Sally Lancaster Work In Progress

Stage 2. It might seem a bit odd the order in which I work but it's partly due to the medium. Because acrylic dries so quickly, I don't work all over the painting as other artists do with other mediums because I have to concentrate on making sure the area I'm working on doesn't dry before I've blended the brush strokes in. I also start on the neck as it's the "underneath" section so the last thing I want is for a brush stroke from the neck to end up on the face. I also like to get the eyes in early as that gives the painting character and I can get more of a feel for the animal when I look at it's eye. As for the muzzle of a horse, I like to paint this early on too as I love horses muzzles, they're so soft and I really enjoy this part as I want to make sure it looks strokeable. Once I've finished all these parts, painting the face structure tends to fall into place and tie everything together.