Lisa Miller Equestrian Artist

Chestnut Stallion Finished

2012-01-27T06:13:00.000-08:00

Here is the chestnut stallion, Kirkwall finished. his tail and main have been painted and he's had two or three glazes with a mixure of liquin and a little body colour (in this case burnt sienna) to bring out the glow in his coat. Now he's off to the framers!

Chestnut Stallion 4

2011-12-08T07:34:00.001-08:00

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!

Chestnut Stallion 3

2011-12-04T03:02:00.001-08:00

Now onto stage three and I've put a second layer of much creamier paint onto the main body of the horse, using the same colours as before, blended together with a clean, soft brush. I'm also exploring the background colour. At the moment I'm leaning towards a rich dark - ultramarine blue, windsor violet and burnt umber, but that may change as the horse progresses.

The next stage will be the head, main, tail and legs.

Chestnut Stallion 2

2011-11-30T10:25:00.001-08:00

Today I've started to block in the horse. My palette for this piece is burnt sienna, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, burnt umber, naples yellow, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, windsor violet and titanium white alkyd. I like to use the white alkyd because it speeds up the drying time of everything it is mixed with so allows me to work on a piece again within a day or so as opposed to a week. As a rule I don't tend to use other alkyds as I don't like the sticky nature of the medium but I feel I just about get away with the white!

At this stage the painting looks a bit scrappy and uneven and can sometimes leave me wondering what I'm doing but over the years I've learnt to suppress the panic! It's not until the next couple of coats that I will start to blend the rich chestnuts, browns and blues together which will make for a more convincing painting.

Painting Frankel

2011-11-30T04:24:00.001-08:00

My painting of Frankel is almost finished. This is the first time in a long time that I've painted anything on canvas but I'm really impressed with the Windsor & Newton 100% linen series. I've been undecided on the background for some time and after a bit of trial and error I eventually decided to go with something a little more realistic but which didn't detract from the horse. I still need to tie together all the paint surfaces with a little body colour mixed with liquin to even out those parts which have dried in more than others and then it's off to the photographers.

He will eventually be available as a print but I'm not sure if I will be able to get these out for Christmas as it's already nearly December. Phew, how time flies!

With many thanks again to John Pike of Racing Images for the use of such a great photograph.

Chestnut Stallion

2011-11-29T01:16:00.001-08:00

This is Kirkwall, a thoroughbred stallion whom we photographed at one of Cheltenham Racecourses National Hunt Stallion parades a few years back. He's been sitting in my 'to-do- pile for a while now but I've finally got round to priming up a canvas with a painting in mind. This will hopefully be one of the paintings I will exhibit at a joint exhibition with my husband David at Aberglasney Gardens near Llandeilo. It isn't until July 2012 but now is the perfect time to start thinking about what I would like to put into the show.

I've primed up a 20 x 30 inch Windsor & Newton linen canvas using three coats of acrylic gesso primer and a watered-down coat of burnt sienna/naples yellow acrylic to tone down the white. Unfortunately the photograph isn't that great but on top of this I've transferred quite a detailed drawing of the stallion. So far so good!

Long Handled Brushes

2011-03-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

This piece is approximately15 x 28 inches painted on gessoed and coloured board. In an effort to loosen up I've decided to paint this with no 3 and upward longhandled rounds and filberts. No more fiddling!It does, however, require a steady hand and a great dealof patience. This one may take me a while as I'm stillfinding my way painting like this. Not too sure of thebackground yet, but probably something expressive.Perhaps even bring the palette knife into play!

I may leave the sketched-in legs as they are. My main wish is to leave this looking like a painting and not a pseudo photograph. Watch this space!

Painting a 'grey ' horse.

2011-02-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks since I tackled this old boy. Painting has been put on the backburner whilst I helped David get TWO exhibitions finished and delivered. I've been mostly painting frames so it's nice to get back to some 'real' painting.

Today I've worked on the blocked-in areas, intensifying the colours in some places and knocking them back in others. It's amazing how many colours there are in a 'grey' horse, especially one depicted in reflected sunlight. I've used alizarin crimson, naples yellow, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre and white in this coat. The background is a mix of ultramarine, umber and white, erring towards the blue which complements the yellows in his coat.

He's quite a fleabitten grey so for the moment I've added
some speckling with a hard brush and thinned oil paint.

Once he's dry I'll work on specific areas of spotting and bring the whole thing together.

3rd March - final glazes drying. Finished.

First Commission of 2011

2011-01-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of my first commission of 2011. This old grey gentleman is extremely handsome! Today I have blocked in all the major elements. The underpainted colours may look a bit scary but they will be toned down as the painting progresses. I love painting grey/white horses in strong side-light. There is an awful lot going on in the shadows, so many subtle colours!

He's up on the drying shelf now. I'll be tackling him again next week. In the meantime I will be under painting a barn owl commission.

Watch this space!

