The Wizzard’s Fire

For this demonstration I chose to paint something that is close to my heart.

Horses have always been my passion. The reference material for this painting is from my own photo taken of a friend’s gorgeous Friesian stallion in western Sydney known as “The Wizzard.”

To start I attached a sheet of black Colourfix pastel paper to a board on my easel. You can use masking tape or strong clips to attach the paper to the board. The pastels I use are Art Spectrum, Unison, Winsor & Newton, and Rembrandt.

STEP ONE

I mark up the halfway marks horizontally and vertically as a guide with a white pastel pencil before sketching the basic outline. Leave at least a 1cm border for framing later on. Colourfix paper has a white border around the edges of the paper already. I sketch in the outline shape of the horse. You can use a grid or freehand. At this stage you can correct errors easily with a putty eraser. I establish some basic muscle shapes with the white pencil.

STEP TWO

I apply some white highlights on the horse first to establish the lights as they will come through later.

STEP THREE

I work from the top to the bottom to avoid smudging and from left to right as I am right handed - I find this is the easiest way to work for me. I like to work in stages as I progress down the page to keep my work crisp and clean. A vibrant red pastel colour is applied to the top of the page and around the horse for impact. Then I blend the background with my fingers to give a smooth effect. Because I am working with two strong colours of red and black it is important to keep your hands clean while doing this so that the colours do not mix together near the edges to dull the impact. I use a lot of Wet Ones to achieve this. Also wipe your pastels on a piece of paper towel to keep them clean.

At this stage you will have to take your board outside and give it a few

FINAL STEP

STEP FOUR STEP FIVE STEP SIX

STEP ONE STEP TWO STEP THREE

STEP SEVEN STEP EIGHT STEP NINE

STEP TEN STEP ELEVEN STEP TWELVE