Weekend work

My goal for this weekend (Friday evening to Sunday) was to get at least 6 layers of pastels on my horse.

Friday:
I had another long day at work, working a bit of overtime so was a bit tired when I got home but a nice dinner later I actually made some progress.

Sixth layer of pastels: 50/50 mix of yellow ochre and burnt sienna. 

After sealing my first layer of the evening I found a cat hair in my paint job! I was so bummed and a bit uncertain of what to do. But I decided to wait until the sealer was dry as I think I remember reading that touching wet sealer might lift underlying layers of pastels and I didn't want a bald patch at the base of her neck.

Black hair at the base of her neck.

Fortunately the hair wasn't sealed in so I managed to grab a small piece of the hair that was sticking out and managed to pull it off with no damage! Sometimes luck is really on my side!

Since my horse still is a little grainy I tried to switch sealer to see if I could make it less grainy (therefore she might look a little more semi-gloss in the next pictures).

Seventh layer of pastels: 50/50 mix of yellow ochre and burnt sienna.

The colour is progressing in a direction I agree with but she is still a tiny bit grainy so a few more layers before I can start darken her again is probably needed.

Eighth layer of pastels: 50/50 mix of yellow ochre and burnt sienna.

So far I have managed to do three out of the six layers I hoped to be able to put on this weekend so hopefully I will be able to put on a few more than I hoped!

Saturday:

I put on another layer in the morning with the same mix as yesterday but forgot to take a picture of it... Anyway she is still a tiny bit grainy in some places but I decided to give her a good spray with the sealer and start on the darker colour.

Ninth layer of Pastels: 50/50 mix of yellow ochre and burnt sienna.

After doing a bunch of errands and chores I got home and put on another layer, this time a little darker. Apparently I am slacking of with the taking pictures of each layer as I missed out on taking pictures of both the 9th and 10th layer...

Tenth layer of Pastels: 1 part yellow ochre, 1 part burnt sienna and 1/3 part of burnt sienna shade.

I didn't see too much colour difference on the last layer so I decided to take a little more burnt sienna shade into the mix.

Eleventh layer of Pastels: 1 part yellow ochre, 1 part burnt sienna and approx. 2/3 part burnt sienna shade on the body and straight burnt sienna shade on the legs.

This new mix actually made some difference on the body and I think I'll stick to this mix for a few more layers.

Twelfth layer of Pastels: 1 part yellow ochre, 1 part burnt sienna and approx. 2/3 part burnt sienna shade. Red Iron oxide extra dark on the legs.

Thirteenth layer of Pastels: 1 part yellow ochre, 1 part burnt sienna and approx. 2/3 part burnt sienna shade. Red Iron oxide extra dark on the legs.

I am very happy to say that by Saturday evening I have managed to paint 7 layers of pastels this weekend and I am quite happy with where she is going at the moment

Sunday:

Kept on going with the same mixture as yesterday but forgot to take a picture of the fourteenth layer of pastels.

Fifteenth layer of pastels: Same mixture as yesterday but put on a layer of black on the legs.

After the Fifteenth layer I decided to block in the mane and tail. I have a bit of a problem with going too dark on my models and I find that blocking in the colour helps a bit so I see when it starts getting too dark.

Sixteenth layer of pastels: Since the grain doesn't want to play nice I decided to break out some of my old pastels in a lighter colour and give her some layers of that as I got that tip last year and it worked great on Nazar. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this layer.

For the seventeenth layer of Pastels I did some "detail work" I put on another layer of grey on her muzzle and eyes. Another coat of black on her legs and some Red Iron Oxide Extra Dark to shade her muscle groves. It looks a little rough at the moment but will blend in better with a few more layers of lighter pastel. I also mixed in some more Burnt Sienna shade and some Red Iron Oxide Extra Dark into the body colour and put a layer on her topline. She is starting to look closer and closer to being finished.

The Eighteenth layer was done in the same fashion as the seventeenth except that I didn't add anymore grey this layer.

I am very, very pleased with how far I got this weekend and hopefully I can keep it up this coming week.

My next goal is to have her coat colour finished by the 14th. That way I will have an entire two weeks to finish her blanket, markings and details. Hopefully that will be enough!