause all the colored highlights being cast. For those who don't know what local colors are, they are usually the highlights or colors being cast from an object next to one another. For example, if a subject is wearing a red bandana, it will usually cast a red reflection on the neck skin or a shirt. In this painting of Gene, I asked him to be photographed on a very overcast day, matter of fact it was snowing. There was no hard sun light to give me hard shadows on his face. Matter of fact, the snow on the ground actually lit his face really well. The overcast day also caused some really great local colors on the back of his left leg, his shoulders and his Stetson.

Lastly, the key elements that go through my mind when I envision the end product are happening as I am posing my models while Leigh or I are shooting the photographs. But before I even show up for the shoot, I pretty much have in my head what I what. I can almost see it completed before I start the shoot. We usually shoot 75-100 shots and I will study those photographs for a couple of weeks before I start. I usually put all of the photos that I like right off, place them in a folder in my MAC and let them cycle on my desktop for days, helping me to pick just the right one. The one that shows the person who and what they are is the "winner." Like I said, the "subject" is "the" main thing in all my paintings, but whether the "composition clicks" is totally up to you and anyone that views my work.

Here is the forth day in. One or two more days and it will be a "wrap." I pretty much got done what I said, plus his left gloved hand.

As I was painting today, I realized that I am in the painting. I was painting the big chrome snap on Gene's chaps and I noticed that I was clearly reflected there. It's funny, I just paint what I see.