Chestnut Stallion 4

I'm now on stage four of this piece, in between fulfilling Christmas print and painting orders for David Miller Art. 

I've started to block in a dark background which helps accentuate the rich glow of the horses chestnut coat.  Unfortunately, there's some flair from the studio lights in the left hand corner of the picture but you get the general idea.  This dark is a mixture of ultramarine blue, windsor violet, burnt umber and burnt sienna, with a little yellow ochre introduced towards the bottom. I'm thinking of lightening the bottom half further once the paint is dry, hence the uneven colour at the moment, in order to accentuate the shadow.  

His main, tail, stockings and hooves still need to be worked on but he's well on the way to being finished, but given the time of year it may be that I won't get round to this until January!