Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches
Exhibited: Breckenridge Gallery, CO
Private Collection
$4300 framed
 
Thank you to the folks who purchased this piece for their mountain home.
 
About this oil:
Some of the most dedicated ranch hands here in the western US are cattle and sheep dogs. When I drive around Texas, Wyoming, and Idaho especially, I often see cattle dogs like these taking a break on the back of a pickup truck or in the shade of a barn. They work hard and most of them seem to enjoy what they do, giving it their all each day they're out helping to take care of stock.
 
These dogs are mixed breed, probably Australian Cattle Dog and Border Collie.
 
As is usually the case with my larger paintings, the challenge for me is always to keep it fresh, loose, and not overly complicated. This piece ended up being all about tone and brushwork, but it didn't come togather as easily as I had hoped.
 
The background was the most challenging portion of the painting since the real background in the actual scene was a jumbled mess of tones and shapes. I ended up ignoring what was actually there and instead cooled it down, lightened it, and in fact made it look more like the side of a metal building. Simplifying the background worked to focus the viewer's interest back on the dogs.