Tag Archives: horse painting

Happy New Year! Newf watercolor and Dressage Painting

January 5th, 2010 | Posted in Deborah O'Sullivan

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Now it is back to our regularly scheduled programmimg! :) I took a holiday break and now I am back to work in the studio.
I have some interesting blog posts coming up.. so stay tuned!
I’ve  got a wonderful new easel…The Cheap Joe’s Signature Field Easel which I will review here with photos. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this easel
I will review a book that a wonderful author/friend wrote. The book is titled Memoirs of a Bathtub Psychic be Betanne Elion. I know it is not about art (although she is an artist, too) but this book is a wonderful read.
I will be posting more about the painting process itself. Lots of WIPS and commentary on techniique and answers to some of my most frequently asked questions.

I am looking forward to creating some wonderful new art this year.  Here is the start of this work in progress. This is very large 30 x 22 (full sheet) watercolor. This is the initial stages of glazes …lots more work to be done on this. After doing so many large pieces last year I have been wanting go larger!

I also have a couple of pieces that I had started that got put aside as commissions and pressing commitments came in. One of them is Newfoundland pup that has been haunting me. I started the painting.. early last year (I think) and as I was organizing the studio it’s cute little eyes (which I had almost finished painting) were peering at me over a stack of canvases. This one I will finish this week. I got a huge chunk completed last night.

The eyes are almost completed here. This painting will require a lot of glazing. This is my typical portrait style watercolor . I thoroughly enjoy doing these and I haven’t done many of late because of my many acrylic painting commitments. I need to take my time at this point to lay done the initial washes of color. This will help to creath depth as the painting progresses and the values deepen. So does anyone recognize WHO this little Newf pup is?

Enjoying the process!

Deborah

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Deborah O’Sullivan
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©Copyright 2009 by Deborah O’Sullivan. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Horse Racing in Colored Pencil

September 13th, 2009 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

With a trip to Michigan looming and some impatience with oil painting permeating the studio, I decided to look for something to do that would advance studio goals, provide a road trip project and give me a break from oil painting.

Enter colored pencils, a horse racing scene and a new project.

The project is based on the photograph above, which was taken at Mt. Pleasant Meadows, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan May 16, 1998. The focus of this project is the number 3 horse and rider. The working title is Chestnut Number 3, though I confess to also considering the pair in the background. Maybe some other time….

The painting is going to be on a fawn colored sheet of Rising Stonehenge printmaking paper. Rising Stonehenge is about my favorite surface for colored pencil work. This will be the first time I’ve used this particular color, but it’s a perfect fit with the color scheme of this painting.

I spent most of the afternoon working out a cropped drawing based on the composition I thought I wanted, which would have been a head and shoulders crop of the horse with the rider. But the horses are already passed the finish line, so the jockey is standing in the stirrups, automatically setting up a vertical composition.

The more I worked this idea, the better I liked it. Having the lines of the horse fade at the bottom and left will focus the attention where I want it. Those ‘fading’ areas should also provide some interesting opportunities for fading color rather than having the composition go all the way to the edge of the paper.

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Thirty Days!

May 1st, 2009 | Posted in Linda Shantz


Is it the end of April already? One thing about being busy, time really flies by. What a difference this Thirty Days compared with the first one in November – I felt like things just improved in leaps and bounds. I guess painting 25 new paintings will do that. I’m kind of sad that I can’t just carry on – but it does really mean a schedule adjustment for me, and I need to do some catching up on the big paintings. Won’t be long until I do it again though – June is the next month that fits the criteria!

This is 5 x 7 oil on masonite panel, limited palette, prepared with the marble dust and gesso. Another sleepy baby, napping in the sun to wrap up a month of growing, and growing up!

Tomorrow I’ve got a bit of a surprise – or maybe not a surprise, if you follow me on Twitter. There’s going to be a bonus horse painting to celebrate Kentucky Derby week. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it! It’s going to be fun. So I’ll see you tomorrow, right?

