Detour= Delay

I was of necessity in Chicago all of last week, and although I took all my art materials with me and I have a studio space there I still did not get anything near what I expected accomplished. However, I’m now back home, back on track and hope to stay that way.

I did decide to treat our friends Bella and Junior to a light dose of ink partly to help define the pattern of the mane so I don’t have to think about what’s light and what’s dark at every moment. I also like the definition it gives to the eyes and nostrils.

Just enough ink detail to suggest some shape and expression

Ink also helps me see the drawing underneath a background. This background is one that I do sometimes and it requires a lot of paint about the consistency of, say, lobster bisque in order to spread it around and get it foggy-looking. What happens is that the edges of the figures get overlapped a bit and pencil lines would disappear entirely. I can usually see the ink through the soupy paint just enough to recall where the edges are.

Ink with the background. Not to worry, the horses’ ears shall reappear shortly.

I’m thinking that the red-brown-gold hues of these horses’ coats will resonate nicely with the blue-violet background. Or I may even add a little more white to parts of the background to make it even more wintry looking. Will make that decision after I get more of the the horses done. Looking to go for an early ride tomorrow then spend a good chunk of the rest of the day getting these guys some color!