“Back in Blue”

A cowboy's face beneath a wide-brim hat, pulled together from drips and dragged lines of black. The features are only half there, a brim, a nose, a mouth, and your eye fills in the rest.Behind him, Payne's gray is brushed on in smoky sweeps of blue, dark at the edges and opening to light around the face. It feels less like a portrait than a memory of someone coming back into view.Signed original, one of one. 18x24 in, Payne's gray and carbon black acrylic on cold-pressed watercolor paper. Sold unframed.