Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Mare and Colt Oil Painting

"Staying Close"
9" x 12"
Oil on Raymar canvasboard
It's been almost 2 months since I posted any art.  It has been a whirlwind two months.  I feel reconnected again with my surroundings and am back at the easel...paining (and painting) away my frustrations of being away too long.  Yes, it takes awhile to get back into it, but as I sat these last few days, I reviewed (straight from my notebook I keep) those little quips about - what to do when it's not working...it's kind of like plugging back in and readjusting.  There are things that usually work when I am in a rut at the easel.  One big one is over-relying on my 'value scale'.  This photo was so dark where the mare was concerned - that later afternoon direct sunlight on the backside of them...I wanted to come up a value and show more color to make it more interesting.  The value scale helped me bump it up one notch into the light and not lose the effectiveness.  I could have done it with Photoshop, but I had already made a copy of the photo to work from and took the challenge. Done from my own photo of the wild horses on "Wild Horse Mesa" near San Luis, Colorado.
This painting is for sale at my Etsy store.

7 comments:

Angela Elledge said...

Wonderful painting, I've been looking forward to paintings from your trip. Love the light on the mare's back; well done!

Victoria on Okinawa said...

Nice restart! Cool idea to write up a list of "getting back" into the paint thing again that have worked for you in the past, may try making a list for my self too. This one really worked well. Love the look, the colors, the relationship and the overall feel of restfulness and beginning again, as with a mare with her babe.

Leann said...

Lovely!

Pattie Wall said...

Thanks Angela, Victoria and Leann! More horses coming - in a series.

Gwen Bell said...

This is so beautiful, Pattie! Love the composition and the way the little colt is peeking around his Mom.

Paintings by Irit Bourla said...

I love this piece.
Beautiful and warm feeling to it.

Pattie Wall said...

Thanks Gwen and Irit - I am about to varnish it and frame it.

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