Golden Horse in Water Horse Artwork

Hi there! At the moment, I’m really getting into horse artwork. I find drawing and painting really therapeutic, and I’m lucky to have some great subjects (my horses) readily available.

I know that plenty of you will have a similar interest, and may just be starting out. So I thought I could pass on some of my knowledge. I’m just learning myself, but I think because I’ve spent so much time with horses painting them comes a little more easily.

Paint with me!

Today I’m going to show you the different stages of a piece of horse artwork in progress. We’ll use one of my recent watercolor pieces, “Golden Horse in Water”, as an example.

Horse Artwork Stage 1 – Base Layer

With this first layer I’ve kept the colour palette really simple, just outlining the horse. I really wanted to show movement here, and it’s important to start that at the base layer.

golden horse in water artwork stage 1

Horse Artwork Stage 2 – Highlights

I love how the mane and tail looked in this stage but as I kept working on it, you’ll see later, they didn’t quite match the flow and the speed of the horse’s movement so I completely changed the location of the mane by the last stage.

golden horse in water artwork stage 2

Horse Artwork Stage 3 – Background

Normally, the background is done first. Initially I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have a background on this painting or just to leave it blank. While doing it, I opted for a background so added it in!

golden horse in water artwork stage 3

Horse Artwork Stage 4 – Warmth and Definition

Up to this point, I was getting the shapes and everything right. In this stage, I’m hoping to bring the painting to life. It’s coming along. The last stage – stage 5 (which I will be adding below shortly) will be the finishing touches. You might notice that I need to reduce the size of the ear on the right side of the painting and the mane looks a little bit too thick at the moment to be “realistic”. I also want to add just a tiny little bit more yellow to the background. Hopefully it turns out well!

Original Equestrian Boots and Bridles artwork
Title: “Golden Horse in Water”
Artist: Martina

Now give it a go yourself!

If you like my art, you should check out some of my other pieces – “Down to Business” and “Horse on a Monday Morning“. Alternatively, you can have a read of my guide on how to collect horse art.

Happy riding (and painting!)

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