Kentucky Derby

I began a painting of race horses. Specifically, the photo- finish from last year's 150th Kentucky derby. I sketched and drew the scene many times, in different ways. Fun ways. Two of my favorite sketches were done by dipping a tree branch in some ink and slapping it on a sheet of paper. The results don't resemble horses at all, but still look cool. 

After sketching a lot, I began with an underpainting. I chose two different colors. Blue for the background, orange for the horses and jockeys. A little white and gray mixed in to vary the lights and darks.  The goal of this layer is to just roughly lay out the composition, with extremely energetic brush strokes that match the drama and intensity of the scene. 

Some may think it's a pointless effort to pay so much attention to a layer of paint that will be covered up by more layers of paint. I disagree, because the brush strokes in this underpainting will influence how I paint the layer on top of it. I want this final piece to be full of dramatic tension.

I painted a somewhat expressive layer next. I tried to stay pretty accurate drawing the figures, but focused more on expressing movement with my brushstrokes. I will paint a third layer to make what I think is already a very good painting even better. I will paint the entire scene all over again, focusing more on accuracy. I'm hoping a lot of the energy from this expressive layer will show through. 

I finished the third layer. I think I calmed down some of the areas that were too busy. I have decided to give this painting a fourth layer to clean up all errant brushstrokes, and to make the straining horse muscles look smoother and more sculpted. 

I made another pass, not necessarily painting over the whole piece again, but cleaning and smoothing over everything I felt needed more attention. I am happy with the result. The title is "150th Kentucky Derby Mystic Dan"