Odds and Ends - Horses, Chickens and a Monk

Trigger's painting, sitting under the spot where he'll hang in Kim's kitchen, where he'll be seen all the time.

I thought I was finished ...

The background wasn't right for Kim, so I said I'd try to really darken it, and neutralize the purples which were wrong for the intended setting. This is after two w/w washes of phthalo blue and indanthrone blue.

I am also warming his face and neck with very thin, carefully applied glazes of quin. coral, quin. siena and quin. burnt orange. It looked too cold and flat after darkening the background.

Chick is coming along nicely ...

This is from a photo of a friend of mine. I can hardly wait to get to it!!! The strength and serenity of his face are magnificent. I still have to plan the background.

I was very upset earlier this week when Trigger's mom called to tell me that the old boy had died on Saturday. It was very sudden and completely unexpected. Kim also asked if I could change the background in the portrait; she wants something almost charcoal gray, very dark.  I promised her I would try, or do another painting. So this is where I am right now with the painting.

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Like Opening an Unexpected Gift ...

For me, it is like opening a gift when I take off the masking. This is Trigger as he is now. I have a lot of touching up to do - ears, eyes,  mane, face, some rust-colored flecks in his coat - but basically he is done. The background colors are not quite so garish in reality; they are a bit more grayed. I am pleased with how he has turned out, and really hope the owner feels the same.

As always, your comments are most welcome. 

Trigger Takes a Dramatic Turn ...

I went as far as I thought I could with the grayed-violet shadows.

I played a bit with a black around the eye and muzzle, and decided I needed a background to determine how dark to go with his head and neck.

I didn't want to mask, but had to do so. The first wash was quin. burnt orange with quin. violet. The second was quin. violet with cobalt blue.

Then I did several scrumbled washes, using the same colors plus indanthrone blue.

[It's actually not quite as red as this.]

Now I am working on darkening the shadows with a black mixture, and working on his features.
Quite a difference from the last version!

As always, your comments are most welcome.

Trigger Hit the Showers Last Night!

This is what he looked like before I went wild with the ultramarine blue.

And after ...
I don't know why I use it. I almost always end up with a fiasco.

I went to bed around 10:30 last night, and had to get up at midnight to take good ol' Trigger for a shower. I let it dry overnight, and then started playing with it after I rode Bruno.

This is after several thin applications. I use relatively thin paint, apply with a large soft sable round, and then blend as I imagine one blends oil paint, with a stiffer, synthetic flat.  

I have used this technique successfully, I believe, with these two other horse portraits.
This is Bruno, looking very suave and debonair.

This is my mare Sweetie, who is no longer with me. She was a gorgeous girl!

As ever and always, your comments are most welcome.

Trigger Transmogrified

I had the portrait at this stage, and called the owner over to see what she thought of it so far.   She said it was a very good likeness of Trigger, but ...
Kim did not want to criticize my work. I had to worm it out of her - she wanted the background darker to really show him off. I had not taken Kim as being dramatic - NEVER assume! 

I did one w/w wash, using 2 mixtures of ultramarine blue, quin. red and quin. burnt orange. I let it dry and set for a day. I thought it was too blue and needed to be darker, so ...

I did another w/w wash with a purply-gray made of the same 3 pigments.  I believe it is darker and grayer than it appears here, but the ultramarine is so overpowering, that's all you can see. Now that the background is dark, I can go in and darken Trigger's features and shadows. That was another of Kim's queries.

As always, your comments are most welcome.

Oh ... This and That ...

I finally took my "bete noire" to my framer yesterday, after doing a quick touch up and signature. I lifted the water-line in front of the city, and also lifted some implied reflections.  I went all out with the framing, and I may even like it when it's done. The mat is an off-white, with a thin bordering mat of gray - the same color as my signature. That was not planned, but it turned out to be the best color for an accent.

I have a desire to paint something slightly weird and dark. The work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo has always intrigued me, and I think I will borrow a page from his book, so to speak, and use some of my family photos for portrait reference. 

Needing something else to play with while working on Trigger, I did this quick study of hollyhock buds. It's 20 x 11 cm.

The lad is coming along slowly, as I gradually do thin glazes on his face.   I might even finish him today.  I just got a call from the receptionist at work; my whole day tomorrow fell apart, so I don't go to the office till Friday.  I've also badly pulled my hamstring muscle riding, so I won't be riding much for a few days [or sitting!].  So I'll have to get some more painting projects started.

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Trigger's Saga

Reference

I used the study I had done earlier to play with the background. I thought this too dark.

I sponged off some of the pigment, and came out with this.

I also did a work-sheet, to see exactly how the colors would play out.

This is the portrait itself. I think it may be more intense in reality than this, but it gives you an idea of the background.  I used grayed hues of lavender, cooler at the top and right, and warmer below, hopefully to give it a sense of depth. Next I will go in to finish the horse image.
That's painting for this morning. Off to clean up the Big Guy's paddock, and go for a ride.

As always, your comments are most welcome.