Horsey!

Last week I spent an afternoon with a horse named Jim. Peter Van Dyck invited me to sit in on his animal drawing class at PAFA while the horse was scheduled to be there, as I had expressed interest in this opportunity last semester. I love drawing animals, and horses are so "architectural" that it's a special pleasure to draw them. Last time I painted a horse I was sitting out in a field broiling and swatting stinging insects, so having a horse come on in to the great indoors was a real treat!

Jim's arrival via freight elevator was a thrill! He himself was perfectly calm.

My first study...unfinished as the model decided to stop grazing.

My second study, very unfinished but I like how I caught that Jim was tiring. After a few hours of standing he had sort of "sunk" in  a bit, in his back and at his hocks (right word? I mean what look like his ankles.) And his whole expression became somewhat resigned.

Somebody just asked, so yeah, these are quick little oil sketches done from life. That was the whole point. :-) I brought my camera and I took some photos thinking I might work further on my sketches later from reference shots, but turns out I did not in fact get exactly the same angles as I was painting, and angles are key in horse painting. So, we'll see. These will most likely just remain unfinished studies.