Makin' the Catch

A couple of posts back I posted this photo from the Will James Ranch Rodeo I was at a couple of weeks ago. I felt that this shot would make a great watercolor. I wanted to capture the feeling of the motion, the running of the horse and the heifer, and of course the lariat sailing through the air, rather that paint a static, frozen in time version as captured in the photo. The question I submitted was whether to paint it as is, "A Miss", as in the photo or to help the fella out a bit. Here's the result.

I figured the best way to get the feeling of motion was to blur things a bit and to make it a bit more sketchy. I think it'll do for starters.

With all of the shots I took I have a lot of material to work with so I'm just going to keep on trying. Below is another attempt. I think this one turned out better.

I'll keep posting them as I go and we'll see if they continue to improve.