Ink and Brush Creations

Just another 1stAngel Arts Network weblog

I have penciled in a very rough sketch of Dyfra pacing and have been adding low mountains, some clouds, bit of water and mid ground features..still have to pencil in the foreground rocks and grass. The landscape will look like some place along the Coast where the mountains meet the sea. Rather like many of the places in the Puget Sound.
Where I want very dark areas I place an x, that way I will not forget as the painting progresses.

Couldn’t help myself.. had to color in her eye first. Then I started to work on the storm clouds next and figuring out what method I like best for applying the watercolor. I have decided I like the Wet on Wet method best for the clouds, as it looks more natural to me.

Close up of her eye… is a bit blurry.

I am about 50% done with the sky and clouds. I am making the sky color quite bright because my Scanner has a hard time picking up on the pale blue colors.

Just need to do a few touch ups on the sky and clouds.
Started with the first and second wash of color on the mountains in the background. You can easily see the differences in each application of color.
Snow covered mountains in the far left of the picture are pretty much finished. Also started working on the bright blue water on the left of the painting.

A Close up of what I have done so far. The background is an composite of many photographs I have taken of the Puget Sound in WA.

Very close to finishing the mountains on the right of the painting. Starting on some of the inlet water and the small out croppings in the mid picture. At this point the painting is all watercolor.

I have been working on the water and the ground on both sides of the horse. Filling in the dirt, rocks and moss.
Still undecided on the horse’s color, though I am leaning to a Dappled Grey.

I finally can post an update on my Icelandic horse painting. Working on the ground and rocks, still have a lot to do. Will be a couple of weeks before I can start on the Icelandic.

Not quite finished with the ground but I have decided to work on the Icelandic’s muzzle and do some of the very light under shading over the horse’s body. The water will also need a bit more detail.

A close up of the Icelandic’s face, just starting with the basic color and under shading.

Icelandic horse painting work in progress on my Artist desk. Normally our pastures are green but sadly we have been having unusually dry and very hot weather, hence all the brown.

I have been working on the water and background a bit more. I finally finished the under shading done on the Icelandic and have started on the first layer of dapples on one part of the horse’s body. Now I have to let it dry for awhile. Know it looks a bit strange right now but there is a method to the madness. ;O)

How have I been creating the dapples on the Icelandic, wet on wet and tiny pieces of salt of all things. The salt will make a dapple pattern much like you see on a horse. However, it did not work quite the way I was expecting using watercolor pencil.

As you can see, I am slowly making progress. Have added more layers to the dapples and shading to the body of the Icelandic. I have also started to work on her head, mane and tail.

This is a closeup of the dapples. She will be a medium dark dappled Icelandic mare. I have some under shading on her tail but it is very hard to pick it out with this camera shot.

Worked on the dirt a little more, pushed the big rock more into the background and have added two layers of color on the main part of the Icelandic’s legs.

Here is a close up of what I have gotten done so far. Couple more layers of color on the body to go and then I need to work on the mane and tail.

Finished!
I finally decided that this painting is finished, as I did not want to over work it. The Icelandic mare in the painting is based on my Grey Icelandic mare, when she was younger. I tried to keep the ground simple as I wanted the horse to stand out. I have a problem with making things too detailed.
This painting is 99.9% Watercolor pencil, used like you would Watercolor cakes. The paper is my favorite bright white hot press paper and the size is 14″ by 20″.

I have to admit I am not totally happy with this piece but it is the best I can do.

Tags: Art, dapple grey, equine, horse, Iceland, Icelandic, Icelandic horse, landscape, Tolt, watercolor

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Art, Icelandic horse, watercolor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.