Phase: 3

Date: July 20, 2014

Description:
I’d meant to take some intervening photos but forgot to do so! At this point it’s about eight or nine hours later, including an almost continuous six-hour stretch of time in which I painted Elli. I started with her muzzle, then did her eyes, ears, forelock, and face. These were all fairly light washes to establish where everything was and what the colors should be. Then I had to move to the left and paint her dark neck, because without that for reference and contrast, the distracting image of white Vento in the background was causing me to paint Elli in pastel tones.

After that, I worked continuously on all parts of Elli’s face and neck, building up the rich colors. I think her neck took six or seven different layers to reach the intensity that it needed. I left the harness blank until her face was nearly done so that I could concentrate on getting all the colors and tones to match in her skin.

At this stage Elli’s face is almost complete except for the addition of her whiskers (not to be done until the ground behind her was painted) and some fine tuning of her mane and eyes. Her neck still needed a couple more washes, and the reins are still white paper.