©Copyright 2009 by Linda Shantz. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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She’s Pink!

April 17th, 2009 | Posted in Donna Ridgway

A few days ago, I felt honored when Linda Shantz asked me to create a guest blog post for her blog. She asked me a few days ahead of the needed post, so I had plenty of time to create a horse painting for her blog.

You can find Linda’s blog by clicking her name above. You’ll enjoy her work, she paints a lot of thoroughbreds, and she also paints dogs… Oh yes, she’s also writing a very good book!

So take a minute, and check out her blog, you’ll see my work in progress, along with her wonderful paintings and stories of the horses she’s caring for.

Donna Ridgway
PS, I’ll be posting this pink lady in my Etsy store. You can purchase her there. I can just see her in a little girls room!

Tweet Me a Ridgway Studio Update!

©Copyright 2009 by Donna Ridgway. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Dressage Work In Progress

March 5th, 2009 | Posted in Deborah O'Sullivan

I am posting several images of the progression of this acrylic Dressage painting. I went into this painting without any sort of plan what so ever. Not a good idea…it has gone through many changes and has been a bit of a compositional challenge. I need to get rid of that low fence line..I have added a planter of flowers to break up the line… I need to stare at it for a while. You never know where this one will end up! I welcome discussion or thoughts on where to go compositionaly on this! All images are clickable for an enlarged view

©Copyright 2009 by Deborah O’Sullivan. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Daily Painting Twice Over

March 4th, 2009 | Posted in Sue Steiner

I had painted this horse as a daily painting back in Oct. or Nov. It was done as a study in monochromatic tones as one of my first Daily Paintings posted on this blog. Some of you may remember I started the daily paintings for two reasons: 1. to get more practise with oils 2. to relieve stress. I had turned off the news as the election got very heated and then the stock market went wacko. I think I was on information overload hearing all the bad news. The feelings of anxiety, stress and uncertainty were being compounded by all negative messages from the the media. I found the daily paintings to be relaxing as well as a very good artistic exercise and was reminded that art has value in its positive contribution to our society and personally because it IS stress relieving! I have been painting non stop ever since! :)

I have sold some daily paintings at my art studio in Canton or over the Internet thru pay pal by e-mailing me at artbysue@hotmail.com . I have a couple that I decided I wanted to go back to and revisit. So today I used the first ‘daily painting’ as an undercoat and decided to liven this one up. I had fun with colors and turned him into more of a fantasy horse. He kind of reminds me of cotton candy! A carnival horse, maybe?? I think I am going to call this one ‘If Wished Were Horses’. As a horse crazy little girl horses held quite an attraction for me ever since I remember. I can not remember a time in which I was NOT horse crazy! So this is for all the woman, kids and anyone else who still holds dear the magic qualities that horses have over us!

‘Blu 4 U’, oils on hardboard, daily painting

I added some pink tones and brightened up the eyes of my sad little pup in the painting titled ‘Blu 4 U’. I wanted him to have puppy dog eyes but think the addition of some warmth adds some life to him.

To see more animal, wildlife, pet and horse art go to http://www.suesteiner.com

©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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10.27.08

October 27th, 2008 | Posted in Sue Steiner

This is today’s painting. It would be what is considered a ’study’- a quick rough sketch that can be developed into a finished painting at another time. To see finished work go to http://www.suesteiner.com/

©Copyright 2008 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Sue Steiner’s website.

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Impressionistic Horse, A Painting A Day 10.26.08

October 27th, 2008 | Posted in Sue Steiner

I painted this bay mare as part of a equine painting challenge on http://www.wetcanvas.com/ , a forum for artists. The idea is to do painting exercises as a way to grow and learn. In this case the painter was Munnings and the painting is his Bay Mare was used as an example. Its quite humbling to set a master painter up as your own standard but also a great learning experience. One of the things I hope to accomplish is to be more fluid in my painting and what I liked here was having the horses as part of an environment rather than it just being a painting of a horse. These exercises are also done in short periods of time which pushes you to be more efficient with brush strokes. I am enjoying exploring a looser style of painting which I hope to further develop as time goes on.
I am working in oils so in the photo above the paint is still quite wet and creates a glare. I apologize for the poor quality image but with this exercise the idea is to paint a painting a day and move on. This was done in a bout 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Later on, some of these maybe used as a study for a larger more complete painting.
You can see my finished work at http://www.suesteiner.com

©Copyright 2008 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Sue Steiner’s website.

