Horses

 You know it's far easier to explain why I like to paint trams and trains than it is why I like to paint horses and horse racing. With trains it goes back to my days as a boy trainspotter and steam enthusiast. As regards trams, well, I just love riding on trams. Nothing particularly complicated about it. I love transport generally, and I just think that trams are a brilliant form of public transport. But horses and horse racing? I only EVER place a bet on the Grand National, and never more than £1. I don't go to horse racing, and I don't watch it on the telly. Yet I do like painting horse races. What's that all about?

Okay , well, it all started after I tried my hand at watercolour right at the end of 2016 and the start of 2018. I painted a few birds, and my wife made the observation using words to the effect of "Well, birds are all well and good, but I like horses. Why don't you paint me a horse?" We aim to please, so I did. This is it: -

I have to be honest, I was so bowled over that this looked anything like the horse I was trying to paint, that it did occur to me to try painting horses in a different context - to whit - a race.

This was my first ever attempt at painting a horse race. It's in watercolour, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out. Cards on the table, I've always struggled with watercolour but this at least gives the impression of speed.

Photo Finish - SOLD

 I sold my first ever horse race painting which encouraged me to do this second watercolour. Mistake - the horses are just out of proportion and not very well painted. I tried to sell it once, but didn't receive any offers, and frankly I was not surprised.

Still the memory of the enjoyment I derived from my first horse painting and my first horse racing painting remained with me. So, when I was undergoing a prolonged absence from work I was looking for a subject to paint. This is how I came to produce my first acrylic paintings of horses.

The Home Straight - SOLD

 In April of 2017 I painted these two horse racing painting. They are on 20x16 canvas boards, painted in acrylic. I really rather liked these two, and I did hang onto them for quite a while. In the end I sold them after hanging on to them for about a year.

Over the Sticks - SOLD

 I didn't fancy going straight into another horse racing painting, and so I tried a change of pace with my next horse painting. This painting of two shire horses just seemed to hit the spot with people right from the start. For instance, it is my mother's favourite of my paintings. Well, I'm a pushover when anyone shows enthusiasm for my work, and so I gave it to her. And to be fair, she had it framed and it has pride of place on the wall in her living room, and I'm honest enough to admit that I do feel a sense of pride every time I visit and see it there.

Mighty Clydesdales - not for sale

 Going back to the two acrylic horse racing paintings, I acquired a client who saw the two race paintings when I posted them online on social media for comments. He contacted me to commission me to make a painting of the 'superhorse', Frankel. This is it. He was very happy with the result - and so am I for that matter. I gambled on painting the crowd rather out of focus and blurry, and I think it has worked quite effectively.

Frankel - commission

I didn't feel inspired to paint another horse painting for some time after finishing the commission. So, it was about 4 months down the line that I made this composite picture. I used a reference photo of the horse bus, but put a completely different, urban background onto it. I like the foliage at top and bottom right. I don't think anything is actually badly painted, but, I don't know, somehow I've never quite warmed to it as a piece of work. 

Horse drawn omnibus

This follow up of a ceremonial brewer's dray is almost, but not quite a success. I really like the figures on the left. I think the horses themselves are well drawn and well proportioned, but they are far too light, which I can see now, but couldn't see while I was painting it. It's hard to explain, but it means that they end up not quite being the focal point of the painting, which almost leaves a void where the focal point should be. The perspective of the red brick building on the far left is wrong - too severe - as well. It's a shame because I think that the figures on the left, of the man holding the horses and the woman watching him are pretty good - something of a step up from what I've achieved before. 

The Wadsworth Dray

 So, in the early months of 2018 I returned to horse racing. I call this one Racing From Newmarket. I think it works well as a composition. I'm pleased that the jockey stands out. I like the crowd in the stands too. All in all I spent ages on this, between 15 and 20 hours. The thing is, though, I enjoyed every minute of it. I really liked this one, and so I kept it on my wall for a couple of years. In the end, though, I sold it. 

Racing from Newmarket SOLD

For the rest of 2018 I only painted another two acrylics - a steam engine and a tram, not surprisingly. Still, in April 2019 I felt the old urge again, and decided to return to horse racing, although a different type of horse racing - harness racing. I thoroughly enjoyed painting it, but while the lead horse works, it's about the only part of the painting that really does. 

Harness race

I had an urge immediately after completing the harness racing painting to return to a subject I'd painted before - shire horses. The Mighty Clydesdale painting I gave my mother is one of my favourites, but two year on from painting it I reckoned that I could paint a better plough horse picture. Here it is:-

Plough Horses 2019 SOLD

It's one of my favourite paintings - even though I sold it - because I think the horses' heads are painted as well, if not better than I've ever painted anything. 

In the Autumn of 2020 I had a run of successes in selling off some of my back catalogue, as it were. However this did leave me with the problem f having to replace them. After selling "Racing from Newmarket", I decided to have another go at a horse racing painting, to see if I could produce something worthwhile. In October I produced this, which is titled "Neck and Neck"

"Neck and Neck" Acrylic 16x20 in

I like this, especially because of the bold way that I used colour on the two horses. After finishing it, I had enjoyed it so much that I produced this little A4 acrylic sketch on acrylic paper, which I've called "Racing from York"

"Racing from York" Acrylic A4 acrylic paper
SOLD