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….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!