New works

Well, moving here has been a challenge in itself, but from the art point of view, I have been helped by the EAG (the Equine Art Guild) who have been running weekly art challenges. The challenge is to work from a reference photo and produce a painting within two hours. It is much harder than it looks, but it has been an interesting project and these are some of the results.

Nisa

I'm calling this one done. I think I managed to capture the quiet gentle nature of this mare. It is not a great photo of the piece, but you get the idea.

Nisa almost done

Well, I have almost finished this, but time has run out for me here in Portugal, so either I have to take this with me to finish, or come back to it in the holidays. I am really pleased with the way it has gone and it would be a shame not to finish it.

Wall Painting - night time view

I was at a birthday party at the stables where I ride, and the owner put up lights to illuminate the painting I had done on the wall. I thought it looked pretty good. The owners are really pleased with results, and that is the main thing.

Nisa revisited

Well, I have restarted work on this after a long break. I either have to finish it before I go to Abu Dhabi, or I just bin it. I think it is quite promising, so I have decided to try and finish it. It is very slow work however, so the race is on...

Wall Painting almost finished

There is a bit more to do on this, but for the most part it is finished. Rain prevented me finishing this earlier, but I hope to do the last bit on Monday.

A new challenge

Well, a new challenge popped up at the end of March. It was suggested that I paint a wall - a forty foot by eight foot wall. I accepted and since April 10th, I have been working most weekdays to get it done. The challenge was bigger than I expected. First I had to clean off all the moss and then fill all the cracks. Then the wall took two coats of primer before I could start painting. I lay down the underpainting first just to cover the wall with colour, and then I started putting in the horses. It was pretty daunting at first. As always, it is the getting started which hurts the most. What I am trying to capture is the life of the horse in liberty. The horses depicted all work in a riding stables. They have a pretty hard life at weekends, but they are well cared for and get time off in the pasture. Then they can relax, play, eat or do whatever comes naturally to them. That is what I am trying to show, and I have paid attention to their characters so that they seem natural doing what they are doing.

It is a long way from finished, but I think you get the idea now. I'm beginning to put some of the details in now. This is from the left hand corner.

Nisa update

Well, as I said this is slow progress, but I have had a little time to work on her face and muzzle. There is still a whole lot more to do, but it is coming together. Once I have got in all my basic colours, I will start work on the details. The colours are a bit more muted than then look here in the photo of the painting.