This is a personal piece I painted for my girlfriends father. He works as a bartender for The American Legion in Winfield, Kansas. I thought the lighting was great so I snagged a couple photographs of these veterans chatting it up at the bar.

After my initial drawing of the reference photo I had to start over a couple times. I usually draw from my head so it was difficult to push my limits of realism. In the end I think it was worth the frustration.

All brush work done with the Artist Oils Brushes in Painter Essentials 3. A bit of Photoshop touch up near the end.