From large oil paintings to tiny watercolours - this latest commission is equally as challenging as the previous posts as watercolours are notoriously unforgiving and this one required my tiniest brushes! My customer wanted me to paint her latest horse, Bella, in the same size and style of two she had commissioned previously. I love challenges like this as it gives me some parameters to work within and I have to study the work of another painter so I can match their style. Firstly I matched the same make and colour of watercolour paper as I didn't want the surface texture to detract from the painting. I played around with angles and drew Bella with her head tilted up a little so that she would appear a similar size in the frame as the others. Then I painted a thin wash of yellow ochre, followed by burnt sienna and then raw umber with a few darker areas to start picking out the eyes, ears and nostrils. Next I worked a few colours together wet-in-wet and carefully painted the eye. When that was dry I painted a strong wash of burnt sienna around the jawline and added some blue/grey mixes to the nose and shadows. I painted some yellow ochre and carefully lifted out some of the shine on the coat before adding more umbers and burnt sienna with a touch of cadmium red to warm up the muzzle. I just need to check that the colours are deep enough as the photo is very dark and I don't want to darken the painting too much and not be able to lift it back out.
×