Rancher’s Son

One day I received a call from, of all people, a rancher’s wife who enquired whether she could commission me to paint her son.  The family owned several thousand acres of grazing land, located near a wilderness where wild horses roamed.  It occurred to me to combine the area where the boy lived with elements of a wilder nature.  The boy himself was intelligent and highly alert, and familiar with the creatures that inhabited his countryside.  The portrait shows him in a moment of sudden focus, as if he is being called.

Oil on canvas