Sunday 28 March 2010

'Wandering' FINISHED


I was up at 5:30am feeding Henry (who is now 4 months old, how time flies!) and couldn't get back to sleep so got up and finished this painting while the rest of the house slept!

24" x 18" oil on linen. Have loved every minute of painting this one!

Saturday 27 March 2010

'Wandering'


Not too far off finishing now, I'm amazed at how quickly this has come together, was expecting it to take much longer! May get it done tomorrow... will put a browny purple glaze over the lot and then pick out the strongest highlights/shadows and see how it looks. Be sad to finish it in a way!

Friday 26 March 2010

'Wandering'



Today's update...

I'm starting to introduce a bit of liquin to the layers now. Some of the highlights look a bit odd at the moment but *hopefully* they'll all be tied in and look more natural once the next browny black coloured glaze goes over the top. I'm really impatient for it to dry so I can do more on it!

Thursday 25 March 2010

'Wandering'


Third layer on, again the paint was thinned down to a watery consistency with turps.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

'Wandering'


A thin wash (paint thinned right down with just turps) over the lot, and some detail added over the top with equally thin paint last night. Looking forward to getting back to it tonight once the boys are in bed!

Checked back through my records and the horse is actually Sidnificant, one of Clare Lewis's rides. A very photogenic model, the (many!) photos I have of him being led in hand after his XC round at Bramham are just beautiful!

Tuesday 23 March 2010

'Wandering'


New original started this weekend. 24" x 18" oil on linen, based on photographs that I took of one the eventers at Bramham Horse Trials being cooled off after an XC round last summer. The horse was a lovely dark bay with beautiful chestnutty points and a wonderful shine. All the different colours in his (or her- should really find out who the horse is!)coat caught my eye, I'm hoping they'll make for an interesting painting.

The photos I am working from are packed full of detail so I'm aiming to work in even thinner layers of paint than usual to try and capture as much as possible. So far I have just got down the first thin wash of colour blocked in. The background is a pale grey/blue with hints of the red ochre I plan to use in the painting; I plan to keep it plain I think and have this one as more of a study, but may change my mind later if the horse alone isn't strong enough to pull it off.

Saturday 13 March 2010

Busy Week


Despite being rather quiet on here I have had a very busy week!

Last weekend I went out with my camera in the hope of getting some nice reference pictures of the Zetland Hunt to work from. I had great time watching very brave people jump very huge hedges! You can see several of my photos on my Facebook page. I then had the news that the first foal of the season had been born at the Nipna Dales Pony stud! I was thrilled to be invited to go and photograph newborn Heather's first trip out of her box, so bundled up my boys and headed over there! Got some wonderful shots and can't wait to start painting with them!! Little Heather was just beautiful, so very cute!

I'm too busy with commissions to get any original work done at all at the moment but the deadline for the Society of Equestrian Artists Annual Exhibition is looming so I'm planning to knuckle down shortly and have a last ditch attempt at trying to produce something good enough to get me in again this year. I can't decide whether or not to enter photographs of my entries for the pre-selection stage (or rather, the pre-rejection stage as I call it haha!) this year... on the one hand I won't have accurate photos of all my entries and I'd like to try and help with handing in day this year so would go to London anyway so why bother... but on the other hand six entries are allowed this year and I think I'm going to take advantage of that- if I can get feedback on six paintings at pre-selection stage I can potentially avoid spending a crippling amount on framing by just taking the one/s with the best pre-selection results. Decisions decisions...

Thursday 4 March 2010

'Winter Beach Polo' Time Lapse Painting by Laura Barber-Riley

After much swearing at a very uncooperative YouTube/laptop I have finally managed to upload my time lapse video. Hope you enjoy it!

Ignore this one

Deleted as link too big!

Tuesday 2 March 2010

'Winter Beach Polo' FINISHED (ish)


Well, I say it's finished, it isn't quite, but I am busy with commissions and I've been rushing to get it 'done' when I needn't so for the time being it is signed and put to one side. Once I have got a bit more time I'll go back to it and tidy up all the bits that are still bugging me. Needless to say, as ever, it's a rubbish photo despite my best efforts! The sea and sand in particular have more depth and colour in real life. Nevermind!

My laptop is in the process of generating my time lapse video of the painting process. There are over 11,000 photos in the sequence (!!) so it will probably have to be left processing it overnight!