Steer Wrestling

 Steer Wrestling

11" x 14"

Acrylic on Board

This is pretty close to finished.  I will set it aside then look at it again later to see what changes, if any need to be made.  .

Steer Wrestling WIP & Baby Birds

 As you can see some progress has been made while some set backs have happened.  I haven't painted every day on this but managed to get some time in on Saturday.  I bet all of you are as tired of this painting as I am so am going to begin another painting so I can look at this with fresh eyes. 

In the meantime, we had four baby birds born last Thursday.  I think they are Mockingbirds but don't have any real knowledge of birds.  I inadvertently tapped the post when I rested my hand on it to take the photo and the babies promptly opened their beaks.  It was so cute to see.  I felt for them though because their Mom wasn't there to feed them.

Steer Wrestling WIP, cont'd.

 After a week I finally have gotten back to painting.  I know, it doesn't look like much progress but truly, there is some. 

Below is a photo of my palette.  I use an old tupperware container, lay in a damp paper towel, place palette paper on top of it.  Next I roll up paper towels, soak them then squeeze out the excess water.  Then I lay out the paint on the damp paper towels.  The paint has stayed moist and usable throughout this painting, adding more paint as I need it.  The trick is to make sure the first layer of paper towel stays moist beneath the sheet of palette paper.  Notice that I am using a combination of warm and cool primaries with the addition of burnt umber for help in mixing darks. 

Chatter

I don't normally share photos of my family but Mother's Day is coming up and I am so very proud of my 93 year old Mom, as well as my siblings.   My father died when I was eight and she raised seven of us, eight years old to teenagers, alone. We love and admire her, not only for her inner strength but for the values she lives by. 

Not much painting going on but hope to get back it very soon.  I've had an eye infection off and on
since the end of January that is just now getting under control.  I kept trying to wearing my contacts but each time I did, my eye became even more irritated and swollen.  So now, I won't be able to wear a contact in my left eye for some months to come so that means I've been experiencing painting in a different way.  As soon as the swelling goes down I can be fitted for glasses but in the mean time I get to view the world in a blur.  Where are those "rose colored" glasses??

Steer Wrestling WIP Changes

This painting isn't going as well as the last one but then each painting is always different.  The background is in the process of change and as you can see the subjects are all being reformed as well.  I'm not in any hurry with this painting simply because it is all a learning process.  Sure, I may keep repeating the same mistakes but I am seriously trying not to. 

I'm not great with perspective so need to look at the figures that will be in the background to see if they look like they fit.  In the reference photo, there are horse trailers in the background and two figures are just behind the horse and rider.  I removed those as I wanted the focus to be on the action.