Welcome to a lovely commission about a horse and foal oil painting that Nicholas painted for a client in the UK. We were commissioned by Justin King, to create a portrait for a birthday present for his daughter Briony King. Justin ordered one of our gift vouchers as he knew that Briony would have specific ideas of what she wanted for the portrait. This enabled her to choose the horses she wanted to portray and the photos to be used. Originally, Justin and Briony enquired about a pencil drawing, but once we saw the incredible reference photos taken by professional photographer Annie Bee, we knew this was something special. You can see Annie’s beautiful work here www.anniebeeportrait.com
Nicholas was completely taken with the light, composition, and connection between the horses. We offered a special upgrade from a pencil drawing to an oil painting. Its something we don’t usually do but it was too good of an opportunity to be missed. To be able to create a stunning oil painting of the Mare with her foal, it was going to be pretty epic. Briony kindly agreed.
“Thanks so much for this generous offer. It sounds amazing!”
The Horse Portrait in Progress
The painting is a large 30 x 20 inch canvas, and Nicholas started by sketching out the composition and working into a detailed tonal underpainting. As you can see he has started adding colour to the background but below that is his usual sepia tones.
Here he has added more of the sky.
Nicholas is adding the base tones in the grass and working across the background more. He is also using soft layers of oil paint to create depth and atmosphere in the background.
Here is a close up of the horse. You can see he has added gesso onto the canvas before starting, to give it some texture.
The finished Painting of the Mare and Foal
And finally — the completed painting! Briony said…
“What can I say other than, WOW! It’s hard to believe that it’s a painting. Thank you so much — I can’t wait to have it hung in my office.”
Huge thanks again to Briony and Justin for trusting us with such a special commission.
Nicholas with the Painting
We took a few photos of Nicholas with the painting which should help to give a bit of scale. The portrait took a good three weeks to paint, although some time in between for layers to dry.
This is a close up of the horse and foal, we love this photo in particular as it looks as though the horse is looking over Nicholas’s had while he is painting.
Another photo below of the full painting, on a slight angle with Nicholas’s had and brush to give scale.
Here is a video and some close ups of the real thing!
Horse and Foal Oil Painting
We hope that you have enjoyed viewing the horse and foal oil painting. If you’d like to see more of our equine artwork, visit our horse portraits gallery Horse Oil Portraits Gallery. Also if you enjoyed this story, you might also like to read about another of our horse portraits here too about a wedding gift.. Horse Portrait in Oils of Jessica and Logan.
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