Two draft show horses, ready to strut their stuff, but not necessarily too happy about it. I’m calling this painting “Attitude” since they appear to be displaying quite a bit of it!
I thought the last pair of draft horses in harness that I painted were incredibly complicated (see them here) and felt like it took an eternity to paint them. The new pair, part of a four-horse hitch at the Michigan Horse Council Stallion Expo this past March, are going to take an eternity plus an infinity. Is it a coincidence that I finished the first painting last May? I don’t know. Things have a way of creeping up on you. The only thing I can say at this point is that the painting part shouldn’t be nearly as difficult and time-consuming as the pencil drawing was. These guys were outfitted in show harness and fancy braids, which you may not see too clearly in the photo but believe me I think I know every wrinkle of their ribbons and every facet of their harness studs.
It’s probably time to bring up a little discussion about drawing, and why I insist on doing it rather than projecting or tracing the image–which, of course, would save a lot of time over the painstaking freehand drawing method. It has become totally acceptable among a huge number of artists to project the image they will later paint. I do use a projector for very large canvases, but I project my drawing, not the original image I made the drawing from. I figure I’ve already drawn it once, I don’t need to do it again. But I definitely need to do it once. And the reason is…this is how I get to know the subject intimately, by staring at it and making endless corrections until I am totally bug-eyed! I need this connection with the subject in order to let myself become one with the painting. I don’t know how else to describe it, except to say that experience has taught me that if I trace something I have no idea later how all the parts relate to one another. When I draw, I know that I have studied every aspect of what I have drawn and the map is laid out for me and I understand it. I have no quarrel with artists who trace or project their original images; it just doesn’t work out very well for me.
Alli Farkas Artist Adventures 
i feel the same way; projecting seems like cheating to me, although like you, if one has done the homework, then projecting is ok — i don’t have a projector but often wish to have one to project images of large trees on a wall so that i can see them better!
yes, after one has spent hours analyzing the subject, and the map has been executed, the painting is easy!
i look forward to watching the progress.
lisa/z
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I do a lot of tracing AND I do a lot of freehand drawing. Actually, I find that sometimes tracing an object helps me to figure out where I’m going wrong if I’m having trouble with a drawing.
I guess it’s just a difference in how our brains work.
But, I do agree that there’s nothing like drawing an object freehand to develop your eye and hand-ey coordination.
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I wish I could project images right from my mind onto paper. But unfortunately they must first follow my hand which leads to a lot of serious distortion.
Very nice and well drawn image..
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If your images didn’t follow your hand they would most likely be colossally boring. The distortion is what makes them fun and interesting. So, “get over yourself!”–as they used to say a few years back. You’re fine!
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