Sunday, May 3, 2009

Painting Horses and making Transitions


This Plein air painting is of "Bandit", a great trail horse with a quiet mind. I first met Bandit, along with his side-kick Smokey last Fall. Since that time, I've gotten to visit with the horses and owners while I have been Plein air painting horses at Goldfield Ghost Town. I depicted Bandit without his tack on, and wanted to show the warm and cool transitions in his coat. That is one of the primary benefits of painting horses from life. Seeing how the sunlight effects those colors is one of the joys of painting on location.

The Horsemanship Connection: Transitions are another element that has a connection between painting and horsemanship for me. Not only the transitions between the gaits, but the transitions in ground work as well. But the transition I am thinking about today is the one we have with our level of energy through feel. this is something our horses are aware of each time we present ourselves and our intent to them. This energy, feel and connection is also what I feel when I paint.

6 comments:

amymwright said...

I love that warm/cool colors of his coat. And also his quiet mind! Could ride Bandit around in some slow circles this morning :)

Lori Skoog said...

Nice painting...great use of color.

jacksonsgrrl said...

Karen-Thanks for coming to my sight, I will add you to my blogroll. I look forward to checking out your artwork!!! I just met a lady at the place I volunteer to do equitherapy yesterday who offered to do a photoshoot of my horse and I am excited! I love pictures....Artwork of the horse, WOW, even better!
--Mindy

jacksonsgrrl said...

Could you send me a rough estimate of pricing a personal portrait from a photo? Not sure if you do that, but I've always wanted a piece of artwork of my horse....since I have a woman willing to do a photoshoot I'd love to take it a step further and do a portrait!
My email is: pinkcurlytail@yahoo.com
Slainte'
--Mindy

Karen McLain said...

Thanks guys! Sometimes the colors on Paint Horses are like the colors in clouds. All those wonderful warms and cools!

Kathleen said...

Very nice! Love your technique =)