Paint Horse in Oils, finished

I signed this last night so it must mean its done. :) The image on my computer shows it lighter that it is in person-- I really need to figure out how to take better photos of artwork but here it is. Painting the white areas in shadow were fun because you can infuse all these subtle lovely colors-- which aren't showing up very well in this computer version! LOL! Sorry.

I think with each painting you learn something and with this one I made some improvements in painting skies.... thanks to a fellow artist at my studio who paints big beautiful skies. I studied her skies and tried to apply that here. I didn't want this painting to be about anything other than the horse-- he is the star in this so my intent was to make everything else more impressionistic with the sharp focus on the Paint (paint horse, not paint as in oil paint) but the rest of it has to look 'right' too so thats the challenge. I try real hard to stop before something is overworked. Thats my preference. I prefer some looseness left in my paintings but there is always a fine line in how that plays out in a painting.

I also learned with my last two commissions... since painting commissions are a different animal than painting according to only painitng what strikes my fancy... that infusing more color and looseness into them is what I find exciting and interesting. Feeding my artisitic spirit is what keeps the work fresh and lively so I am considering that a good lesson. I enjoyed working on this horse painting but it all started to gel and feel right once I played more with the color. Next time when I feel my interest wanning on a painting I will free myself up to infuse more color. Maybe for me boredom = not enough color? When things are feeling too tight or not coming together I revert back to thinking only of the big shapes and the values-- I move to a bigger brush and go back to the inital light/dark blocking in stage that I use to start every painting. So maybe another trick I can use is if the values are okay but I am feeling lackadasical than time to get more creative with the color.


That leads me to this bit of information.... I am on the board of the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild. We just recently got a new board member who is doing a fantastic job of recruiting new members. One of the new members is an author of a book for artists on the creative process. We are working to get things lined up so she can put on a talk in the arts district where my studio is. I am looking forward to reading her book since as an artist so much of my life is about this unseen but very powerful process. To be able to understand how that works will be of great value! I will post the title of the book as soon as we get more details.


My kids go back to school next week so I am looking forward to that big chunk of hopefully uninterruppted time so I can get more done. I have begun my next projects, the large outdoor murals and will post an update soon. This week has been a week of tying up loose ends. I always feel bittersweet when the kids go back to school. Time just keeps marching on. They are excited and have pretty full plates with school and sports activitites so right now the marching feels pretty fast paced! So the plus side of school starting is that chunk of time where I can get into my work uninterrupted.

Thanks for stopping by,
Sue Steiner
equine and animal artist, pet portraits