The raw panel as received from the project (left), and a Photoshop rough of the composition (right). The panel is 16 x 16″.

After Big Brown’s loss on Saturday, I don’t feel quite as frantic about getting that painting done. Hey, I still love the horse, but I don’t know if the rest of the public does! He’ll need to prove himself all over again in the Travers (or The Haskell) and the Breeder’s Cup Classic to get all the fans back on the bandwagon and ready to buy art. So I’m taking a day off from it to do a little work on my panel from the Le Cadeau du Cheval (”The Horse Gift”) mural mosaic project.

Since this purkle panel arrived, I’ve had it propped up in the studio, waiting for inspiration to strike. Nothing really hit me. But when I look at those electric purple, pink, and blue tones, I’m reminded of theatrical lighting, so that’s the direction I took. I’ve done a bit of theater art, and my husband sometimes works with lighting, so it’s familiar territory and well within my comfort zone.

A couple of months ago, the hubby and I went to see The World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions. We had great seats, right on the floor in the front row, so close to the horses we could feel the rush of air as they passed by. I was at boot level shooting up at them, rather than down on their backs from the high seats, so it was a good perspective for shooting.

For the mural, I’m combining a couple of my shots from that afternoon as reference. There were two things I felt this panel required: A dynamic composition, and a large image which will read from a distance, since this will hang well above eye level. I played around with a couple of ideas that were only so-so before I arrived at the composition above.

Now, I could have put a closeup profile of a horse’s head in that yellow space, and it would have filled it exactly. But that seemed too obvious, too easy. So I chose instead to show more of the nearest horse, and make the yellow space light, as if he had just moved out of the spotlight. I think it will be a more interesting composition, and keep the line between the yellow and purple areas from being too harsh. The horses across the ring will be rim-lit, as if a spotlight is behind them. That’ll bring some yellow into that side of the painting without making it too yellow.

We’re supposed to cover the existing paint completely with our own paint, but I really wish I could use the existing paint as my background. It’s perfect as is, right down to the placement of the paint drips under the horses’s feet.

Before I start putting paint on this, I have to complete some prep work on the panel. I applied several coats of Atelier binder medium to seal the board, sanding lightly in between. What I have right now is a beautifully smooth finish that still needs some drying time.

I also photographed the panel and made a life-size reference print on my large format printer. That way I’ll have something to refer to once I start putting my own paint on it.

Just for kicks, here’s one of my favorite photos from the Lipizzan show:

Isn’t he gorgeous?

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