Chestnut Valegro

Chestnut Valegro

I had every intention of making this a fleabitten grey, inspired by Jennifer Scott’s magnificent artist’s choice Anise. But I’ve been trying to focus on not over-complicating and doing the simple things really well. The original plan was to paint a chestnut and then add in grey and white hairs with colored pencils and acrylics. But once I got the chestnut part done, I was really happy with the depth of color. I decided to just keep it that way and went about finishing it up instead. Amazing how sometimes they really do end up painting themselves.

This was also my first successful piece done in almost entirely oil paint. I’d wanted to move that direction for some time, and with this fellow, it finally clicked!