Only 12 days–maybe a new record?

This looks washed out compared to the previous photos, but the colors are actually more accurate since this was photographed in natural daylight.

So it’s done! And in slightly less than 2 weeks start to finish. I can’t recall doing a full size portrait that quickly, although since I’ve done so many of them it’s quite possible that I’ve forgotten. If there was a faster one it would have been one of the earlier ones which were not so detailed.

I’ve decided to call this one “Hayseed Billy” in honor of the hay stems he was in the process of crushing. I often called him a hayseed because he managed to get a lot of the stuff hanging not just out of his mouth but his mane and forelock too–not to mention squished under his halter. Then there was the time he somehow got his water bucket (thankfully empty) tangled up around his tail and he was standing around with it hanging there like it was just another natural appendage. He definitely had not a single pretentious bone in his body.

Now all I have to do is learn how not to get tears in my eyes every time I look at this painting. I don’t have that large a tissue budget…