'Arabian Filly' FINISHED

Went back to this this evening and have managed to finish it! Can't think of a good title but I am very pleased with it and will definitely use the grisaille technique again as I found it really suited my way of working.

Arab Grisaille

Another layer of colour on today and a better photo of the painting. I don't think there is actually a huge amount of work left in it now, I am a little wary of overworking it! Once it has dried I think I will try and pick out the deepest shadows (I think the hindquarters have lost some of the definition I liked) and touch up the brightest reds etc and then see how it looks. Also need to decide on the background, still think I will keep it very similar to how it is now, just a bit more refined.

Arab Grisaille

Not the best photo as it is so dark today but an update nonetheless! Some more colour today, red ochre in places, raw umber in others, and a touch of white to go over some of the stronger highlights. I also attempted to tidy the background up a little. Now to wait for it to dry before the next layer can go on...

Arab Grisaille

Braved the first glaze of colour today! Was not sure where to begin with the colour so applied a layer of gold ochre to the whole horse to act as a kind of base colour to build up. Quite pleased with the result, looking forward to getting more glazes on now once it has dried.

Arab Grisaille

Second layer of paint on the underpainting.

Arab Grisaille

A new painting started!

This is my first attempt at a grisaille oil painting. The basic idea in a nutshell, as I understand it, is to produce an underpainting mapping out all of the tones, before then applying thin glazes of colour gradually to produce the finished result.

Before starting I took much more time than usual preparing a canvas. Layers of gesso were applied, and then sanded down, and then reapplied, to eventually achieve a smooth surface to work on. Once I had my smooth surface I then applied several coats of thin oil paint as a base, or imprimatura.

So far I have my first layer of paint down. My underpainting will be produced using only white, and burnt umber paint, with possibly some ivory black mixed in to pick out the darkest shadows later on. I actually found the smooth surface quite tricky in some ways- this first layer was competed wet on wet and it was quite slippy! I was limited in terms of how much I could do as brushstrokes ended up taking paint off the canvas rather than putting it on if I wasn't careful.

I plan to continue to work on the underpainting in layers until it represents a finished tonal version of the painting; having gone to all the trouble of preparing the canvas I am keen to really achieve high levels of detailed accuracy before thinking about applying the coloured glazes.

Work accepted into SEA Annual Exhibition!

I am currently sat on the train with the biggest smile on my face travelling home from London having taken two paintings, 'Acquiescence' and 'Rocket Science' all the way to the Mall Galleries to go before a panel of judges. I am absolutely over the moon that both paintings have been accepted into the Society of Equestrian Artists Annual Exhibition!

Was great to catch up with fellow equestrian artist Sally Lancaster over lunch whilst we awaited the decisions; Sally's fantastic paintings will also be appearing at the exhibition.

There was some truly breathtaking work being handed in, I think it will be a fantastic exhibition, definitely worth a visit for people who are interested in horses, art, or both! The exhibition opens on the 28th July and runs until the 2nd August, some information here