Everyone asks, "Elin, how do you paint horses?" and to that I answer, "I paint everything around them and then find the horse with what's left over." However, in painting a horse in landscape, and especially a commission, I need to work hard to make sure that both the subject (horse) and the supporting area (landscape) are harmoniously working together. In placing the fields of color at this early stage, you can pick out where colors are linked between these two areas. The horse has warm oranges on his coat, and the orange of the distant tree is carried over to the lower right corner. The blue underpainting keeps these warm areas easy to see while I'm working. Note too, that the shadow areas are also connected, and relate together.
This is how the design of a painting starts the moment you bring your brush to the canvas, and it doesn't stop until the signature is put on.
On other news, the February workshop here at my studio in Southern California is FULL, but I have two spaces on a waiting list. Even though all spaces are spoken for, I'm still awaiting deposits on two. If these people opt out, the lucky few will be brought in from the wait list. This workshop is the Color System Boot Camp--three days of intense painting and learning right here in my studio in Riverside. If you'd like to be on the wait list, please click here.
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Color System information can be found HERE.
