Thursday, October 13, 2011

Horse painting work in progress

Full Tilt • 16 x 12 • acrylic WORK IN PROGRESS


This one has changed quite a bit since I posted the first version. Something about it was bugging me; the horse didn’t seem to have as much energy as I wanted, so I kept playing with the color. Then after really studying my reference photo and comparing it to my painting, I realized that the horse’s chest was too broad, and the angles of his front legs were wrong, especially his left front leg. It needed to be much more slanted. So I drew the legs over, using black paint for the outline, filling the leg shape with blue, which was the underpainting for the horse, then painted in the negative space around his legs with red (a mixture of naphthol red and vermilion), which is the underpainting color for the grassy areas ... et voilà, THAT’s the energy I was looking for! I got it back by correcting the angle of the legs.

Here’s the painting with the old legs superimposed on it, and then the corrected version, so you can see the difference.


Check back again tomorrow for more work on this!


4 comments:

Virginia Floyd said...

He's a beauty!

It took me several seconds of looking to see what changes you made. It's subtle, but you are correct. It does add energy to his movement. Can't wait to see it finished.

Anonymous said...

Love your art---Ive got a bunch of horses and see the prob w your horse noted above--try raising up the area between the two front legs--the depth is too deep still doesnt look quite correct--everything else looks great--just a suggestion--keep up the beautiful work!!!!

Karen M Schmidt said...

Thanks, Virginia! I've been pulled away from the easel for too long, itching to get back to it ... maybe I can finish this one today!

Hi, Anonymous! I think you accidently put this comment on one of my older posts, "Stop and Smell the Spider Lilies," so I copied it here. Thanks for the tip, and for your encouragement!

Paintings of Horses said...

Even the unfinished work is still beautiful. Nice work!