Thoroughbred….Finito

I left off around here from my last post in June. 



I procrastinated a lot because I really get scared when I know I have to paint hair.    Once I regained my focus, sat down and settled into " just keep it simple" .  Paint a strand at a time.  I was able to
get something down that resembled hair.



After the hurdle-of-the-hair…I could then get started on details!  Oh, how I love the details!  Because of that fact, I will probably never be able to paint a more flowy-moving watercolor abstract figure….but I can see myself trying.



It’s good to step back and take the whole picture in.  I wanted to get each piece (horse body, jockey, head, saddle) to the same level of completion as I went along.  Which is a little different for me, because I’ve been known to compartmentalize those sections.



I do like shadows, and I like folds!  As you can see, because the folds kept getting deeper.



After this picture was taken, I realized how little color the jockey has in his face.  I added more blush tones to his cheeks and lips.



If I were really good, I would do backgrounds with these beautiful animals….but I have zero confidence in my ability to paint decent backgrounds.  Hopefully I’ll level-up and do a background soon.



This is about as good as he’s gonna get…So  he’s off to the frame shop and the printer.  I’m going to see what this will look like printed out on watercolor poster paper.

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….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….Birds-n-Bridges

Lets hear it for Friday!!!



I have a thing for Cardinals, so during the July World Watercolor Challenge, I drew this candle holder.



On another day in July, I drew this bluejay off of an image on the internet.



You got me!!! This is not a bird, but she’s a bit of a beast!  A lovely beast….Our City has many artistic horses throughout town in honor of Horse Country or Derby…not sure which?  The program is called Gallopalooza.  Life size horse statues are painted colorfully and are bought by individuals or cooperations.



Took myself out to dinner last winter and found the perfect spot!



Bridges can be intimidating….but…the trick is to “see the patterns”, cuz they are there.



That same bridge, but on the Indiana side!  Beautiful day for drawing too

Horse Racing….Win

This has become for me the “Horse From Hell”!  Oops, can I say that on National TV  the web?  I only started this back in May.



The hand had to stay subtle.  I had to hold back from adding lots of detail.



I only water-colored and color pencil’d the horse’s body about 5 times.  Finally applied really dark brown watercolor by brush to really darken the area.  I think I was afraid of going too dark.



The picture has more shadows coming off of the body reflected on the green sash, but I just wasn’t seeing those too well, so I didn’t deepen the shadows.



I think I get why painting is so popular.  The beauty of watercolor painting is this, as I touch up all these little areas with so many different browns, I can keep holding onto the same brush, I don’t have to stop and grab a different colored pencil.  What a time saver.



Inspiration picture taken by me last year at Churchill Downs.



This turned out o.k. I think it’s even frame worthy.  Now that’ll cost a buck or two!

My daughter thinks it needs a background…but I say I’m trying to imitate Norman Rockwell!!  Haha

Horse Racing….Place….Head

Well, it’s pretty slow going around here with this Color-Sketch.  But with the small tidbits of time that I could draw, I focused on the head last week.



These views help me the most, my “tree-view” expands to the “forest-view”.



I bounced between watercolor pencils and colored pencils a lot in the straps.



He’s getting there……The mane on this guy will either make him or break him!!

Horse Racing….Place…Still

I evened out the horse color with a larger brush and a darker brown.  Which now means I have to “replace” the shadow lines.



Being super frustrated with my inability to draw the horses body consistently, I had to concentrate on something else.  I will need to go in and make the eye area more pronounced.  Glad this part came easier.



I love working in my kitchen….It gets lots of sun….all…day…long.  Natural light is always the best!



This is pretty much the standard look when I work…..the hard part is grabbing the correct pencil.  I’m surrounded by dozens of watercolor pencils mixed with even more regular colored pencils.  And there is a purpose to each.  At this point, when I’m doing more of the detail work…guess which pencil I grab?  Yep, the regular colored pencil one.



Now for the game……Can you spot the differences between the two pictures?