Thoroughbred….Bridle

I left off around here from my last post.  I need to step back and take the drawing/watercolor in as I proceed.  Helps to see what needs to be done next.



The horse’s head, first I need to make sure the straps and buckles make sense before I apply the watercolor.



Then I put a light yellow wash down on all those straps.



Since I was in the vicinity…..I adjusted some of the snout pigment using all my browns and purple.  I’m always surprised at how versatile purple is!  It’s probably   my favorite underlying color. 



This ring was bugging me, so I got out my circle stencil and adjusted the lines a bit.  But the problem coming up next…. is it’s a perspective circle….meaning it’s not straight on.  

Hopefully, I can just trick the eye here!  Haha.

Thoroughbred….Eye

I’ve enhanced my jockey a little from where I left off in the last post.  I’ll need to go back in and push the shadows and folds darker soon.



I seem to be all over the place with this horse, not working in sections like I had in my previous horse.



The horse’s eye was creeping me out, it looked like a ghost’s eye…so I skipped ahead to give it some life.



The straps and harnesses on this horse are all dark…but I liked the lighter strap lines from the previous horse.  I will pull in my creative license and try to change the dark brown straps to tan.  Bummer…that I changed my mind here, cuz I already laid down some rust color for that strap on the upper left side.



These two are starting to take shape now.  I’m trying to lay down color overall, before I get too carried away with the details!

Thoroughbred….Jockey

Mr. Jockey started off this way from the wash stage.



Went in for some mindless coloring….which shouldn’t be a problem, but all my reds seem to be too pink or too coral.  I have no plain-red!



I must’ve been feeling fearless, because I started in on the goggles.  So much color and reflection going on there…possibly I wasn’t so much fearless as the goggles are forgiving.



Started layering color in by brush for the face.  Then evened out the color in the helmet.



I’m surprised that with each piece I must re-learn how good these watercolor pencils are for bringing in contour and depth to sensitive areas, like the face.  I seem to forget.



He still has a lot of work ahead of him….or rather me!!  But I’m liking his look so far.

Thoroughbred….Folds

This is where I left off from the last post.  Just getting started on the folds in the five saddle 
sash….(whatever it’s called!  Haha)



And working the cylinder of the boots and the folds of the pants.



If I remember correctly from my last horse….I’ll be bringing in India Ink to get those blacks darker.  Watercolor is very translucent.  It gets pretty redundant to keep adding black watercolor on top of black watercolor and it still won’t get as dark as you think it should be.



I’ve gotta be careful here, because I have about 7 tubes of various blue watercolors, and some of them are on the more turquoise side.



The horse and jockey are coming together well, so far.  I tend to save the really hard parts for last, like the body of the horse.

Thoroughbred….Wash

All I can say is…. “it was time”.   Time to draw another beautiful race horse.  When my family came in town for some Kentucky Derby activities, I asked my son for my framed horse back for the occasion.  Since the framed horse is such a monster, It took up too much room in my previous home.  It measures 49 inches wide by 36 inches tall (framed).  I consider it my best piece to date.



It was 4 years ago that I completed that horse, and I’m curious if I can repeat the challenge of making another.  I’ve been doing much smaller, “en plein air” drawings and haven’t felt the push to do something this big in awhile.

NOTE: Crescent #114 watercolor illustration board 30 x 40

First things first!  Get that wash down.



Then I started drawing with WATERCOLOR pencils.  There is a lot of play and adaptation with watercolor pencils versus straight brush work.    Good for us more realistic drawers/ painters.  I will bring out the Faber-castell regular colored pencils later, when it’s time for the finer detail work.



That stippling you see, will be smoothed out by applying water with a paintbrush. Gotta be careful here, cuz too much water will play havoc.

Plein Air….Plants

Hello….Spring!!



I really enjoy this view from my study in my new house.



So, one day I tried to capture it.



I first, just got some basic shapes down, and lots of green for those trees.



When I was done, I went back in and outlined with my micro pen.  The above portion is not outlined and the lower portion was.  I prefer to outline but I don’t dislike the look when it’s not.



Here’s my cactus for my daily Watercolor month last July. 



My front door with a potted plant that stayed strong the entire summer!



My Christmas tree sans ornaments.



Here’s a truck from a flower farmer (@floretflower) that I follow on instagram.  Drawn from my ipad feed.



And most recently, my precious plant that was given to me a few years ago.  Grown from a cut off of my grandmothers stock.  A most interesting house plant that can handle my neglect.

Now, I’m off to enjoy this nice weather!

Fun Flowers in watercolor

Took the above picture at Chelsea Market during my trip to NYC!  Just looking at this makes me hopeful for an early beautiful spring.



Did some simple watercolor doodles in my moleskine one day….



Took that same page 6 months later and expanded on it.  Amazing that I really have to look for the original forms.



Got one of my fun stencils out…and wanted to do a hawaiian type of design inside the petals.



Then I put in a black and white background.  Fun illustration practice.  I’ll do something like this again.



No stencils here…just illustrated floral doodles.



Then the fun part…..coloring



Used a simple stencil to create the leaves, then colored in…I wanted to see how this inexpensive watercolor set holds up and if it looks vivid or watered out.  I think it held up rather well!

Plein Air….Structure

My back porch is THE place that I gain Calmness!  Drew this for the July World Watercolor challenge.



I’m an inspiration “junkie”!  I’ve had this little Angel for more than 10 years! 



Since I wasn’t in Rome painting this weekend, I painted the next best thing.



My view from my desk chair, and just trying to keep things loose.



It’s really all about perspective…. and my entertainment center gave me lots of practice.



Headed out to a local park last Fall and drew this helicopter.  I’m trying to take advantage of those beautiful day, in a drawing kind of way! 



I’m on board to “Make America Great Again”!  But apparently I miscounted the stripes!