I had to let this painting of Dez sit for a couple of days. Painting the parts of the horse that were under tack that the artist removed can be somewhat of a puzzle to be solved. This one in particular was a puzzle because the camera angle of the source photo was a bit unusual. The horse was bent to his left (towards the right side of the photo) and I would have expected to see more of his right side in that angle since he was curling to his left. But his haunches were behind the saddle and rider that had been removed and I couldn’t see much to get a clue from either side. I went with that original angle, but it made the other side of him look really skinny and, coincidentally, unbalanced.
I retreated to my enormous files of reference photos and ended up with…a painting from a very old Christmas card (!) to use as a reference for a new angle which would show more of his right side (left side of the photo). I also straightened out his front end a bit so it would go with the new angle. I think now he looks like he’s coming toward the camera with some purpose and some strength in his posture.
I added more branches to the background and played with the shading to get more light/dark contrast. I think it’s done now. But as usual I will let it sit again for a few days in a spot where I will come upon it every morning and see if my judgement remains the same. Here you go–
