My husband got his own office a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I would make him a painting for the walls. We took a trip together back in 2004 to Bordeaux and Paris, France. There was an amazing statue in Bordeaux of horses/seacreatures. I have always wanted to paint something from the photos we took. So I figured this would be a good subject for his office, especially since he works for a French company. And horses are much more manly than butterflies!
Here is the initial sketch with the background blocked in and details started.
And here it is with a bit more detail painted in.
I decided to change the angle of the legs. The photo I am working from cut off the legs, so it is tricky getting the correct angle worked out from other photos.
I love how the hair is coming along. I am going to change up the angle of the neck. I think it is too narrow. The head seems out of proportion somehow. So I am going to fiddle with it some also. And I am going to thicken up the leg muscles, they are really bulging in the statue photos.
I made some subtle changes. Mostly in the face and legs. I like it much better now. I love the lines in the hair. And the colors are looking good too. I may add some washes of color here and there. My 8 year old says it looks "really cool". So far so good.
There are splashes of water in the photo and the fountain has water shooting out of the horse's nostrils. I think I might add that after I finish. I don't want it to detract from the finished look though.
Here is the completed painting. I added some rough patches with a palette knife to give it the aged metal look and deepened some of the shadows. I also added splashes of white at the bottom to indicate water from the fountain. I really like how it turned out.
