In The Studio: Number 87 of 90 Paintings in 90 Days, “Open Range”

I painted this painting as a continuation of my new found attraction for paintings about horses and cattle.  I never rode horses much but I did spend a lot of time on farms and around cattle I had a slight uncomfortable feeling when riding horses. So these paintings are kind of a fantasy but a nice one and a memory of times long gone for me.

After the initial drawing I painted the horse on dry paper with a pretty strong value and rich pigments trying to run the color for the figure right into to the horse and the horse right into the weeds.  One big shape at then its all pretty much a finished painting just a few details and touches.

Next I painted the little foreground with rich browns, burnt and raw sienna with dark splatters with a round brush.  I scraped very strong straight marks for the weeds, dragging these marks up into the horse and rider.

With a small brush I painted the little indication of the scruffly dog and indicated the cows.  These are just expressive marks very little reality just hints of cows and a dog.

I put in some dark accent washes on the figure and the horse and a very light cool wash for the background landscape.

A light cool blue for the sky and some diagonal marks at the horizon line for variety and interest.