This is Annie, the horse, without Charlotte, on a Harris Moore linen fine weave canvas. I started by sketching Annie's head from various angles to work out a pleasing composition before ordering a bespoke canvas. This I primed with gesso and acrylic, adding colour to create a dark background as I decided it would work better to paint oils getting lighter rather than starting from a white canvas. I sketched the horse's head in white and mixed up some greys using Payne's grey, raw umber and Prussian blue for the shadows. The whole head was blocked in and left to dry before building up more layers of glazing. The background was changed to blue at the same time Prussian blue was painted into the shadows to give depth - it acts as a complementary colour to the underpainting. I was planning to change it again but at the moment I quite like the blue. I am working on this at the same time as the portrait of both Annie and Charlotte to allow for drying times, which is quite handy!
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