Big Horned Stud

Another animal painting. This handsome guy's reference photo was downloaded from morguefile.  He didn't really look at home with a forest behind him. I figured a few suggested rocks and mountains in the background would make him happier. This painting was done again exclusively with a palette knife, except my initials in the bottom right.  I decided to premix colors on this, mostly so I could compare shades before I applied them. There are many different ways to apply paint to the canvas or board with a knife. On this one, titled "Big Horned Stud", I really wanted to convey the light from the reference photo. In addition to having a heavy contrast between lights and darks, broken color also helps this, and dedicated strokes that are left untouched once applied is a great way to achieve this. Painting on a gesso board lends itself well to this type of knife painting, and at least for me, it is difficulty to blend colors effectively. It is much easier to blend on canvas. Thanks for reading.