Power & Beauty - friesianhorses

[lene]

Hi
1. step in watercolors
I started this as a watercolorpainting, but think I'll finish up with colored pencils. My skills in watercolor won't take me much further (well, I will finish the 3. horse as far as the others) ;) From that on it'll be colored pencils.
So far I have used 3 watercolor-colors on the horses (indigo, brown madder and charcoal grey).
the background are going to be white.
Fabriano Artistico Watercolor paper, image approx. 11,2 x 16 inches.

[Brenda]

This is going to be wonderful, Lene. You are so skilled at drawing and painting horses!

[Debee]

Excuse Me! I don't see any problem with your skills in watercolor!
This is beautiful. Love the composition too. Will check back on this one. I hope Katherine peeks in on this one.

[Meisie]

Looking good!
Pulling up my chair...;)

Meisie

[christine]

You're off to a great start, Lene. Looking forward to the next posting.

Christine

[lene]

Hi
thank you for looking and comments :)
I've started the cp-work, not going as smooth as I would like :cool:
I am getting a little anxious about the manes - have to go really really slow and concentrated on those :o

... sorry a digi-cam doesn't give the best result, but due to the size of this I'm a bit lazy and don't scan yet

[ex-limey]

Hi Lene! Nice compostion, I love the way your eye is drawn from one horse to the next! Great job on the horses so far........Keep posting your updates, I will be watching with interest.

Jean.:bye1: :bye1:

[christine]

Lene,

You've done a great job on the tails...can't you treat the manes the same? I stay far away from horses due to a severe allergy to them, so my only horse experience is through photos.

This is looking great!

[lene]

thanks for the encouragement from all of you ;)

chebert - the tails aren't finished. just put in 2 layers of watercolor to get the flow. They are also much darker (no highlights) than the manes ;)

[lucky]

Lene, this is looking great! I especially love how you've done the grass! Can't wait to see how you layer the pencil over the watercolor. It's a really neat composition, they really remind me of soldiers right now. Can you just treat the maines like everything else, just drawing in masses of color/ value? Hope you know what I mean... :o

[lene]

Hi
thanks Lucky :) I won't touch the grass with cp as I think it looks allright in watercolor ;)
I have started the manes, not covering large areas at once but drawing the seperate "curls" adding where highlights and darkest colors are - I almost get cross-eyed looking at the photo, so I've made some guidelines/small drawings on another piece of paper to keep it simple and understandable :cool: :eek:
colors on the manes are watercolor-cp's, caran d'ache and Derwent, black, indigo, a dark violet and red-brown.

[lene]

Hi
Friesian horses - C&C welcome :)
I found it a little hard to work 3 full-size horses in watercolor in this image-size... the colorpencil was easily applied to the watercolor BUT giving it quite a different texture, so I limited the cp much more than I had thought.
I know some artist' work very succesfully combining these media - takes practice I think (... as anything else :o )

[Henrie]

I’m a bit confused by the pink in the manes – is this done??

I haven’t seen your ref pic, but maybe adding some more fetlock hair would give these guys a more “friesian” look – just a thought. I think you have done a wonderful job on them!

[lene]

Hi
Henrie - thanks for your input :) I think I will work a bit more on the first horses mane - too pink as you say ;) guess the hard work with this made me a bit blind off this :cool:
I don't understand the word "fetlock", anyway I did attempt to make the first horses mane longer, but had too much/dark watercolor beneath to cover....perhaps should try with a black pencil ;)

[caulfield]

This is very powerful Lene!

[Henrie]

Hi Lene

fetlock = kode (in Danish)
Friesians usually have more hairy "feet", like the shire horses. Look forward to the update - I thought maybe the pink manes were meant to be "artistic" :) . Well, you never know ... :blushing:

[lene]

thanks Nicoloe :) - I really wanted to show their power (and beauty hence the title ;) )
Henri .. ahh ... I know - but I have followed the photo in this and the way they turn their hoves you cannot see this hair very well.
the color of the manes are darkened with wc now - that worked a great deal better than trying to darken in cp :cool:
the reddish are still visible - it was very visible in the photo - must be due to sunshine it was quite red.... well, I prefer the more black look like this update ...

[Henrie]

I'm supposed to be working, but looking at horses is a lot more fun...

I like the new, darker version better too. Yup, another masterpiece! :clap:

[christine]

Lene, this is coming along great! Funny, you indicated you didn't have a handle on water color, sure doesn't show here. Looks like you have a good handle to me!

[lene]

thanks Henriette :blushing: :)
.. and thanks Christine (Chebert) .. I have such a hard time making those watercolors look like I want it to. Thought they would be a great underpainting for cp - but as you can read in my earlier posts it didn't turn out as smooth as I thought :annoyed: ;)

[Toni]

Lene,

when you use watercolor, what happens is that it actually "opens" up the tooth of the paper, and lays down pigment. Both add more texture. When it dries and you use CP over the top, the paper will not feel the same as it did before. You can certainly use this to your advantage if you know and are prepared.

TJ

[lene]

thanks for the explanation Toni, yep - :) getting to know the materials and how they react together, is part of the whole process of experimenting

[nina]

Hi
Friesian horses - C&C welcome :)
I found it a little hard to work 3 full-size horses in watercolor in this image-size... the colorpencil was easily applied to the watercolor BUT giving it quite a different texture, so I limited the cp much more than I had thought.
I know some artist' work very succesfully combining these media - takes practice I think (... as anything else :o )
Fantastic image!

And, I love your use of color!
:clap: :clap: :clap:

[lene]

thank you Nina :)

[Dorell]

I must've missed this on it's first arrival. It's beautiful lene.... absolutely gorgeous :clap:

[lene]

thank you Dorell :)

[rosemary]

Am watching your wonderful work with great interest. :clap: :clap: :clap:
Rosemary

[lene]

thank you Rosemary :)