Barnwood frame horse painting

I thought I'd post a photo of the mare and foal painting as I framed it. The mat has textured leather look to it and the frame is barnwood style.

I'm getting ready to start yet another pastel painting. I have been working on the composition for the past few days and still contemplating adding more subjects to the scene. The only hint I am offering is that it is a water scene. Keep watching!

Equine Artwork complete!

Click to enlarge detail.

Working late into the night, I managed to complete the horse mother and baby. Even though I am tired, I am quite satisfied with the end results. Tomorrow however, I may wake up and find I need to rework certain areas and so I will take out my pastels again, perhaps.

It is important to me to have the chance to take a few days (or more) and place the portrait somewhere very visible so that I may observe, analyze, criticise...whatever one calls it. It is a step that I feel is necessary as it gives me one last chance to fix the painting to my liking before it is under glass.

Horse portrait of mare and foal, update

Close up:

Click image to enlarge

Well, after a busy week (and a half!), I pushed myself to work a bit more on the mare. Today I mostly worked the face and mane. I know there is not much left to do so I really should get this portrait done!!

Foal and mare horse portrait, update

I've been painting again today and got most of the foal done. I decided to stop when I got upset when my white Rembrant pastel (from my new set) went rolling off the table and crashing to the hardwood floor. GRRRR. It didn't look pretty when I picked up the pieces but managed to have one good size piece left to work with.

Close up of foal (click to enlarge):

Pastel Horse painting-update

I took advantage of my creative energy and continued to work on this pastel painting tonight. I'm not certain anymore if I am going to add the background as on the mock as I kind of like the darker simple background...which would be less work for me!! I tend to not want to do backgrounds that much unless they are necessary for the composition.

You can view a larger image on my website here:

http://www.colettetheriault.com/descriptions/paint1description/mare_foal_painting.php

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!