Monday 25 January 2010

Dressage Horse.



Here is a pastel portrait of a dressage horse from a local stable. I was fortunate enough to have horses at this very successful stable some years ago. It is owned and run by lovely people who studied with a well known Olympic Dressage Rider, so everyone who has liveries at this yard are able to take advantage of wonderful tuition. Whatever discipline they follow with their horses, showjumping, cross country, long distance riding or pure dressage - like the lovely chap above - it is obvious that good basic training in self carriage for the horses and a balanced seat for the rider does nothing but good. It is also very informative and fun to watch progress of friends and their horses through the years.

This dark brown gelding was very enjoyable to paint and I used Daler Rowney soft pastels. Colours were: vandyke brown 8, black (for the shadows) burnt sienna 4, blue grey 2 and 4 with a touch of madder brown and prussian blue on his muzzle and in his coat, white and a teeny amount of gold for the reflection in his eye. Leather work on the halter was also vandyke brown, touches of black and blue grey for the highlights and stitching. Using a limited palette is a good idea if at all possible.

I am still working on the large oils, but will get back to pastel and more miniatures (hopefully) when time permits. Pastel is such a lovely and immediate medium to work with that I feel it calling me :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lesley, this is such a beautiful portrait. It is no wonder you have commissions for horse paintings.

Tracy Hall said...

Lesley this is just beautiful - the eyes are amazing and you just want to reach out and stroke that nose!

Lesley Ann Hartman said...

Hi Judy and Tracy,

Thanks so much for your comments. This pastel was great to do. This horse has so much character and is a lovely colour (love those blues and golds in his coat!) I bet you both would have had a lot of fun painting him as well. :) Lesley