Poco Mountain Girl

While David was away working at Master’s Golf for sixteen days, I made this oil painting for his birthday.  I was thrilled to obtain generous permission from The Wild Horses of Sable Island Gallery in NYC to use Roberto Dutesco’s beautiful photograph Tenderness as my inspiration.

Sixteen days is a long time for us to be apart (we are one of those weird couples who don’t need much space from each other) and this photo expressed just what I wanted to convey.

Here is the sequence of my painting:

The White Elephant awaits!  There is always some trepidation at this stage.

The rough sketch.

First bit of paint: Burnt Sienna, which I quickly switched out for Burnt Umber.

A few initial strokes.

The monotone sketch. Whew–the White Elephant has been conquered!

Putting in more tones.

And highlights.

Deepening the shadows.

Sculpting with more highlights.

Color!

I seem to have a rather vague sense of color, so it takes lots of experimentation before it feels right.

Putting color in, rubbing it out.

Adding more lights.

And more.

I felt I needed an undertone of Raw Sienna for the neck and forelock.

Defining more details.

I liked the white background, but took a jump and brushed in a glaze of Cerulean Blue Hue.  Too blue.  I let it dry a day and glazed two coats of white over it.

I love the end product–this very light blue with textural strokes of pure white going through it.  I highlighted the mane and forelock and added some movement to them, edged the side of the canvas in a deep black/brown, and signed it.

From blank canvas to finished artwork, the painting took about 25 hours.  I worked for ten days, 2-3 hours per day.  It measures 24″ x 36″, the largest oil painting I have done, and I found it incredibly calming and non-tedious compared to my smaller works.

I love many things about the way this painting turned out, including how it changes the visual feel of our home.  Most of all, though, I love the quiet joy and tender satisfaction these two horses find in each other’s company.

With David home again, I know just how they feel.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 at 8:59 am and is filed under Arty, Celebrating, Lion Man. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.