I belong to a plein air painter's group and finally got a chance to actually take part in a paint out. It was a glorious morning at Smith Rock in a little community called Terrebonne here in Central Oregon. The rock is a world class climbing rock with a dozen or so faces to climb. The little balanced rock between the two slopes is actually named Asterisk but climbers nick named it Woodstock after the Peanuts cartoon character. This was one of those rare paintings that kind of painted itself. Everything went right and I completed it on site. Funnnnnnnnnnn!

Here is the final product! This is when I begin to really work those background values...lights against darks etc. to make the antelope pop. You might have noticed that originally I laid in a dark behind his head. Now, I decide I need a light value behind the horns--an easy fix with oils.

I concentrated on just painting the antelope itself and didn't worry about the background at this point. I like to use cadmium orange as a hot accent color to give the orangeish areas some zing. I don't know if you can see it in this image, but it causes a bit of a visual vibration which brings this antelope to life. It's one of my favorite effects.

   I really have been painting, but my uploads to my website have been stubborn and not working right.
   Did you even know that we have pronghorn antelope in Oregon? Well, we have lots of them in Central and Eastern Oregon. It's not easy to get a shot that offers good light and decent composition, but after looking at what seemed like hundreds of photos I finally decided to paint this one. They are my favorite American wild life because they seem like they should be in Africa.
   Well enough of that. Here you see my rough-in. I always love this part because it is the foundation for the life of my painting. If I get too fussy with the gesture, then my finished painting seems stiff and lifeless.