Dark Horse

I recently discovered a mystery series by Craig Johnson, set in Wyoming, about Sheriff Walt Longmire. I like them all very much, but I think my favorite is The Dark Horse. I always like to know about the person behind the books, so I went snooping around Johnson's website (http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/) and found a lot of great photos of him in his home town of Ucross, Wyoming, including the one upon which this painting is based. Johnson calls it "the traffic stop."

I don't know if Mr. Johnson or his friends and family would recognize him from this--hard to get facial details when working at a small size--but I had fun painting it. And horses are hard! They have so many bumps and concavities, they make human portraiture look easy by comparison. I'd like to try a few more.