Day 2 continued - Let's Paint!

I started painting tonight around 7pm finally and stopped at 11. I did take a few breaks in there so probably 2 hours of it was actual painting time. Here's the progress so far. 


Here is the starting point! One horse in primer. Paints and brushes are out. Reference pictures are on my big monitor. Crowd of onlookers is present. 

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Here I have blocked in a layer of lighter color on the underbelly and between the front legs with acrylics. 

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Now I have worked in some darker shades over the top and blended it into more layers of lighter color on the underside. I have blocked in a few of the white areas with thin gesso just so I have a guide as to where I need to work on shading and what is just a waste because it will be covered up anyway. 

Tips for working with acrylics by brush: If the colors you are using are translucent you can add a tiny bit of white to them to help them cover better. I will often do this with the base coat, and then work non-mixed colors over top. The more translucent ones give more of a glow and richness to the coat. 

Always let each coat dry thoroughly before starting the next one. Keep layers thin. I do a lot of dry brushing with acrylics to keep the brush strokes to a minimum. 

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Another layer on and he's getting nice and rich. 

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Now I have blocked in some of the white areas with gesso. This horse has a lot of roany spots so I made sure to leave the colored areas larger than they will be on the finished piece. 

After this I start on the pastels!