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Horse Painting A Day

October 21st, 2008 | Posted in Sue Steiner

I am doing a horse painting a day, give or take a day, for a change of pace and something fun. Here’s what I did yesterday. These are 3 of my 5 horses out on pasture. I loved how the sun reflected off of their coats and the contrast between the bright green grass and deep dark greens in the trees behind my pasture. My goals are to do my drawing right on the canvas with the wet oil paint, keep it loose– as in not overly detailed or realistic- more impressionistic, and just have some fun with this. The paintings are to be basically completed in one day so I can’t get too overly fussy with them. I do also paint in a more realitic style which obviously takes more time than a day. If you are interested in seeing that you can find it on my web site at http://www.suesteiner.com/
I also did a quick sketch of my weanling colt yesterday, although in this sketch he looks more like a yearling. Isn’t he pretty?? :) His name is Ricco and he is a doll baby!!

©Copyright 2008 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Sue Steiner’s website.

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Gaea and Ferendo – Andalusian Mare and Foal – Featured in Painting by Equine Artist Karen Brenner

October 12th, 2008 | Posted in Karen Brenner

Everyone loves a mare and foal! Gaea and Ferendo were crowd favorites at the Fiesta Midwest, and when it was their turn to gallop through the field for people to take photos we were all snapping away! These sweet bay Andalusians created quite a stir! And this painting features the dynamic duo.

Gaeia and Ferendo belong to Gabi, who breeds wonderful Andalusians at her farm, Yeguada Romerito. Fiesta Midwest 2008 was spearheaded by Gabi; she and her team of volunteers created a fantastic event! I hope there will be a Fiesta Midwest 2009.

Gabi’s stallion, Romerito, is part of the Beautiful Horses of Michigan series, and I just started the drawing phase of his painting yesterday.

[Photos are posted at www.karenbrenner.com/blog.html]

©Copyright 2008 by Karen Brenner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Karen Brenner’s website.

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Side-Saddle Watercolor

September 17th, 2008 | Posted in Kathi Peters

It has been a while since my last post…The Skyline Farm art exhibit went off well last week. It is always so gratifying to see the works all hung and then stand back and take in all the beautiful artwork that is year’s Maine artists sent for the show “Fertile Ground”. The work was mostly landscapes…..but all off Maine. My co-curator for this show, Karen Pettengill, and I hung it all in record time. I guess we have had enough practise over the years…and have always worked well together. We have worked together in a green house, as grooms for a four-in-hand driver and now this!
I managed to get works shipped out last week and then my husband and our Corgi and I headed over to New Hampshire to see my brother and his family. It was a long week for me…but fun and I survived it!!!
Today I finished this watercolor and then I attacked my studio mess…..I feel like I deserve a break now, so I am headed out to mow lawn. This grass must stop growing soon…??!! but I think I I like mowing over shovelling snow!
“Kentucky Side Saddle” is 15 x 10″ and is a watercolor on watercolor board. The rider looked so comfortable on her horse, as she sat talking to folks. I HAD to paint her. The watercolor is more about her than her horse, though he was a handsome fellow.

©Copyright 2008 by Kathi Peters. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Kathi Peters’s website.

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Buddy Study #2, Part 2

August 30th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Buddy Study #2
6″ x 4″ on Unstretched Artfix Canvas

This is the finished under painting.

At least it’s as finished as I can make it for the present.

I have used the same two colors, Titanium White and Raw Umber, to model Buddy’s head and neck, paying particular attention to the areas that will be most identifiable.

