PAINTING PONIES

I've been painting a lot of people lately, so I think I'd mix it up and go back to my first love - ponies! 

I was a horse-obsessed teenager, and so lucky to have a horse of my own (the wonderful Max!). I spent my teenage years pretty much exclusively drawing horses, and even had a wee business, doing £10 commissions at my local riding school, and selling pastel ponies at school art fairs. I think I got pretty good at it (I wish I still had some of my old drawings), but over the years I got out of the habit of painting, and then, when I picked up my brush again, I was pretty horrified to realise that I'd forgotten how to do it.

Painting horses is such a fun challenge. They are such beautiful animals, so full of personality and movement - a lot can be captured in the shape of their muzzle or position of their ears! But they also have all sorts of weird muscle shapes, bones and veins, which can be intimidating at first, but I find so fun to paint! I'm still learning how to do this, but the best thing I've learned is not to over-paint, but instead use lots of light transparent layers to gradually build colour, and to take advantage of blank space - which all combines to give a lovely sense of light and depth (well, I hope it does, anyway!).

This painting ended up being the biggest thing I've ever painted - I got some amazing massive watercolour paper at Christmas, and it was a lot of fun to use it, although it did take two days! I also massively felt the pressure after completing one horse head and then having to start the next from scratch - was very aware if I did something wrong, I would ruin the whole painting. Luckily, I'm really happy with the final painting - phew!