Pewsey White Horse. Painting #99. Tranquil, Spiritual and Ancient.
Size: 8 x 16 Canvas Panel
Date Painted: May 22, 2020
Pewsey is a large village and civil parish at the center of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire UK. The Vale is a beautiful area in the eastern half of the county of Wiltshire with the village of Pewsey at its center.
Pewsey White Horse is a hill figure of a white horse near the village of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Cut of chalk in 1937, it replaces an earlier horse that had disappeared under the grass and is one of eight remaining white horses in Wiltshire. Read more about this chalk horse and others here.
Let’s Get Started
This post is about my painting of Pewsey White Horse. First, I’ll talk about the inspiration for this painting. When I talk about inspiration in this blog, it will normally be why I chose a certain subject or Bob Ross or other artist tutorial to follow. Then, I will go over the colors and equipment I used and that you will need if you want to try your hand at it or something similar. Next, I will expound a bit about my process. Finally, I’ll wrap up with some lessons that I learned from painting this picture and things I could have done better or wished I had known. So join me on this trip down memory lane as I recap my 99th painting.
The Inspiration for Pewsey White Horse
This painting was a gift for my wife on the occasion of our 17th wedding anniversary. This scene comes from her home village back in southwest England. The white horse depicted on the hillside is one of many dotted around the southwestern English countryside.
During my time living in England, we would often take long weekend trips to Pewsey from Thetford to visit my wife’s family. Wiltshire is a lovely county in the Southwest. I always enjoyed a visit to the valley and the little village of Pewsey. I grew fond of the quaint villages all over the UK and of course Pewsey was my favorite for many reasons.
We had been living back in the states for about three years planned on going back to the UK for a visit but this pesky pandemic thing threw a wrench into those plans. She was feeling homesick a bit and I often miss living in England so I painted this scene for her for our anniversary.
Materials Needed
Surface
8 x 16 Canvas Panel
Mediums
Colors
Black Acrylic
White Acrylic
Cadmium Red Deep Acrylic
Cadmium Red Medium Acrylic
Equipment
You’ll never believe what you need to paint something like this. You don’t need much at all. I simply used
A large foam brush
The large stiff bristle brush and some flat and angled brushes from this multi brush pack
The Round Brush from a Crayola brush pack.
Techniques
Acrylics can be frustrating especially when it comes to painting large areas and blending. However, a happy accident resulting from that is this unique dramatic looking sky, which can often be seen over the English countryside. I can’t explain how I did it exactly other than I used the gessos mixed because they are a bit thinner than the acrylic paint. The sky just sort of unfolded the way it did. I just made sure to taper the value off as I got lower down the canvas. I used a large foam brush with varying values. One reason it did that is because it’s a large surface and acrylics dry so fast. There’s no medium such as liquid white to help blend the color and lighten it towards the horizon. Use a bit of water to thin it or use an acrylic medium.
For everything else, I just used the flat and angled brushes to paint various values. This can be trial and error. Since acrylics dry so fast, you can paint over and adjust the values as needed. This is pretty much the technique used for the entire painting. Black and white painting is a great way to learn value. The cheap brushes are great for adding texture with the contrasting values.
Trees
For the trees, I just used a dark gray using the round brush to create the texture. Then I lightened the value and dabbed a bit of highlight on the trees. This is a great technique for adding foliage highlights on a monochromatic painting.
Phone Booth
The red phone booth looks out of place but there really is a single iconic red phone booth in the middle of the countryside right on the side of the road. Sometimes a single color is great for adding a bit of pop to a monochrome piece. The red and the booth are just so iconic of England. To paint that, I just pulled up an image and did my best to copy it and fill in the color. I used Cadmium Red Deep and Medium for the phone box.
Final Thoughts
The white horse was a bit of a challenge. I had to go back a couple of times to redo it. I enjoy trying new techniques and approaches to art as well as adding different elements. Certainly different from my typical Bob Ross landscapes. I had it framed at Hobby Lobby and gave it to the wife as a gift. She loved it and it’s hanging up in her little British corner of the house.
I hope you enjoy this painting. In art, you can’t be afraid to try new things. If you’re looking to expand from the Bob Ross style and landscapes, try monochrome. It’s pretty fun. Comment below if you have any questions. To see more of my work or see what’s for sale, check out my Etsy Shop and ArtPal. You can also follow me on all my social media sites. I also have a gallery on this very website to see all my work that has ever been done.
Happy Painting!