A Golden Moment

I had my art/photography booth at the NW Horse Fair & Expo for the first time this year and met so many horse lovers. And one particular horse lover and owner contacted me to paint her beautiful Arabian/Pinot mare, Zips Baskin Gold, aka Khat.

I had so much fun paining this beautiful horse! Keep reading to see the steps I took to paint her in watercolors.

As with every commissioned watercolor painting, I started with a pencil sketch so that I have all the proportions and details correct before moving onto my watercolor paper and paints.

These are the photos I worked from to create the above sketch. The main photo of Khat just had her in everyday tack, but the owner wanted her to be painted in her show tack. She did have a photo I'm the pose she wanted in the correct tack, so I just had her send me photos of the specific tack separately. Since I know horses and tack so well after working with them and owning them, I knew I could combine everything together.

Once my sketch is approved, the next step is to transfer it to watercolor paper and then begin all the layers of paint to create the finished painting.

And this is what the owner of Khat had to say about her experience with me.

"Elizabeth is very talented and captured my mare perfectly. She was even able to paint her in show tack. She kept me informed of her progress and completed the project on time. I'm so happy, I've ordered another painting for my daughter."