Original Oil Painting
Rapheal Belgian Linen Panel, 16″ x 20″
Work continued on the under painting for Always in Style.
Using the same colors and, for a good portion of the work, I painted the eyes again and finished the areas that had not been completed in the previous session.
At that point, the painting had to dry completely. That took about three days, which also gave the painting time to ‘get fresh’ when I went back to work on it. While I much prefer to get each phase done as quickly as possible and as close to possible as one ‘unit’, it is helpful to be able to look at a painting in progress with a fresh eye once in a while. That’s why most paintings are kept out of sight while drying. By the time I got back to work on Style, the portrait had off the easel long enough that I was able to review it honestly. By that, I mean that I could more easily see what was on the canvas, not what should have been on the canvas! That is always helpful.
When work began again, I made adjustments and corrections to the areas previously painted and finished those that hadn’t been worked over before.
The only thing I didn’t paint was the halter. Since the halters and tack are generally paint opaquely in the final stages, I often leave them out of the under painting. Such is the case here. The halter placement is still visible, but I didn’t spend time painting it or even drawing in the edges. Instead, I painted the under painting of the horse, over lapping it generously with the halter.
At this point, the first stage of the under painting is complete.
But once work began, it went very well. I started with the same colors, Raw Umber and Titanium White, but switched from the small brushes I’d been using to a larger, flat bristle that allowed me to apply colors more rapidly and cover the remaining areas of unpainted canvas.
The small rounds and flats came in handy for the placement of more refined detail, especially in the mane. The shoulders were painted over and reshaped a little bit, the shadows and highlighs emphasized a little more and the entire area from the poll to the bottom of the canvas was completed with as much detail as I wanted for the time being.
There was also quite a bit of attention given to creating the look of a smooth, summer coat instead of the rough, winter coat shown in the primary reference photograph. For supporting references in the conformation of the chest and the way light falls over the shoulder, neck and face, I resorted to other photographs, focusing on Standardbreds, but also reviewing any head study photos that featured the proper pose and lighting situations.
There will undoubtedly be some adjustments later in the process, but for the moment, those areas were very satisfactory.
While the paint was wet, I used a couple of small round sables, one for lights and one for darks, to stroke in the mane through the flat color areas that had previously been added. The mane will require additional work, but since the brightest highlights are applied at the end of the process, that is most likely when those highlights will be added.
©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
On July 13, 2007, the largest portrait I’ve painted recently was completed.
Now that the portrait of Guienne Hanover is completed and drying, it’s time to turn back to the lesson paintings.
It’s the most interesting because I can wash on a layer of color and see what happens. It’s almost like opening gifts on Christmas morning. If I don’t like the look, I just wipe off that color and try another. What a delight!
The first thing I worked on was the portrait of Lockkeeper. The background was finished and I blocked in the area around the horse’s feet with greens. The greens were painted all the way to the bottom of the panel, but I decided I didn’t like that and rubbed off some of it. The session concluded with blocking in the tail and the off side hind leg. I also photographed the painting before and after today’s session, since I’d gotten a little bit lax about that.
While it has not been painted strictly according to the Flemish technique I’m documenting on these pages, it does feature an under painting, followed by color applications in a series of opaque and transparent glazes. Lots of painting, some repainting and lots of waiting for paint to dry!
The portrait is very close to completion, so there is not a lot left to do. Most of the work involves several different areas that just need tweaking. The driver, the bike and finishing the horse are the major things.
Since it’s been a week or so since the last working session, the first thing I did this week was rub Walnut oil into the areas I wanted to work.
As in the previous session, I worked with small brushes to apply paint, one to apply white and one for Burnt Umber, and a larger soft brush to blend edges as necessary. My goal was to finish the legs, but I had some difficulty getting the boot correct on the off side hind leg and ended up completing just that area and the background around it.
But I did have considerable difficulty getting the hoof and boot correct until I realized that the opening for the boot is actually large enough that there is some visual play in it. In essence, it had to be painted like the collar of a shirt. Loose enough to show an opening.
From the front leg and the gear that adorns it, I moved to some of the rest of the gear, most notably the strap that circles the horse’s belly at mid girth and from which leg harness is suspended. I painted that first, then ended up repainting it after painting the background over it and also working on the back half of the horse’s barrel.
September 15, 2008
ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait
From the photograph above, I developed this drawing. The original drawing is larger than the ACEO size, but that’s not unusual. Most of my drawings are worked up at a set size, usually 8×10 to 9×12, since those sizes of drawing pads are easy to carry wherever I am going and I can work on drawings away from the studio. This drawing isn’t that large, but it’s still larger than an ACEO.
The beauty of colored pencil is that I don’t have to prepare surfaces, then wait for them to dry. I went to work immediately with the under painting using a Prismacolor Verithin in Dark Umber.
Always in Style
Once the primary reference was chosen, it was a simple matter to do the drawing, then enlarge it to full size and prepare it for client approval. I have now received that and began work on the painting yesterday by transferring the drawing to the Raphael panel.
