When I first started this piece, I wanted to create something that represented Texas but in a different setting. That's when I got the idea to incorporate mountains in my work. In the first picture, I used a road photo and used a layer mask to go around the edges with a soft brush. In the second picture, I used a background of mountains and placed that layer behind the road layer. To blend the images smoothly together, I then used a brush, took the hardness down, and brushed part of the road to blend better. In the third piece, I wanted to add a cool sky. At first, I would add space to the sky, but I then decided I wanted to add another element, so I added the Texas sunset

In the first picture, I placed a longhorn picture and used a layer mask to clean up the edges. I used my adjustments tool to take down the brightness and created a new layer to add shadows on the longhorn to establish my light sources. In the second picture, I added Big Tex to be the main subject in my piece. I made him brighter to draw the most attention to him. I used a harder brush to make the road a little darker where it ended and increased the brightness on Big Tex. I then created another layer to add a shadow from the sky into Big Tex to reflect the light. Using my eyedropper tool, I used it to grab colors from the sky to paint the reflection on to his face to finalize my piece. I decided to add Big Tex to my piece because Texas is famous for the State Fair so I thought it was be an unique addition.