New 36" x 28" Painting Started...

Background base colour on! This is the painting that the little 6" x 6" study 'Portrait of a Black Horse' (below) was in preparation for, can't wait to get going with it, the first large painting I have done in a long time!

'The River Eden'

A new little 7" x 7", 'The River Eden', available for sale, details on my website: laurabarber-riley.com

My main project at the moment is a wonderful commission of one of my favourite Dales stallions, but he is taking an awfully long time to dry between layers of paint, so this has kept me busy whilst waiting!

It is based on photographs that I took at Appleby Fair back in 2009, these four stood ever so patiently in the sunshine waiting for their turn to be bathed in the river. I really enjoy painting water, a seriously tiny brush was needed to paint some of the ripples on this little painting!

'In the Shadows' FINISHED!

Got there in the end, phew! I may well tweak it a bit more on looking at it with fresh eyes in a few weeks but for now it is signed and declared finished!

Glad I persevered with it, have learnt lots!

'In the Shadows' in progress, Day 7

Battling on with the most difficult painting in the world haha!

More done all over really... more defining the mane, the blaze, the muzzle, and some glazes of warmer colour in the coat in places. Now need the mane to try again to put the brightest layers over the top, think it might take me a few attempts to get the mane as I would like!

Turns out the painting is as tricky to photograph as it is to paint! I suspect that because the detail on the parts of the horse in shadow is quite subtle compared with the bright light where the light hits, the camera is doing funny things to try and level things out. Have tweaked this image in photoshop to make it closer to the original, still not right but you get the idea! If it does end up turning out well it will definitely need to be scanned in order to get a good digital copy!

The little 6" x 6" Friesian painting eBay auction finishes tomorrow evening, you can bid here- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180798251524

Onwards and upwards...

'In the Shadows' in progress, Day 6

Hardest. Painting. Ever!

Wasn't expecting this painting to be dry enough to work on today, but it was, so I spent a few more hours on it. It's not getting any easier! SUCH a tricky painting! Still not sure if it will turn out ok, finding it a serious challenge!!

Hoping to get back to it this evening as although the horse's body needs to dry now, I haven't yet done any more on the mane and background so that will be my next step.

'Portrait of a Black Horse' (Study) - currently available on eBay

My first mini painting in several months, a study for a possible larger painting. This one is 6" x 6" and an image I have wanted to paint for ages! Had stopped myself previously as I have been trying to avoid painting 'boring' headshots but something kept me coming back to this one... I think perhaps the simplicity is what I love about it!

My original plan was a blurry background of countryside in the distance, which I duly painted, but when it was finished it just didn't really have the impact I wanted. Lots of pinks, purples, and blues went into the horses coat so I simply mixed the area of my palette I had been using for those and used that as the background! I think it works so so much better than the original plan, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The painting is being auctioned on eBay, finishing on the evening of Monday 23rd January. As usual the bidding starts at 1p with no reserve, you can bid here.

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'In the Shadows' in progress, Day 5

All I can say is I am so glad this is an original rather than a commission- sleep would be lost otherwise! Some paintings seem to just paint themselves while others take a lot of muddling through with plenty of challenges along the way- this painting is definitely in the latter category!!! All those colours in the coat, none of them resembling anything like the palomino colour my mind thinks it should be... almost makes my head hurt! Never let it be said I don't like to push myself out of my comfort zone now and again haha!

It's been a week since I last worked on this painting yet still some of the paint wasn't dry! Just the very brightest parts of the mane were still wet so I managed to get a good sitting in, think I really am going to have to leave it a good fortnight now before the next layer to make sure I'm not going to lift off any of this layer. The slow drying is making a tricky painting even trickier as by the time I come to sit back down to it I have sort of lost my train of thought re where I'm going next! At least I will have the benefit of fresh eyes I guess!

That said, I am pleased with the progress today... think I might have a sound enough basis to get the tiny brushes out next time to make a start on the details, always my favourite part! It's still quite sketchy at the moment, a lot of work left to do! The darkest darks are down now so I can start to think about the more golden and red coat colours over the top.

Onwards and upwards... (with fingers crossed)!

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