Here it is!  I am real close to finishing.
I particularly like the secondary character with his horse in the background.
Forward cowboy's hat has been a pain, but as I said, I'm close!

Hello again,

I see some of you are cking in to see my finished piece.  I am sorry to say I have maligned it a few times and let it sit for a while, while I painted other pieces. I think today I  feel it is  near done and will take photo and post. 
It was my first of 50 pieces of this size, and I am guessing I was a bit overwhelmed. I have moved through over 20 paintings now, of this size, and am able to come back to it with better understanding.
Thank you for cking back .. I will post what I have tomorrow.  It may need some time for me to finish small parts, but I want to share what I have so far.

Today the light is not good for a photo shoot of this new number one painting. 
Please ck. back soon to see the final results and more paintings for the 50 50 50 show and I do welcome your comments.

Adding more paint to the figures. By now I am painting with the reference photo and the painting right side up. 

Here we see the truer colors in the painting.  And next to the painting is my reference photo. 
I have left out the horses behind the subject horse and am still toying with the idea of including one in the left with a ranch hand.

Here we are with more shapes taking form while varying values to some degree.

Sorry the color is so orange. The flash didn't go off.
Here you see my first drawing in of my subject, which I do with my photo upside down. In this photo the painting is turned right side up for your viewing pleasure..  can you see the horse?

   I have begun my 50 paintings for the 20th St. Art Gallery's 50-50-50 show.(50 juried artists create 50 works in 50 days. Please see more info. about this show under EVENTS on my website)
   My stack of 50 6x6 inch boards didn't look too ominous until I spread them out to give them 3 coats of  gesso. So far I've only gesso'd the first 25. I just wanted to start  painting!! 
   My subject for these paintings is "Horses in the Landscape."  I was eager to get going so I dug through some photos of mine taken up at Kennedy Meadows, where you will find, besides gorgeous high country, pack horses and trail horses for hire.  In my case, for painting. 
   For this first stab at my 50 panels I have taken photos of my painting process as it evolved on this piece.I won't be doing this with each painting, but I will be sharing them as they come about. To me this is something special, and I am very interested to see what the paintings will look like when each artist has their group displayed together.  At present I am not concerning myself with some kind of visual sequence of  color or design.but maybe I should be? We shall see if this changes as I go along.
   I begin my painting with the photo turned upside down to keep me more focused on just shapes, not things.  I usually draw in with some sort of red paint. To me it reads as a dark and it also gives some pizazz to the piece later if some of this red is left showing.  Darks go in next.  I tend to sneak up on my subject and then when i get super curious to see how its going, I flip everyone right side up, and continue.
   Well, first thing I noticed when I began was how tiny these little panels felt.   My big swinging brushes and I were not pleased at having to take it down a notch!  Also, I was mortified to find out I have no decent small brushes! I rarely use them, and find they are the first to wear out in my collection of brushes.  I spent a good deal of time going through all of them to glean 2 out of the bunch that were decent then got right on the computer and ordered a bunch!! Can't wait for them to get here, as even a slightly marred bristle is annoying and I really need to be able to control the paint in such a small space.
   Okay, enough of the complaining.  I really am enjoying painting these little babies.  I love revisiting subjects and trying out a new twist on them.  Please ck in to this blog site from time to time to see all 50 pieces.  Interest in any piece will be steered to the Gallery, and I do hope to meet some of you at the reception on April 12th!
Enjoy! oh and p.s.  sorry the first photos are in bad light.