"Unworried," Daily Painting # 24

"Unworried," Available (click here)

Oils on Panel

6" by 6"

Young Bighorn

Most times when I visit the bighorn sheep exhibit at the Wild Animal Park up on Condor Ridge I find a group of snoozing bighorns of various ages. They have the usual poses of many hoofed creatures resting, bodies relatively upright and necks curved to rest. I captured this image on a hot day, most of the animals were beating the heat by resting, some of the bighorns were even flaked out on their sides legs sprawled. But right in the middle of the enclosure, closer to us gawkers, was a juvenile bighorn carefully laying with legs tucked in and just his chin touching the boulder beneath him, his face was serene almost smiling and the heat did not seem to be stressing him at all. I'm happy to have witnessed this telling pose and to have studied it further in paint.

Process

All I can say is color! I focused on pushing color to enliven this subject. Okay, and I wanted to control the texture and quality o brushstrokes carefully, which I believe I achieved in the end after a bit of readjusting.

Next

Something boldly colorful I hope!