Some Days Are Never Long Enough...

Another busy day on the farm and in the studio - sometimes days when there seems so much to do, I end up getting more done than on a less demanding day. I didn't actually start painting until after 7pm, when I began working on the painting of Toula and her foal again, but once again this piece came along really well. Naturally I ran out of time - and energy - and ended up stopping much sooner than I would have liked. It's hard to stop when things are going well, probably because of the irrational fear that I may never have things go so smoothly again!

I decided to go ahead with the colour, and make the necessary corrections as I went. I went with my favourite limited palette on this one - it just works so well for dark bay horses, so it was an easy choice. Once again I was reminded how much I love these Raphael linen panels, which was just another part of the equation that made tonight's work successful. I'm really hoping I can work on it again tomorrow. I should have time, so hopefully nothing with change that!

I intentionally stopped at this point in the painting to show a bit how I work at this stage. All of the work on the foal is wet into went, starting with the darkest darks, then the midtones. You can see this on the mare, which I've just started: just some darks and a little of the midtones. And to back up a step...I did the background first. It's just very loose, and will likely stay that way, with some minor adjustments.

I've also done more work on the Sealy Hill painting since I last posted. Still working on the underpainting on this one, but as you can see, I'm steadily working up the detail. I'll post the finished underpainting when it's done and ready for colour!