A horse named Sophie

horse painting WORK-IN-PROGRESS • 18 x 24 inches • oil on GessobordTM

Here’s where I had to stop today on this portrait of Sophie, who lives in Arkansas. 

I love her delicate face, so sweet, but with just a glint of mischief in her eye!

Because of the large size, and because (being a portrait) I wanted to get the proportions just right, before starting the sketch I drew a light grid with a regular No. 2 pencil on my board, corresponding to lines I had drawn on the photo that Sophie’s mom emailed me. Then I commenced to drawing, starting with Sophie’s nearest eye and working my way out from there.

 I was loving drawing so much that it was a little hard to put the pencil down and start my underpainting …

 … with Mars Black acrylic (mixed with glazing medium in those large “washy” areas). Note that I defined the shapes of the tree branches by painting in the negative space around them. I love doing trees this way.

After the black was dry, I filled in the three main areas, woods, pasture, and Sophie herself, with glazes of magenta, Prussian blue, and Naples yellow.

Here I’ve added a cadmium yellow light glaze to the parts of Sophie that will be her cream coloring, and a magenta glaze to her darker, tan areas. I used that same yellow glaze to warm up the tree trunks and branches.

I also added a little cerulean blue glaze around her eyes, on the inside of her ear and on the front of her nose.

Next, I darkened the woodsy background with Prussian blue glaze in the spaces between the tree branches. Then I added a very light magenta glaze all over Sophie.

After the acrylic underpainting was dry, I started in with the oil paints, keeping things nice and LOOSE!

And here’s a close-up of Sophie’s face at the point where I had to stop today.

Check back to see where this painting ends up!