This gorgeous longhorn looked incredible against the billowy fog rolling on the lower pastures. The feeling is no less than an ethereal, take your breath away, as you gaze on the longhorn and the unknown. I felt fortunate that the Dickinson Cattle Company allowed me to use the original photo that I based the painting on.
This scene also reminds me of a famous quote by the famed longhorn auctioneer, Eddie Woods, who said, “a longhorn will stop more traffic than a dead man.” I know from a fact, when driving along a road, even in Virginia, if I see a small herd of longhorns I just want to pull over and look at them. Sometimes, there is no place to park because there are other cars that are doing the same thing.
Now, back to the painting. I just started putting the finishing touches on the painting, sort of like straightening up a dress to fit right. I brought the brightness up on the grass to balance out the mood of the overall painting. I put an ever so tiny white, raised, teeny, tiny dot in the longhorn’s eyes to still say softness, but to look right back at the viewer. Another finishing touch is that I painted a very fine line along the top of the horns to bring the horns out more. I noticed I needed to bring the “whites” up a little more on this gorgeous bovine. I may bring the sky up a little bit more before I put my brushes down for good on this one.
What I have in store for my next painting is a grizzly bear swimming across a pond. I captured him quickly with several clicks of my camera while we were visiting Bear Country, USA, South Dakota a few summers ago. I may follow up with a few mountain lion paintings, then elk, and maybe eagles.