Johnny Come Lately oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. Private commission.

Johnny is a big bay half-morgan, half Appendix Quarterhorse. I thought he was a warmblood when I first saw him back in October, his glossy dark bay coat just starting to get the winter fuzzies. What had to be captured in his portrait was his kind eye. His owner had seen some of my newer work, the big close-up head images, and she wanted something similar for her portrait of Johnny. I experimented with various croppings, with and without halter, until we came to an agreement about this pose. I usually like to do commissioned portraits with halters or bridles, unless the horse has really interesting markings, or a really well-sculpted head, the tack usually adds a bit of interest and helps define the bone structure a bit. In this case, the halter gave me an opportunity to personalize the portrait by putting his name on the brass halterplate.

Now that Johnny is completed and delivered, my New Year’s tasks are to finish up some previously begun projects, and start some new big paintings. With spring commissions and potential freelance work around the corner, I need to seize this opportunity to paint for myself. Christmas vacation was supposed to be the start of some studio productivity, but all of the holiday socializing and entertaining, then the clean-up and putting away of all the Christmas stuff sort of drained my energy.

Then there is the distraction of the Wii. Since the Wii is brand-new to our family, we are still in the honeymoon phase of enjoying all the basic Wii Sports, and creating lots of Mii’s for the plaza.

So, now that the work week has started, I have checked off task number two on my studio list, which was, “Create a new blog entry!” Now, on to number three, which is “Paint!”

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