Horse Paintings by Carrie L. Lewis

Posted By Carrie L. Lewis on March 11, 2010

Original Oil Painting

Rapheal Belgian Linen Panel, 16″ x 20″

Work continued on the under painting for Always in Style.

Using the same colors and, for a good portion of the work, I painted the eyes again and finished the areas that had not been completed in the previous session.

At that point, the painting had to dry completely.  That took about three days, which also gave the painting time to ‘get fresh’ when I went back to work on it. While I much prefer to get each phase done as quickly as possible and as close to possible as one ‘unit’, it is helpful to be able to look at a painting in progress with a fresh eye once in a while. That’s why most paintings are kept out of sight while drying. By the time I got back to work on Style, the portrait had off the easel long enough that I was able to review it honestly. By that, I mean that I could more easily see what was on the canvas, not what should have been on the canvas! That is always helpful.

When work began again, I made adjustments and corrections to the areas previously painted and finished those that hadn’t been worked over before.

The only thing I didn’t paint was the halter. Since the halters and tack are generally paint opaquely in the final stages, I often leave them out of the under painting. Such is the case here. The halter placement is still visible, but I didn’t spend time painting it or even drawing in the edges. Instead, I painted the under painting of the horse, over lapping it generously with the halter.

At this point, the first stage of the under painting is complete.

But once work began, it went very well. I started with the same colors, Raw Umber and Titanium White, but switched from the small brushes I’d been using to a larger, flat bristle that allowed me to apply colors more rapidly and cover the remaining areas of unpainted canvas.

The small rounds and flats came in handy for the placement of more refined detail, especially in the mane. The shoulders were painted over and reshaped a little bit, the shadows and highlighs emphasized a little more and the entire area from the poll to the bottom of the canvas was completed with as much detail as I wanted for the time being.

There was also quite a bit of attention given to creating the look of a smooth, summer coat instead of the rough, winter coat shown in the primary reference photograph. For supporting references in the conformation of the chest and the way light falls over the shoulder, neck and face, I resorted to other photographs, focusing on Standardbreds, but also reviewing any head study photos that featured the proper pose and lighting situations.

There will undoubtedly be some adjustments later in the process, but for the moment, those areas were very satisfactory.

While the paint was wet, I used a couple of small round sables, one for lights and one for darks, to stroke in the mane through the flat color areas that had previously been added. The mane will require additional work, but since the brightest highlights are applied at the end of the process, that is most likely when those highlights will be added.

Category: Classical Painting, Oils, The Painting Process, Under Painting
Tags: Always in Style, Classical Painting Techniques, Horse Portraits, Michigan Standardbreds, Oil Paintings, The Painting Process