Got my Goat

As luck would have it, when I posted the buffalo painting to Facebook someone asked if I was going to paint goats. I replied that I wanted to, but hadn't had much luck finding reference photos I wanted to work from. Within moments she posted some wonderful goat photos! I was thrilled, and the next day did this from a crop I took from a photo of one of her goats:

"Got my Goat"

SOLD

I am very happy with this one, hopefully I can repeat this on future paintings. I tried to use more color and to not overwork it. Another thing I find I am doing almost never is blending with my fingers. I tried to only use a harder pastel stick to blend on this one, allowing the pastel to build up and glow.

Yesterday was a day spent reading about painting and surfing the web for more photos to work from. At first I felt these were wasted days, but I think it's all part of the process. Finding photos to work from us not that easy, you need permission from the photographer, or a ready source of photos where permission has already been given. I have a lot of my own photos, but mostly they are from trail rides and I noticed they are always mid day shots, or cloudy days with flat light. That is because I never get up at the crack of dawn to ride, nor do we stay out until dusk. So there ya go, that's why I am always on the hunt for photos by intrepid souls who are out at the perfect times, early morning and early evening.