Shetland pony portrait started

Despite the lovely sunshine which made me want to go for a loooooooong walk today, I started working on the head study of a black Shetland pony mare called "Lisa". No charcaol this time - this one is being drawn in pastels.
If you look at the scan, you can see that drawing a black animal doesn't just mean using a black pencil. Far from it! You will only achieve a rich black if you apply lots of layers, starting with purple or blue.

Friesian stallions

I have just finished the portrait of Tsjerk and Feitse:

Next up is a Shetland pony mare in pastels and a group portrait of 4 Thoroughbreds. I'll keep you posted! :o)

Friesians continued

As you can see, I have done some more work on the Friesian stallions. Getting there!

Lucky me - another equine portrait on the easel!

As you might have gathered by now, I love drawing horses and I love charcoal. So lucky me - just having finished the charcoal drawing of the P.R.E. stallion, I am working on yet another charcoal horse portrait. You might remember (or just check out my January posts if you don't) that I drew a Friesian filly collage a few weeks ago. Now the client would like a drawing of her horse's sire (father) and grandfather - both well-known names in the Friesian horse scene: Tsjerk 328 and his sire Feitse 293. Dutch photographer Karin Sevink has given her permission for me to use one of her beautiful photos showing father and son. I'm quite excited about this one! This is what the drawing looks like at the moment:

Horse portrait finished!

OK I can now proudly present the finished version of the portrait of a handsome P.R.E. stallion. I haven't come up with a title yet...maybe 'Spanish beauty'? But would that sound right for a stallion? If you'd like to suggest something, don't hesitate to drop me a line!
So here it is..I am very happy with the result. Thanks again to Juliane Meyer for the gorgeous reference photo!

One more step..

Hi all,
This should be the final 'work in progress' scan before I complete the portrait.

Hope it is sunny where you are today! We've got lovely sunshine and the crocusses and daffodils are out.... feels like spring!

Fun! Well...apart from the draw at football!

I'm enjoying this one so much I didn't even put my pencils down when I was watching footy this afternoon (well was only a draw anyway...very annoying). ^^ Anyhow, here's another update...soon this beautiful stallion will be finished! :o)