"First Light" - a Christmas Painting

Otis the Wonder Dog and I were up early this Christmas morning. He had puppy toys to unwrap and I had a painting to finish. With the floor covered in bouncy noisy toys and shredded wrapping paper (Otis' favorite part), he finally had enough Christmas fun for the morning and climbed up on the couch for a nap.

"First Light" 12x18 acrylic

With a small block of uninterrupted easel time ahead, I put out some new paint and dove in. This frozen winter landscape has been getting the bulk of my attention for about a week. I was a bit unsure about whether or not to put the whitetail in the painting. I considered a great-horned owl or a northern harrier. I also considered leaving it a pure landscape with no critters at all (my recent work seems to be leaning that way). In the end, I opted for the feeding buck, wanting to keep the quiet, early morning feel in the painting. The head-down attitude of the buck and pushing him back into the middleground of the painting helps give the painting calm and relaxed mood.
Two hours after I smeared in my first blob of paint, it was finished. I had not planned to get this far today, so it's a nice Christmas surprise to have it listed as "complete".
Merry Christmas everyone!