New Web Site

2011-01-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Today I have finally managed to replace my old web site

with a new and (I hope) improved version. Now you can

buy my prints straight from the site using Paypal instead of
being re-directed to David's site over at
http://www.davidmillerart.co.uk/

I'm expecting a few teething problems but once I'm happy
that my site is working properly I will be crossing my fingers,
touching wood and uploading David's new site.

Visit my site at: http://www.thepaintedhorse.co.uk/

Almost Finished....

2010-11-09T11:38:00.001-08:00

This commission is almost finished now.

If you scroll down the page to earlier entries you can see how it's developed. I've now finished the background and tided up the bridle. All that needs doing now are a few liquin glazes with a little body colour and it's finished!

I'm not doing a great deal of painting at the moment as were busy with Christmas print orders but I'll be back soon with more work.

Another Mini Piece...

2010-10-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

This is another of my little 8 x 8 inch 'one day wonders'.

Todays subject is the gutsy front-running hurdler Lough Derg, known affectionately as 'Douglas' and trained by David Pipe. SOLD

New Web Site

2010-10-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of months I have been rebuilding my website with a new software package and hope to have it up and running very soon. My prints will then be available to buy on site using PayPal. At the moment anyone wanting to buy a print has to go through my Husband's web site at David Miller Art. I am also revamping that site, but it has proved a monumental task! However, by removing my prints and other elements I hope it will also be improved by my hard work. Expect to see that in the New Year.

Painting in Progress

2010-10-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

DAY 1

Below is my latest commission of a very handsome 3/4 thoroughbred. I spent the first day 'blocking in' all the major areas of colour but I have to admit I spend a little more time working around the muzzle and eye. Being careful at this stage means that I won't have to make any major drawing changes later on. In a couple of days, when the oil paint is completely dry, I will start again, working from the muzzle up until the piece is completely finished. This process will take me a few days so I will post another In Progress picture soon.

Day 1 - Blocking In

DAY 2

Painting has gone more slowly today as I've had a few interruptions, but there has been some progress. I've done more work around the nose and muzzle and painted in the bridle. In my next session I will work around the eye and the rest of the face.

Day 2

muzzle detail

DAY 3

It's actually over a week since I touched this painting due to other commitments but today I've had a few hours to work on it. As you can see, I've changed the background colour as I wasn't happy with the pale underpainting I'd initially started with. The darker colour complements the rich bay of the coat more I think. Unfortunately, as I have used a lot of burnt umber it started to dry rather quickly and became difficult to work with so in a couple of days I will mix up a whole lot of colour and repaint the background. I've also done some work around the eye and enriched the colour overall. The next stage, after I have repainted the background, will be to refine some of the parts I have worked on today, finish off the tack and eventually put a liquin glaze with a bit of body colour over the whole lot just to even out the finish.

Day 3

eye detail

New Mini Art

2010-10-09T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is a new venture for me. So many people come up to me and say how much they love my work but can't really afford to buy a big original, or have the room for one, so here are a selection of smaller pieces £80 - £300.

All these paintings are oil on board and will require framing (unless otherwise stated) but Special Delivery (Next day) postage is included in the price. I am in the process of setting up a PayPal account but in the meantime please contact me if you are interested in purchasing a piece. You can pay by cheque, bank transfer or credit card (by phone using WorldAccess).

Blazing Bailey

8 x 10 inches £100

This little piece is of the Grade One winning hurdler Blazing Bailey, one of my (many) favourite jumpers. He ran at Ffos Las during the last jumps season over the bigger obstacles, but that really doesn't seem his game and it may be that retirement beckons for the old warrior.

Kauto Star

8 x 8 inches £100

This horse really is top of the favourites list, though I am getting to the point where I can barely watch him race. When he fell in this years Gold Cup when appearing to be going well, it looked such a horrendous fall that I really thought he wasn't going to get up. Thank goodness he did.

This year he will be going for a record 5th King George Chase. I will have my fingers crossed and quite possibly my eyes closed!

Welsh Cob Foal

7 x 9 inches (framed) £80

Donkey Portrait

10 x 10 inches (framed) £110

Donkey Mare & Foal

10 x 11 inches (framed) £110

New Web Site

2009-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

...is still 'In Progress' and awaiting David's imput. The shop has been completed, everything seems to be working and the images look great. I still have to add links but that shouldn't take long. I shall pin down my other half after the Bird Fair for some serious 'site-time' so hopefully it will be ready for the Christmas rush.

The Birdfair

2009-08-07T08:38:00.001-07:00

Well here we are again, another Birdfair, another few weeks of this madwoman printing, packing, listing, cataloguing and generally rushing around!

David is having a mini nervous breakdown (as per usual) as he finishes off his paintings for this year and the kids are still resistant to coming at all, not that they have much choice in the matter. It will be Jenny's 17th Birthday on the Friday and the poor girl will be spending her day in a marquee. Let's just hope the sun is shining!

We still have to have a towbar fitted to the 'Old Girl' and hire a trailer, but at least the credit card terminal has been sorted and most of the prints done - and still two weeks left to do everything I've most probably forgotten - I think I've booked the dog into kennels....must check.