534 Golden Girl

Golden Girl

oil on canvas

16x12"
$384

     This delicate creature is awaiting adoption at the Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Center in Reno, Nevada. She looked straight at me and my camera as if to pose. I loved her right away, but I am in no position to be giving my heart to a horse, so I remained all business and came home with a few good shots for studio work.

     For this one I aimed for her long, slender grace in gold in the key of green.

Early Morning Horse

Early Morning Horse

Oil

7x5"

$70

(DPW Auction beginning bid $50. Click to bid.)

     I have not done a Challenge in a few weeks, and this is actually last week's Challenge, but I wanted to do it even if I am a little late. Love painting animals. I usually focus on their faces but this time I wanted to emphasize the sunlit side of the body and keep the face secondary. I also wanted to work on shapes within the picture rectangle. Here is the hard part: how to create a light shape across the horses back and distant background field and still highlight the sun on her side without using dark against light for the strong edge. Usually I try to do one thing at a time, but I am glad I tried for this "challenge" of doing the two things at once. It would have been easier (and maybe more successful) painting a light horse against a dark background, but in my efforts to improve I think it is OK to fail in order to succeed.