Australian "Comfort" Dog - New Portrait

This is Redbone (Red for short), an Australian Cattle Dog that my friend Sandy adopted from an ACD rescue group about nine years ago. He's a handsome boy with a great "head tilt" which I used to my advantage for this portrait. Sandy has had a number of ACDs over the years and they all have exhibited a great love for napping on the couch, hence the term "Australian Comfort Dog". They have plenty of energy when the Frisbee is calling, but after that, rest and relaxation is very important.


"Red" - 4" x4", Mixed Media on Watercolor Art Board


Reference photo for Red's portrait

I scanned the portrait twice while I was working on it. At this stage, I had inked parts of it with black & brown Micron pens, painted the background with watercolor, lightly shaded the background with color pencil, and started with watercolor washes on Red.


Here I've completed most of the watercolor work. I did a little bit more detailing with watercolor and then completed the portrait with color pencil.


This is a detail of the portrait. Notice that I also used just a bit of lavender color pencil on top of the orange as accent. It doesn't show very well, but there's also a bit of orange on his nose.

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Materials used for "Red":
Watercolor Art Board
Micron Pens (black & brown ink)
Daniel Smith Watercolors
Prismacolor Colored Pencils
Krylon UV Resistant Clear Spray

You can find merchandise featuring Red on Zazzle and CafePress.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Yee Haw - I Rode a Steer!

Why? Because I could! Kimberly, a friend of mine, has been training her two steers for quite some time now. Her business is called "Howdy Moo to You" and they've been in parades and have entertained at parties and schools. Recently I ran into her (and the "Moo Boys") at an event and told her I'd love to ride one of them. The older one, Dozer can be ridden, while the younger one, Jazzy is still in training. So a few days ago, we met out at Traylor Ranch (where easy riding trails abound) and had a great time.





Dozer is an Irish Dexter steer and at 3-years-old is full grown. He's a very nice boy and didn't give us any trouble. He ambled along the trails at Traylor as we took turns riding him. Kimberly worked Jazzy (a longhorn) from the ground with long lines - he's still young and needs some more work before he can be reliably ridden. Jazzy came from Premier Longhorns - a company who specializes in riding steers.



Check out the videos of me aboard Dozer:





We decided that riding a steer is like riding a draft horse with pony legs. The gait is short, but not as choppy as we expected. Dozer only walked though, so I imagine a trot would be a bit rough. It was quite relaxing and slow-paced. Both steers were very calm and nothing seemed to fluster them - unlike horses! A noisy truck/transfer rig pulled into the parking lot just as I was starting to ride Dozer and it didn't phase him; many horses would have been spooked by that. It was also pretty windy - something that can get horses a little hyped up - but the steers couldn't have cared less.

Dozer is a little sluggish in responding to cues (the same ones you'd use on a horse - leg & rein) but I suspect that as he gets more miles under saddle, he'll be snappier. It was certainly a unique opportunity and I'm looking forward to doing it again. My friend Rachel & I are also planning to help Kimberly start riding Jazzy.

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