Ox painting, third and fourth attempt

Having realized that my attempt in painting an ox resulted in a painting of a lamb with Dumbo ears, I was determined to give another try.

To remedy the identified shortcomings of my last two ox paintings, I obviously had to make the ears smaller, but I also decided to make the horns having a pronounced upward turn, to shy away from getting confused with the head of a lamb.  I decided to situate my ox in grass, to give it a little context.

I painted the mouth and nostrils, rendering them a dark shade because I was very conscious of avoiding  the pig like snout.

Instead of a rigid triangle for the ridge of the nose, I took the more conventional avenue of shading in the ridge.  The shading brushstroke also defined the white area suggesting the front of the nose and mouth.  I liked this rendition far better than my previous attempts.  

I also decided to dress up the eyes a little better by giving them eyelids.

I realized that I lost sight of my moisture control of my brush, so the ink was bleeding more than I had intended.

My inattention was further exemplified by left front leg, which was fit for an elephant.  Instead of a hoof, I put down a meaty pachyderm foot pad.

At least the beast was animated enough to bestow an attitude, an energetic disposition.

Encouraged by the palpable improvements, I decided to give it another go.

I wanted to try a different treatment of the mouth and nostrils this time around, so I left the area as a void.

Through looking at pictures of a cow, I became aware that the area between the nostrils and the mouth opening had different colors and texture, and was not a simple black or white.  Armed with this revelation, I tried to emulate.

The eyelids were made conspicuous and protruding by judicious use of shading brushstrokes, which were nothing more than a few lines.  

The repeated exercises in painting the same animal had definitely improved my muscle memory and I learned what to avoid, as far as making mistakes was concerned.  I could see painting maturing with each attempt.

I had tried four times now, trying to paint my ox.