I have painted many horses in my lifetime. But most of these show feral horses. This is because, in the early 2000nds, I had a particular interest in Koniks: a Polish breed that went largely untouched by humans and was allowed to roam freely in several countries, much like the mustangs in the United States.
My sister wrote a book about them, and, with photography being one of my trades, asked me to help observe them in their natural habitat. When I did, I was so inspired by what I saw that I could not sleep after spending the day with them. Only drawing them got them out of my system. So, when I recently got the chance to work on a domesticated horse with a Palomino coat, I jumped right in. The challenge here was to paint the coat in such a way that it would bring across the impression of hair without really painting every single hair.
The reference I used showed the light-coloured coat in a beautiful way, so that this portrait also offered an opportunity to be faithful to the effects of the lighting circumstances as best I could. This would mean applying multiple layers, much like I am used to doing in portraits, following the old masters’ technique. Since domesticated breeds look so different from unhandled breeds like mustangs and koniks, I started with a black and white sketch done with acrylic paint on linen. This would give me an idea of the more difficult areas and helped familiarized me with the special characteristics of this beautiful horse. With the eye being so clear, I also decided to make a study of it before starting on the final canvas. I often do this with parts of a subject that I want to pay special attention to. See a special blog post about this eye study here
Once all of this was done, I felt confident enough to start the first layers of the painting. The background was also important, as I wanted it to convey a subtle light source behind the horse.
The first layers were done with quite a bit of texture. This texture would later shine through following layers and retain the illusion of a hairy coat. The initial layers showed the horse with quite a dark coat. It was the later layers that conveyed the lightness of the Palomino coat and created the vague spots that were there.
I am very happy with the final result. I paid special attention to the mane, which consists of even more layers than the rest of the portrait. And I am pleased I managed to make the muzzle have a certain softness to it. The eye as well came out beautifully. It is, for a painter like me who loves doing portraits, one of the most important components of the horse’s face. All in all, it was a fun project that kept me busy for more than a couple of weeks!
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