Home Stretch with Clementine #2

Since the last post, I have given her some skin folds, eye definition, and lips ...

more color on the muzzle, and the start of a nose ... 

I put in a background, and have placed her black markings.  There is just some touching up to do - darkening her muzzle and nose, and checking that she looks good overall. My plan is to put this painting up for sale at Daily Paintworks, and take the first one [with the painting of Tiberius, her "brother"] over to the owners as a gift.
That's it for now. I have 2 small rose paintings to paint for friends at work ...

As always, your comments are most welcome! 

Hi-Yo, Silver-laced Wyandotte!

I've done a thin gray graded wash, dried it, then gone wild with the masking fluid.
A silver-laced wyandotte is a breed of chicken.

I am using quin. burnt orange, quin. red and indanthrone blue mixtures for the body and tail.

I am deepening the dark colors, and playing with the head while the body dries. I am SO tempted to remove the masking, but I think it needs more of the darks first.

I have also started a smaller version of Clementine. I may try exaggerating some features and colors to enhance the bulldoggishness.  

Misty is at this point. I may have to put her away for a few days or weeks, and then take a hard critical look.

This is my offering to watercolor land today. I submitted some images of my work to a small gallery in Vancouver, and received an enthusiastic response. I'll have to drive into town next week, and visit at the gallery. I hope it works out - I would love to get some more exposure for my paintings.
Life in the land of Horse is pretty fine right now, too. I'm riding 4 - 5 times a week, and Bruno is coming along. I have a feeling he will always be a bit stiff, and reluctant to yield to the inside leg - all those years of racing, pulling a sulky. I'm realizing levels of evasion with him. [Evasions are what horses do when they don't understand, or don't want to do what is asked - and I do ask nicely.] There is the "I have absolutely NO idea what you want".  Followed closely by "I think I get it."  Then there is "Yes, I'm trying, but it's hard for me."  And sometimes from Bruno I get a "Not on your life. Can you stay in the saddle while I do this??? I just feel like playing HARD."  So far, I have managed to stay in the saddle. :)

As always, your comments are very welcome!

creep ... creep ...

I think I left the gray here ...

It's just a slow, fussy process of adding depth and detail using wet-in-wet technique.

While darkening the right side edges, I decided to add some drizzles of gray on the left to suggest rain falling.

I am at this point now, carefully putting in shadows and other details  in the head area.  I must admit I like the soft grays.

The babe was done, but lacked ground and depth.

I decided to do a very soft w/w wash around her head. I did not  want to get heavy, using dark shadows. To me, that would lose the freshness and lightness of her youth, innocence and fragility.

As ever, your comments are most welcome. 

Still Slow and Steady ...

I am oh-so-slowly deepening the grays.

Still more, and I have started some detail around the eye. To soften the body and neck,  and bring more of the focus to the eye area, I am working the grays from the body into the background. Hopefully this will lose some of the hard edges there. I must admit, I am fascinated with using the different colors of gray in this way.

I have also started a small head study of the filly.


As always, your comments are most welcome!

Progress Slow but Steady ...

I've done an initial thin wash of quin. burnt orange for warmth.

Here, I have done another thin wash, this time of quin. red. You might also barely be able to see that I have started the shadows on the horse.

This photo was taken outside in bright sun. YES, we have SUN today. I have played with some cobalt blue in the background, and am slowly working on the horse. I am trying to avoid getting into a very dark background, as I did with the last gray I painted. I would like to somehow achieve a strong focus on the eye and upper head, but we shall see ...
I am done with painting for the morning. Now it's off to Bruno-land, to clean up his paddock, and go for a short ride!

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Horsing Around ...

This is a sketch of Misty, whose portrait I painted last year. I found another photo, this one from a fascinating angle. I have it on my watercolor board, and can HARDLY WAIT!!!

A sketch from another photo I found today on my trainer's site. I think it's a filly out of one of Rhonda's mares. Her name is Tega, and she is so adorable. Yup, it's another one I can hardly wait to paint.

Bruno and I have had 4 great rides this week, after my not being on him for about a month. He has even thrown me a few moves that would have usually got me at least part-way out of the saddle. But I seem to be more balanced, just "there" deeper in the saddle, and I can quietly sit through his misdemeanors, and then quietly correct him. I think the month of being ill gave me a needed break, and a chance to become somewhat more focussed in both my riding and my painting. I hope so!

As always, your comments are most welcome. 

Subtlety

I started the dried hydrangeas again, trying to evoke more of a subdued, wintery,  even stark look.

I am using only aureolin, quin. pink, cobalt blue and indanthrone blue.

I quite like the effect. What do you feel about this painting?

Bruno and I are having great times riding again. He even threw me a few horsey curve balls yesterday,  and I just stayed quiet, balanced, and corrected him. It is SO GOOD to be riding again!!!

As always, your comments are most welcome!