Oliver Townend Painting Finished

I managed to get the painting finished today and I'm very pleased with the outcome. I've never painted this kind of action painting before and really enjoyed it so hope to do more in the future. If anyone can see anything I've missed, please let me know as I tend to go a bit cross eyed by the end of paintings. And any other comments are always appreciated. Fingers crossed for getting it into the exhibition now! And also fingers crossed I can afford to get my paintings framed....

Oliver Townend

I've made a start on the final stage - the tack. It's when I start to paint in the final areas that I can see bits that need tweaking, such as areas that haven't enough shading.

Oliver Townend

Here's todays update. I'm really pleased with my progress, having nearly finished Flint with just his head and then all the detail such as veins etc to put in. Then it's on to the tack which ties the whole painting together.

The photo I've taken of the painting doesn't quite show the colour as strong as it is in real life but I don't tend to worry too much about getting a good photo until I've finished the painting. I was also a bit handicapped when taking this photo because one of my cats had perched herself on my shoulders!! Not helpful.

Oliver Townend

Here's my latest update on the Oliver Townend painting. I'm still not entirely sure I'm happy with the background, mainly due to my aversion of putting in backgrounds, but it is making Oliver stand out quite nicely and I'm also pleased at how much I've managed today, after the last painting taking me so long! I've three days left to work on this painting so please keep everything crossed for me that I manage it!

Racing Painting Finished and Next One Started!

I've finally finished! I'm pretty happy with the painting but it's so different for me compared to the type of paintings I normally produce that it's taking me a while to get completely used to it. I can't wait to get it framed though because that's when paintings look like proper paintings to me.

I've also made a start on my next painting for the exhibition. It was taken at Badminton this year and is of the winner Oliver Townend on Flint Curtis. The photo was sadly not taken by me, with my photos turning out to be unusable, but instead taken by Richard Yarnell who is the boyfriend of a friend and happens to take fantastic photos and has kindly given me this image to use. The detail in the photo is incredible and as you might have gathered, I love detail but let's hope I don't get too bogged down in it and let this painting take me ages to do! I also normally prefer not to do backgrounds as I find them really tricky to do but I don't think this painting would work without the background to give it grounding. Although I'm not sure if my background has turned out that well so I might change my mind and paint it out!!

Racing Painting

So very nearly there!! After yet another full day working on the painting, I still haven't quite got it finished but it's very close to the end. Just the mane and jockey left to go. Today was bridle detail day and I decided to change the bridle as on the original photo, there was a fleece cover over the cheek piece which I found quite distracting so I've painted it without. I really struggle to paint things that I can't see so it's taken a lot of looking at other photos to get a picture in my head and to also make sure I get it right. If anyone notices anything glaringly wrong, please let me know!!

Racing Painting

Hmmm, didn't get quite as far today as I'd hoped, even after putting in a full days work. I had hoped to finish it today which now seems quite amusing when you see how much is left to do! Fingers crossed I'll get it finished tomorrow as I still have two paintings to do and a week Friday is when I need to get them done by as we're taking the next two weeks off for a much needed break from our work. Give my eyes a rest!

Racing Painting

Here is the latest stage of my racing painting. It's not coming along as quickly as I'd hoped, partly due to me procrastinating and finding lots of other jobs to do but this wasn't helped this morning by having a long power cut. The weather was terrible so it wasn't even light enough to paint by the natural light so it looks like I'm going to have to be a bit more organised tomorrow and try to get a lot more done.

The paint on the horse's neck was still wet when I took the photo so has more glare than usual on it.

Racing Painting

Here are a couple of updates of a racing painting I am currently working on. I'm hoping to do two and submit them for the Society of Equestrian Artist's exhibition this summer but it's been a last minute decision to do them so I'm up against it timewise as the submission date is 15 June and there is also another painting I want to do for the exhibition as well!! The photos for my racing paintings were from racing photographer Tracy Roberts and she also provided the photos for my previous painting of Denman and Kauto Star.

Here are the first couple of work in progress photos. The horse at the back is being painted slightly out of focus, it's not your eyes or my photography!

Badminton & Latest Commission

On Saturday I was very lucky to go to the cross country stage of Badminton Horse Trials. The cross country is my favourite stage and even though this is my third time to watch it at Badminton, it never ceases to amaze me how talented (or crazy!!) these riders are. The fences are HUGE! I was lucky enough to go with another equestrian artist, Laura Barber-Riley and we made the most of our time, taking loads of photos, spending the entire day out on the course. Unfortunately, my camera which is excellent for portrait photos, isn't up to the job of movement photos so my photos haven't turned out to be usable for paintings, probably also not helped by the photographer! But Laura has got some great photos and I'm hoping to sneak a couple from her to produce paintings from. It's also spurred me on to go to more horse trials and, if I ever get the spare cash, to buy a camera that can cope!!

And this is my latest commission, Daniel, 14x18" canvas. He is the brother of Charlotte, a previous commission and was great fun to do. I don't get to paint many people so really enjoy them, especially kids as they have such beautiful smooth skin and great smiles. Just wish I could get more to do!