In this gallery of images, you see the details of the painting Dark Horse.

Dreams comin’ at ya like a dark horse

30″ x 48″ Oil Painting on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas with 1 1/2″ Profile

The central dilemma for me regarding this painting was the clouds. The thundering horse and the allusive steer are in dynamic, relentlessness movement. I wanted the clouds to mirror that same stress. I needed roiling clouds to mirror the animal drama – as seen below.

Also, I did not know how I was going to handle the dust clouds created by the stampede. I had tried a number of cloud styles in past paintings, but was unhappy with the results. Instead, I choose the stylized concentric circles and changed the color of the dust clouds to blue. Immediately, I realized blue dust clouds accentuated the yellow steer, forcing the eye to concentrate on the animals and unified the composition.

In the last two images, you can see and feel the physicality of the drama.

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