Original Colored Pencil
Rising Stonehenge Paper, 90 lb. Natural, 16″ x 20″
Color Used: PS Light Umber
It’s been a little over a week since the last work was done on this painting. A number of things got in the way, not the least of which was a back injury this past Monday. It’s now Friday and this is the first artwork I’ve done for myself. I still haven’t stood at an easel mostly because standing is painful, but also because the twisting and movement required by the painting process have also been painful.
But today, this painting began whispering my name. After lunch, I yielded.
It was uncomfortable to sit at the computer with the drawing panel propped my lap, though, so I retreated to a more comfortable arrangement and worked from a printed photograph.
What that meant was that I didn’t have the access to the details that helped me figure out the head in the last previous session, so work was limited to values and general color layers.
I started with the head and the shadows on the neck under the head, but worked throughout the horse. I don’t think any area was completely missed today!
But most of the work involved laying in color with the broad side of my pencil to lay down a broad, even ‘wash’ of color. To smooth out the roughness, I then used a folded piece of tissue (the kind without lotion) to blend and smooth the area. That also allowed me to drag color out of the darker areas and into the surrounding areas. There’s nothing like a piece of tissue for creating those exquisitely subtle gradations. (One of these days, I’d like to try an entire under painting with the tissue application technique.)
Work happened in fits and starts today. I can only sit in one position or location for long without suffering the consequences. I’d just as soon not due muscle spasms again, thank you very much, so I got up and walked around a little bit every now again.
It didn’t seem like I put much time into the painting, but progress was made and I could see it when I finished for the day .
I did find some problems, namely with the muzzle and the lifted front hoof, but didn’t do anything with them. That work and the detailed work is going to have to wait until I feel better.
With this work session, I engaged in ‘fix-up’ work.
The front hoof had been bothering me for some time, so the first thing I did when I got to work on this was to review the hoof and pastern as drawn, compare it to an enlarged digital reference image, then make the necessary corrections.
The first step in that process was removing as much color as possible from that area. A little bit of sticky stuff warmed and worked in my hand, then shaped into a small tip and the job was done.
Then I redrew the hoof and pastern until it was correct. That required a couple of cycles of lift and apply, but I did get it more correct. I also did a little bit of ‘farrier’ work by reshaping and resizing the hoof, which I’d drawn much too large.
After that, I used the same color to begin shading up into the rest of that leg and into the chest. Just for a break, I also did a little additional shading in the body, attempting to bring those two areas into completion at a uniform rate.
©Copyright 2010 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.