Provenance: A private collection in Texas Created in 1976, at the very beginning of his career as a fine artist, Howard Terpning’s Making a Stand reveals the artist’s masterful way of painting light. “Light source and mood dictate color,” the artist explains in Terpning: Tribute to the Plains People. “Early morning and late afternoon light affect hues greatly. With everything, pine trees and grass, rivers and mountains, people and horses, we key to warms and cools.” Painter Harley Brown, author of Terpning, illuminates further: “Howard’s eye guides him, and the focus of the work confirms to him where the color should be. Nothing jumps all over the place. He subordinates some colors in order to pull the eye where he wants it. From experience he’s learned just how much accent to put on a given area. ‘Not too much flash. With color, there’s often trial and error, but definitely no painting by formula, [Terpning says]. Whatever it is, a rock, a horse’s head, buckskin, it must be painted as though it has never been painted before. We can’t rely on a painting we did in the past. Each painting is a brand-new experience…