Now that I am filling in the tree line and meadow, you can see a little more experimentation in style: to the left is more detailed and to the right is more abstract.
Second thing is to start laying in the backgrounds, varying the sharpness and detail of the sky, tree trunks, manure and the bull's shadow. Not much to see yet.
First thing is to trace the bull on 4 pieces of watercolor paper (the cheap stuff, since this is an experiment) and masque over the bulls so that I can paint wildly (or not) on the backgrounds.
The new year is a time to experiment. I am taking a fairly simple photograph (of the neighbor's longhorn) and will do a series of 5x7's with varying degrees of realism.