Step by Step Horse Painting

Dear DA: Please make title field longer!

I didn't want to put this under tutorials, but I had so many notes about each step, that I didn't want to put it in scraps either. So, Libra-like, here it sits somewhere inbetween. I finished a painting today called "West of the Fields" but I haven't been able to take a good picture of it yet. So, enjoy this sneak a peek!

#1 - Bob Langrish is a wonderful and prolific horse photographer. You can't pick up one a horse calendar without seeing his work. I really like this photo of a Paint.

#2 - Sometime in spring 2005, I did a marker sketch of the photo. As you can see, it was quickly done :-D

#3 - Sometime in summer, I decide to do a painting based on the sketch. I check the proportions between the sketch and the photo, then make a better drawing on a larger sheet of paper. I tone a 18x24" canvas with light blue acrylic paint, then draw my grid and the outline of the horse. At this point, I should say, after you have drawn out your subject, erase the gridlines with a white eraser. Don't try to paint over them, as I did, as they will show through. Brush the eraser dust thoroughly from the canvas.

#4 - I painted green around the horse where the grass would be, but I wish I had painted it solely with raw sienna instead of green. Later on, it was hard to work yellows against the green. Sometimes it is easier to work from light to dark. Use the right brush for the job - I used a 1" brush in steps #4 and #5. Don't paint large areas with a little brush.

#5 - Added raw sienna to the grass area. The point of using a reference photo is for reference. I did not want to make a copy of Mr. Langrish's photo, so I eliminated the trees and used my own photographs that I had taken of fields in Alberta for the background. As you can also see, the markings differ.

#6 - I very lightly paint in the shape of the horse and where its markings will go with a finer brush. I use a colour that will resemble the finished colour so it is easier to paint over. Use lots of water here, so you can wash the acrylic away easily if you make a mistake.

#7 - A combination of burnt sienna and raw sienna is mixed together for the body. Don't try to apply colour all at once. It will take 2-3 coats to cover the area and the background colour.

#8 - The horse with three coats of sienna for the body. It's nice and solid. I also try to knock the background back by layering more yellow and raw sienna over the green grass. This was actually how I left the painting for a few months. I thought there were problems with it and put it aside as I lost interest in it.

#9 - By December, my interest in it had returned and I started fixing up some of the mistakes. The legs seemed longer than they should be, and the angle of the hind legs, when I rechecked with the photograph, was wrong. White areas are added. I did not make these solid white, but let some blue show through for contrast. It looks really subtle. White areas can't be rushed either. Making the white areas "super white" would also make the painting odd. I used burnt sienna by itself to add darks to the body with a medium sized brush and just a little water so I could blend.

#10 - While deciding what to do with the legs, I work on the mane and tail. At this point I realize that I wish I had made the horse about a half inch to the right - I'm going to run out of room for the tail, so I try keep it realistic without going off the canvas. At this point, I hear the painting loud and clear - it's not going to be super-realistic like a photo, so I take some liberties with the mane and tail and make them round and gentle. The personality of the subject starts to appear and I aim for gentleness and roundness in the rest of the body. Cautiously, I work in the hind legs. Details in the background appear. Shading is added to the horse with burnt umber and cyan. Mixing brown and blue makes interesting blacks. Also, you can see that the horse's ear is too far out. In the next picture, it is painted over and a new ear painted in. That's why you paint lightly :-D

#11 - The back legs turn out better than I hoped. They're still not perfect, but they're not horrendous either. The shape of the flank is wrong, but still passable. You can see where I corrected the front leg by moving it up. The head emerges.

#12 - The gap left in the front leg area is filled in and I start trying to correct the other front leg.

#13 - The problem with the front leg is that it is too long. I try to fix this by moving the knee up and shortening the leg, but it still looks funny.

#14 - The front leg is finished, the blue of the sky is bumped up so it isn't a thin wash anymore, and more white is added to the clouds. Details are added to the legs and face, the mane is tidied up, and she's done! While there are problems with the horse's anatomy, they aren't super bad, and the painting is still pleasing to look at. I know at this point, this is the best I can do - and next time will definitely be better