A neighboring estancia owner asked Lucas to ride over and collect a pony. We spent part of the day at the ranch, enjoying Argentine hospitality, before turning homeward as the weather shifted. The clouds thickened, and bands of light broke across the Patagonian steppe. This landscape is quintessential eastern Patagonia: wide valleys that rise into high, flat plateaus, with the first shoulders of the Andes in the distance. Lucas, wrapped in a patterned poncho against the wind, leads the chestnut pony across a field of violet bunchgrass and sun-scorched ochre earth. In the foreground, palette knife strokes carve into the paint, capturing the thicker scrub in textured color, while other areas soften into quieter passages that let the dramatic sky set the mood. Painted in oil on linen and framed with care, the piece stands at the intersection of portrait and landscape, portraying gaucho life against the vast immensity of Patagonia.