Painting Demo: Horse in Field

Here are a few photos of the progression from my initial sketch on the canvas board to my finished oil painting. I started by taking photos of the horse in a field, then adding the birch trees, the edge of a pond, and the white fencing in Photoshop to create a pleasing composition.

I then gessoed a 24x36 art canvas board three times and sanded lightly between each coat after letting the gesso dry for 4-6 hours.

Stage 1 /Photo 1 -Reference:

I printed my reference photo, and sketched the image onto the gessoed board and started to block in the largest colors.

Stage 2 / Photo 2:

Block in with more palette colors for all sections including the water reflection.

Stage 3 / Photo 3:

Here I worked to model the values more closely and included individual strokes for grass layering.

Stage 4 / Photo 4: - Complete

At this stage, there is always a struggles as to what to visually pull forward, fade and push back, or to draw the eye towards. I wanted the colors to be very rich and layered and have a sense of depth.

 

VIEW DEMO 1: Soccer Champ »