Sometime
after Christmas dinner during the few hands of rummy that came after,
a simple quiet question arose that helped me learn to paint something
I had always avoided like the black plague, reflections in water. My
niece asked innocently enough, “uncle Tom when are you going to
paint something for me?” I happened to be between projects at that
moment so I relied with a question of my own, “Well, what would you
like me to paint for you?” Without hesitation she answered, “a
horse.” I figured I could do a fair job of painting a horse so I
told her I would look for some reference images at a website that I
had used, and then get in touch with her via Facebook. She lives a
couple hours away from me so logistics might have proved challenging
but through the miracle of modern technology went incredibly
smoothly.
I
found four different horse images that where varying degrees of cute,
humorous, and downright charming and she chose my second favorite. It
was an adorable little chestnut foal alone in the pasture looking
downward at it's own reflection in a puddle. It immediately reminded
me of the videos I see online of puppies and kittens reacting to
their own reflections in a mirror. The title for it instantly popped
into my head and I think it works very well to indicate both the
innocence of youth and the first moment of self awareness. It also
filled me with a bit of dread, I have never been very good at
portraying reflections in water and this one was somewhat complex. It
was a very shallow puddle maybe an inch or two deep with vegetation
poking through the surface of the water in various places. To say it
was a daunting prospect for me is understating it by quite a lot.
We
hashed out a few final details and the project was underway. I
happened to have an old Grumbacher canvas
panel in the size she preferred. It was not the ultra smooth surface that
I prefer but I knew how to cope with that. The coarser texture also
dictated that I would be using acrylics on this project. Using the
acrylics opened up the opportunity for me to break out my airbrush
which turned out to be a huge factor in how well the reflection would
turn out. I transferred the image of the foal onto the canvas board
and decided to dig right in. There where numerous small patches of
dirt showing through the coarse grasses of the pasture. I began by
trying to frame then in using a darker green but absolutely did not
like what I was seeing after about half an hour. My solution was to
mask off the foal and shoot it with my airbrush using various shades
of green and brown to lay down a base coat.
Next I
rapidly threw on the patches of dirt in raw sienna with touches of
burnt umber here and there. I actually added too many dirt patches
and ended up deleting several as I moved forward with the grasses. I
used a fair bit of “glazing” throughout the painting but it began
with the grasses. It was looking much too dark to me at first so I
brightened things up with lighter shades and a few highlights, and
then it was too bright. I finally elected to leave things on the
brighter side and then moderate the overall values by layering glazes
tinted with a medium green. It also served to help haze the distant
grasses making the nearer grass look more sharp and distinct. I used
a similar technique on the reflections to hint at details without
taking them too far. At this point I also elected to add in a few
weedy plants because horse pastures are not golf greens and they tend
to be a bit rough. A few dandelions, thistles and some pig weed are
likely to be found in any horse pasture along with the abundant
grasses.
Once I
had the grasses all of the way to the puddles edge and had begun work
on the first of the reflections I decided I did not like the flat tan
color of the puddle. I pulled out the airbrush at this point and
added a hint of pale cerulean blue and a few touches of white to give
the impression of an mostly cloudy sky above with a few breaks in the
overcast. It was a little nerve wracking to start spraying on my half
done painting but it was a relatively safe area to work on, I just
haven't yet reached “fearless” with an airbrush in my hand.
Next I
roughed in the foals reflection using a glaze of acrylic glazing
medium and burnt umber. I didn't want the colors flat in the
reflection and the glaze allowed me to layer in deeper tones in
different places to make it look like you were seeing variations in
the ground beneath the puddle. I also added a bit of Van dyke brown
in places where I needed even more darkness. I use a tan glaze to add
in just a few key details to set the impression that you were indeed
looking at a reflection of that foal in that puddle. It was hard to
be subtle enough to have it be convincing when my natural impulse is
to over detail everything.
After
that frightening step was completed I finished adding the reflected
images of the grasses and began adding ripples in the waters surface
along with a slightly brighter waterline along the far edge of the
puddle. Next came the plant life just poking through the surface
enough to require their own reflections. I did have to simplify the
image by reducing the shear number of small plants from my reference
image. I think I struck a reasonable balance in numbers and
placement. I was sweating bullets every time I lifted my brush to the
canvas at this point in the project. After I was thoroughly satisfied
with the puddle all I had left to do was the foal. “Easy peazy
lemon squeazy,” or not!
To
calm my jangled nerves I started with the bridle and the hooves as
they shared the same 3-color palette. Because it was an adjustable
foal bridle the tails on each strap needed holes for future
adjustment as the foal grew. I had to remember to shade those holes
with the proper color of what was behind them in this case it was the
grass. When I happy there I began the legs and they were an
interesting mix of tedious and challenging. The color transition from
the pale of the lower leg to the rich red as you go higher was a
tough job of blending.
I had
to wait a full week before continuing at that point due to work and
other factors. In the mean time I had my niece pick out a frame from
those I had available. I told her it was progressing nicely and I
might have it ready in just a few more weekends. When I was able to
return to it I began with the ears and the cute little fringe of
bangs between them. They where tougher than anticipated due to the
fact that your angle of view on the near side ear pointing straight
at the viewer is directly into it. I am not ashamed to say I
struggled with this aspect of this painting but I finally felt
satisfied with my result.
The
rest was relatively straight forward using the same three or four
colors and just about the time I was feeling pretty good about myself
I had another color transition to cope with that re-introduced me to
the term humility. The foals muzzle is a significantly deeper shade
of brown than the entire rest of the body. It took me a while to find
the right balance of value in the darker browns required on the
muzzle Once again glazing saved my bacon here as I oscillated between
too dark and too light but finally found a place where I was happy
with the result.
Overall
I really like the way it turned out and I hope my niece will enjoy it
for many years to come.
Acrylic
on Canvasboard 16” X 20”