At this stage of the process, I am building detail through a series of steadily more specific development of lights and darks.

The goal is to create as finished a portrait as possible using only two colors. This allows me to develop the ‘look’ of Buddy and an accurate likeness to Buddy without worrying about color. That will come later.

I think this painting is at that point, but I won’t know for sure until it has had time to set for a few days and to dry completely. The Labor Day weekend should be just the right amount of time for that.

When I get back to the studio, I will be able to review it with a fresh eye and decide whether it’s time to go for the color, or if the under painting needs to be tweaked just a little bit more.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Black Morgan, Part 4

August 20th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

WIP (work in progress) painting of a black Morgan horse copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.Today was sort of a “two steps backward and one step forward” day for this piece.

It was the third Wednesday of the month, which meant it was the regular day for the Colored Pencil Circle at the Carriage Factory Gallery.

That meant it was time to pull out this black Morgan mare and put in another hour. As a reminder, this is a colored pencil on black Rising Stonehenge paper.

To begin with, I used a Prismacolor Clear blender to blend the greens because I thought they were competing a little bit too much with the horse. That smoothed and blurred some of the sharper edges and was supposed to create a smoother color layer. That part didn’t work and I discovered the blender was so old it was starting to dry out.

After I was finished with the blender, I used Limepeel applied in close horizontal strokes to further smooth out the color fields in both the trees and the grass. That was followed with Yellow Chartreuse applied in vertical strokes over all of the greens.

I did use a little bit of Dark Umber and Dark Green, as well, but the greens are too dark, so I want to continue to focus on lightening those areas more.

The little bit of work I did on the horse revolved around the head and the tail, both of which I lightened with Cloud Blue in the cool areas and Yellow Ochre in the warm areas.

I will probably need to bring the painting home and work on it from the reference photo on my computer so that I can enlarge it enough to see details. Hopefully that will happen before the next Colored Pencil circle, but with my schedule looking the way it currently looks, that may be more than I can manage.

It is somewhat frustrating to work on the same piece month after month and for only an hour at a time. It does seem to be a process that works, though. Each time I take out the painting for the next work session, it looks better than I expected it to.

I fully expect to take it out one of these months and realize it’s done!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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The Horse Gift panel update

June 25th, 2008 | Posted in Bethany Caskey

Ruffian

Basic colors have been added except for the bottom of the whip, the eye, and the bridle. Palette has added Mars Brown, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber. I am quickly running out of time to complete the painting and get it shipped. You can check on the mural as panels arrive at:

http://muralmosaic.com/Cadeau.html

©Copyright 2008 by Bethany Caskey. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Bethany Caskey’s website.

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October Skies Part 8

June 17th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Horse painting in progress by Carrie LewisOctober Skies continues to take shape. Now that I am working on the horse, though, progress has slowed.

Last evening, I closed out the studio day by working the horse’s head. Beginning with the ears, I blocked everything in using a mixture of Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Yellow. I paid special attention to the ears, where I started, and the rest of the head, since that will be the area that best identifies October Skies.

But I also built color, shape and form into the neck, chest, shoulders and front legs.

The legs are causing some problems. The more work I do on the horse, the less correct they seem. In this painting session, three of the four were adjusted in some way. The front legs looked better when I finished the adjustments. That off-side hind leg still isn’t quite correct.

While I like the way the head looks in this detail shot of the painting, I am still bothered by the legs. It is looking more and more like I may need to paint them out altogether and repaint them. Two steps forward, one step back! Such is the life of an artist!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Update

June 4th, 2008 | Posted in Judy Johnson

Painting by Judy Johnson

It’s been awhile since I have been able to get to work at the easel- too busy riding and training for a long distance ride. Priorities! But before I left this one I had done a lot more work on the figure. She became a composite of my young friend and me, just as well that it has become more a universal image perhaps. I am eager to get back to this one, but all in good time.

©Copyright 2008 by Judy Johnson. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Judy Johnson’s website.

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