Yesterday was a fun painting session. I’ve been sharing with you my latest horse commission which is a rather large 36 x 36 painting of a mare and her foals. Over the years this family has had 5 foals with this beautiful mare and this portrait is of her (in the center) surrounded by her offspring.
I painted the underpainting in acrylics– to get the ‘bones’ of the painting down and to keep it moving along. since there were so many faces I didn’t want to get hung up on one face and then have the whole thing out of balance. This has proven to be a good strategy because I put the finishing touches on the horses in oil (my preferred medium) and I was very pleased as I could see it coming together the way I had hoped.
My client has a preference for a more realistic painting so I was working toward that end in mind but in the process I fell in love with the horse on the top right corner. I will be painting over the underpainting so it fits in with the others in style but I do plan on doing more horse paintings in that style to have in my studio. I liked the looseness and movement in it so will use that as a jumping off point to play with this style in between commissions.
I am posting a close up of the two completed ponies and the painting as a whole. Stay tuned for the finished product! I do encourage you to stop by my studio if you are local to the Canton area since the photos don’t do justice. This week we have lots of events going on at the Gallery including First Friday. I’ve started a new blog for the Studio and Annex artists to give people an idea of what else is offered under the roof od Second April Art Galerie. I am in suite #207 so stop by anytime during regular gallery hours.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sue Steiner equine and animal artist pet and horse portraits, e-mail
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