Black Horse Oil Painting

Beauty

Black Arabian Horse

11 x 14, Oil on canvas

I attended a Arabian Horse show at the state fair and was pleased to see that a number of them were black or near black, as I had rarely seen them in this area.   They are absolutely gorgeous and dramatic to watch, but a challenge to paint, as is any animal with a black coat.   "Black" as it comes out of the tube of oil paint appears somewhat flat on the canvas, no matter which hue you use. Can you believe there are different colors of black - ivory black, lamp black, intense black to name a few - but in oil paint at least I rarely use them, and never straight from the tube.  Over the years I have experimented with different mixtures but eventually settled on the blues and browns for blacks with depth and interest.  The "lights" in this painting are a mixture of ultramarine, burnt umber and white, the mid tones are the same with burnt sienna and a little less white added, the "darks" have little or no white added.  Occasionally I will add a smidgen of black to very dark passages, when nothing else seems to provide the depth I need, but very, very sparingly.   The game changes when you start using acrylics which don't work at all the same as oils.  And pastels,  of course,  are not mixed at all but they can be blended very carefully.  All of which are topics for later posts.

This painting is oil on stretched, wrapped canvas, all the edges have been painted and no staples show.  I have found that people prefer to purchase paintings unframed, so that they can chose what fits their decor, lifestyle and budget.   Unframed artwork is easier, cheaper and a whole lot safer to ship.

Have a great day, and say a prayer for those who have been hit recently by the devastating storms.  We have lived through a couple of them,  though none as devastating as those we have been seeing over the past few weeks.  My heart goes out to all those affected.