Mare and foal pastel painting

This is my first try using my new Rembrant's soft pastels set and I LOVE them!

I am using dark grey suede board for this horse pastel painting. Pastels on suede are perfect for horse compositions as I am able to achieve the soft velvety appearance of their short fur. I enjoy using darker suede colors for white horses because of how I lay down the pastel. It is almost like working backwards because you can remove (or add) more or less white pastel to create the various grey tones that form the shadows.

The reference photograph was taken from inside a barn while the mother and her 3 day old foal were standing in the doorway. It was raining that day and to my surprise, the lighting on the photographs I took turned out very nice. I had many refs to choose from but decided that this one of the foal suckling and the mother nuzzling her new baby was the perfect choice!