Mac but no cheese

Here’s the real deal, Aquabord™ painting from a photo by Lyn Alban, used with permission.

The gift has been delivered and opened, so I can reveal the puzzle of the “secret commission”. This doesn’t look at all like the photo in my last post, which difference obviously is what I was aiming for. This is Macgregor, also known as Mac, a Morgan/Freisian cross who I previously painted last January. You can see all of him, as opposed to mainly his rear end, here. The challenge for the current piece was the camera flare over Mac’s back and neck. I could easily have done the painting without the flare, but it was specifically requested to include it so I did. While I was laying down layers of black for Mac’s coat I also alternated layers of yellow-orange and red-brown. To get the flare I lifted some of the black off to reveal the colors underneath. I had to be careful because although the ability to lift color off the Aquabord™ surface is a blessing, it can also be a curse if you go at it with too heavy a hand and end up all the way back at the white substrate. I didn’t experiment ahead of time, just decided to take my chances. Chance was on my side this time…