How to Paint Horses

Two Horses by Margarita Potorocha

Painting 2 horses in a foggy atmosphere using a variety of techniques with oils....brush, knife, wipe out and finger painting.

Step by Step: Paint Working Horses

"Montana Trio" oil, 14" by 18"

A tutorial for painting work horses from Scott Burdick.   Scott says:  "Painting horses is no different than painting anything else since what you should essentially be thinking of is simply painting a series of shapes. Just as with painting a portrait or figure, these shapes just have to be more carefully measured for accuracy than a landscape."   Go ahead....challenge yourself and give it a try!  ;-)

Horse Portrait in Watercolor

 Step by step watercolor demo by Twyla (Ironhorse) of a Quarterhorse named "Star".   Many progress photos shown.

Carriage Horses in Mixed Media

Carriage Horses in Mixed Media by Toni-Marie Hudson.
This step-by-step tutorial of a mixed media painting will demonstrate how Toni-Marie uses a variety of media, including watercolor pencil, colored pencil, acrylic, graphite and ink, to realistically paint two Carriage Horses, Sam and Ben.

UPDATE:   Sorry, this website and tutorial don't exist any more.
Here it is on Wayback Machine.

How to Paint from a Black and White Photo

Watercolor Demo

This is a step-by-step demonstration from well-known watercolor artist and author Charles Reid based on an old photograph of a couple of men and a horse.  Reid says:  The advantages of painting from old black-and-white photos is that the images are simplified into dark and light values, with few or no halftone details. Halftones can be confusing when painting from life or color photos. Sometimes you'd like a bit more information than a black-and-white photo has to offer, but the advantage is that you also won't be confused by the detail in halftones.

This demo is an excerpt from Charles Reid's Watercolor Solutions: Learn to Solve the Most Common Painting Problems.

Palomino Gypsy by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of Palomino horse by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA from her Gypsy Vanner series. Baer writes: "This is the first time I have painted a Palomino and it was a lot of fun. I especially liked the challenge of applying the multiple layers to achieve the hair and the softness in the eyes."

"Gypsy Vanner" by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of horse's eye by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA from her Gypsy Vanner series. Baer writes: "In this painting, I wanted to show that when the sun hits just right, you can look into the eye and see the rich, rusty color while at the same time you are able to see the spherical shape from the contour of the highlights."

'Fall Run' Western Speed Painting By Robert Hagan

The Aspen Valley in Colorado in Fall is stunning. The red rock bluffs drop vertically to the small river valley floor and are the perfect backdrop to the Aspen trees as they switch color from green to yellow to orange during September. Some change earlier than others so there is inevitably a mix of these colors for the sort 3 week period of transformation.

Well add a river and then some horses running loose and we have a painting that should get everyones attention - especially if they are mid stream and on the burst!    Robert Hagan demonstrates painting such a scene in the video below!