Thursday, September 29, 2011

Finally!


The day is here. Tonight is the official unveiling of the Horse Fever II horses. Be on the square in downtown Ocala from 6 to 8 this evening to see 5 of the horses. The rest will be at their locations by Saturday morning. Check out the interactive map to find them. When you click on the horse it takes you to their page and you can see more info about them and the artists. Now I can finally share photos of what I've been up to this summer. Here's some progress pics. I painted Sunny at the studio I share with Kelli (see her horse here). My husband Mark also did a horse for the project. I say 'did' because he did a lot more than paint it. If you're in the area I hope you can see it in person. There's so much more to it than you see in the photo.

 So.... I started with gold leaf. Everyone wondered what I was doing starting with the gold. I don't know why people thought it strange. As far as the painting process it made no difference where I started. I worked with the gold first because it was fun and I was excited to see something shiny!

 Getting into the paint I worked from the top down blocking in the bands of color. I used traditional acrylics for the first layers.
 Once I got into the final layers I started using Open Acrylic to make the blending easier. I added Open medium to the paint to give me even more blending time. I could also do some detail work by doing glazes of color and then lifting out bands with a wet brush to reveal the color underneath.

In the last 2 pics Sunny has his final clear coat and is hanging out at the warehouse waiting to go to his new location. The clear coat really makes the colors pop. I can't wait to see him outside, standing in the sun all bright and shiny. Be sure to go to the map link at the top of the post to find Sunny and all the other horses.

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