This latest commission is from a customer whose dog I painted years ago. They now want a portrait of their daughter with her horse, and one just of the horse for their daughter. I loved the photo they sent me of Charlotte and Annie so while waiting for the bigger canvas to arrive for the horse I started on the smaller painting which is 9x12" in acrylic. I painted the background a warm black and then drew the information I needed when the surface had dried. Next I started to block in the colours and main areas of light and dark. I chose a fairly small brush to start with as I didn't want to skew the details so the glazes have been built on little by little in order to build up the colour and lose the black - I wanted to make them 'appear' from the darkness. Then I worked more on the horse's head, adding details like freckles (if horses have freckles?!) and started to build glazes on Charlotte's face. I have kept going back and adding different glazes over the last few weeks, as I think I've finished it, and then when I look at it again, I've noticed something else. The last picture shows how I have softened the shadows a tiny fraction and warmed up Charlotte's hair a bit, plus I've changed her mouth shape a little, changed the tones on the horse and added a few more hairs to the horse's nose. Will I still find changes when I look again tomorrow....?!!
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