And so it begins

Every year I make the conquest to enter the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Art Contest. Each year I find a picture I like (or in the case of this year, have the picture picked out for me). The past years I have done my work in the best medium there is: pencil. But this year my teacher wanted me to try oils because my pencil drawings were, shall we say, shunned for the "brighter" pictures. So I shall take you step by step on my climactic journey. Starting with the very first sketch. This sketch is to pretty much be my guideline when painting. This is an unfinished sketch. I have already redrawn the horses legs and the cowboy quite a few times.