From the Artist: This month's painting project was so different from the way that I paint that I was a little intimidated by it. The first day I started on this painting turned out to be one of the most difficult creatively I've had. I had to stop painting and sleep on it to figure out how to proceed. Finally, I realized I was seeing this painting as I would using normal colors and that is why it wasn't working for me. I told myself that the colors I was using was "normal" for "this" painting and changed the way my mind's eye was looking at it. That's all it took and I was on my way to creating a powerfully expressive painting.
I used bright reds, yellows, orange, deep blues, a little black, and metallic golds, silver, and copper for the horses. I also put a splash of turquoise in the horses and I used the metallic and turquoise colors as highlights in the distant trees and here and there in the sky. A streak of silver light shoots from the distant trees and behind the horse in the foreground. In the end this painting was not only fun to paint, it also freed me to be more expressive and daring.
From the Painting Guide: Wonderful! This is exactly what a painting project is meant to do -- push you out of your comfort zone and try something new. What have you got to loose but some time, paint, and mental energy? What have you got to gain... lots, as you found out.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Use of Color: I think the strong reds and yellows used really convey a powerful sense of danger, of the dramatic light you can get with a storm at sunset. It feels as if it could be flames flicking the horses' hooves.
Metallic Paints: Unfortunately a photo will never do metallic paints justice, you need to see the painting in real life to get the benefit, but use a bit of imagination and visualize the horses' coats glinting in the light as if their coats had just been brushes. Now change that glint to a metallic color, as if a coat had captured the sunlight and was radiating it out again.
Composition: The strong dark horizontal element in the composition has the risk of cutting the painting in two. But look at how the positioning of the heads of the two largest horses, and the bodies of the two in the distance, overcomes this by straddling it.
I used bright reds, yellows, orange, deep blues, a little black, and metallic golds, silver, and copper for the horses. I also put a splash of turquoise in the horses and I used the metallic and turquoise colors as highlights in the distant trees and here and there in the sky. A streak of silver light shoots from the distant trees and behind the horse in the foreground. In the end this painting was not only fun to paint, it also freed me to be more expressive and daring.
From the Painting Guide: Wonderful! This is exactly what a painting project is meant to do -- push you out of your comfort zone and try something new. What have you got to loose but some time, paint, and mental energy? What have you got to gain... lots, as you found out.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Use of Color: I think the strong reds and yellows used really convey a powerful sense of danger, of the dramatic light you can get with a storm at sunset. It feels as if it could be flames flicking the horses' hooves.
Metallic Paints: Unfortunately a photo will never do metallic paints justice, you need to see the painting in real life to get the benefit, but use a bit of imagination and visualize the horses' coats glinting in the light as if their coats had just been brushes. Now change that glint to a metallic color, as if a coat had captured the sunlight and was radiating it out again.
Composition: The strong dark horizontal element in the composition has the risk of cutting the painting in two. But look at how the positioning of the heads of the two largest horses, and the bodies of the two in the distance, overcomes this by straddling it.