Wind Up

When a roper singles out his 'target', much like a pitcher on the mound, he must prepare his lasso with a "wind up". I caught this cowboy's pose right as he was ready to throw the lariat in hopes of snaring his mark. His position reveals his focus on the goal, with shoulders tense, arms up, eyes searching for the moment to release the rope toward the strike zone. The moment passes within seconds, and we wait to see whether we will be praising his success or sympathizing his failure. 

As an experiment, I prepared the surface of this piece using an acrylic base, twirling layers of a palette of reds, peaches and white. As it settled, I dabbed and tilted the panel, misting select areas with water, then allowed the paint to dry into fun textures and patterns. This became the dappled background for my stylized cowboy. I used only two values of Prussian Blue in oil for the silhouettes of figure, the horse and the rope. The lightest value of the cowboy, his hat, and portions of his saddle remained unpainted, revealing the acrylic base palette beneath. It's my stylized version of the Pop Art era of my past.

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