I Dream of Roanie
I pulled out the 18x24 canvas that I'd sketched Roanie on in acrylic several years ago. I made some modifications -maybe my drawing skills have improved since then. You can see corrections on the face and where I redrew the back legs (the white). Then I painted orange and red acrylic to cover the canvas, 'cuz that's how I roll.
I mixed alizarin crimson, ultramarine, a bit of black w/ a tiny tiny bit of cad yellow light and laid in the darks.
I mixed the AC (red), UMB (blue) and CYL (yellow) in differing strengths with white for the roan colors. Bay roans like Roanie (meaning they have a mix of red and white hair in their coats w/ a black mane and tail, to you city folk) have a lot of blues in their pink coats, whereas strawberry roans (no black) often have more yellows in their coats. The green paint was on the palette from two paintings ago, so I used it (mixed with red and white to "calm it down") to whittle out the face w/ negative space (painting the part that's "not there" to define the part that is there). I liked the green against the purples on the horse, so I decided green was going to be the background. Originally, I'd planned a brownish background, but my old reference photo of Roanie showed him in a grassy pasture on Wolf Creek.
It's a blast painting roans because of the variations. After getting what I wanted in the face (which on many roans is darker in color than the rest of them) I worked dark to light, all around the painting at once. This keeps it uniform in color and technique.
I started defining his coat more, along w/ his muscles, and legs. At around 17 hands, Roanie was a big, bold horse. My Aunt Linda gave him to my daughter. In his retirement from being a roping horse, he found he preferred my light little girl to adult riders. He'd follow her anywhere. When I was a kid, Aunt Linda also gave me my favorite childhood horse, Teddy Bear, who lived into his 30's. Maybe I should paint him next.
Adding green significantly changed the light here for my phone photos- See how it makes the bottom right look more red? That's the power of complementary colors. It also makes the horse appear more pink, whereas the previous orange background brought out the blues in his coat. A blue background would have made the orange on the opposite side look brighter and bolder, and would have made the horse more orange than red.
Now I defined the feet, covered the background and added some blues to the mane and tail, which gives the black its "shine." Keeping the green more light and blue in the back helps it recede, whereas the darker, warmer colors down in front come forward. All this I learned in the 80's in Oil Painting 101, and after years of practice, it becomes second nature.
The shadow on the grass really works in this painting because it gives him a "place & a space" in an otherwise blah background. One could paint details in the grass, but I wouldn't do that because the grass isn't important. A couple spots of white and yellow (below) suggest dandelions and that's all I'd want to say about where he's at-in a meadow of green for eternity.
There he is: Ol' Roanie, whose attitude always reminded me of Eeyore, except where my daughter was concerned. Roanie had lost the site in his left eye many years ago, which caused him to turn his head like this when you approached his left. He also had an enormous scar on his neck from crashing into something he couldn't see (note the top photo). My daughter learned the importance of talking to him as she handled him. He taught our other, younger Quarter Horses to respect his authority and seniority. Painting Roanie today taught me a lot too. I miss ya, Ol' Boy.