Grazing Longhorn

"Grazing Longhorn"  (pastel, 8x6 inches)  click here to bid

It's difficult to fit a Longhorn on a small painting. When facing forward one needs at least 9 inches of width to fit the horns in. I once did a 9x9 frontal longhorn painting at a quick-draw event. It was just the upper body, but at least the horns fit, barely.

This kind of pose helps shorten the horns. And the fact that this pose is more about the light and shadow on the body, than the detail of the face.

Below are some progress shots:

 I start with an 'underpainting' of pastel primers - Art Spectrum terra cotta Pastel Primer over Golden Fine Pumice Gel toned with Golden fluid acrylic Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold (at a 1/1 ratio). This establishes two of the main values from the beginning. These are brushed onto Gatorboard (sometimes called Gator foam board) which is a 100% plastic product visually similar to foam board but completely rigid so that it won't bend or warp when wet mediums are applied.

Then I apply the pastel, from dark to light, mostly...

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