Mares and Foals I-VI - Six Works in Progress

It is another hot 84F (28.9C) and humid 94F (34.4C) day with rain and thunderstorms being a possibility in the late afternoon or evening.

Today I was driving by one of the horse farms at the bottom end of Peterborough and stopped to work on some sketches of the mares and foals in the field.

The ages of the foals varied from less than a month old to  being about three months old; with the younger ones sticking close to their mother's sides.

Mare and Foal II

Sometimes I miss having a foal in the barn and watching them grow and develop their own unique personalities.

Then I think about the flip side of the coin and even though it is worth while there is a lot of time and work that needs to be put into them on a daily basis to teach them good manners and lay down a solid foundation for their future training.

Unfortunately, at this moment I do not have the time to devote to raising a foal.

Mare and Foal V

But there are many farms in the area, like this one where I can come and watch the foals and smile at some of their antics out in the pasture.














Mare and Foal I

I also took reference photographs and some of these sketches I may develop into portraits of the mares and foals.














Mare and Foal III

While I may also decide to combine some of these sketches together for a painting of mares and foals in a pasture.














Mare and Foal IV

Only time will tell what the end result will be of these sketches, but the most important thing is that I was able to spend an enjoyable afternoon outside with the mares and foals.














Mare and Foal VI

As I develop each of these sketches into outline drawings I will post them at a later date.

Foals 1-4 - Four Works in Progress

At the barn where my friend Joanne boards her horses over the winter they had a couple of thoroughbred foals born early in the New Year.

It was an unexpected treat to have two foals to sketch at this time of the year while I was waiting for Joanne to get her horse ready for her riding lesson.

Both of them were colts and born only four days apart and had the same sire; but they were as different in their personalities and actions as they were in their colouration.

Foal 1

I did a sketch of each of the foals while they were in the box stalls with their dams.

After the riding lesson, while Joanne was putting Fiona away I went back down to their adjoining stalls and studied the differences between the two foals.

Bruno was a bright bay without any white markings. The other was a rich red chestnut with a lot of chrome, four long white stockings, one up over the knee, called Jimmy.

Foal 3

Just as we were getting ready to leave the stable for the night the owners of the foals came in together.

They were going to turn the mares and foals out into the covered arena for a little while to give the foals a chance to stretch their legs.

We decided to stay and watch.

Bruno went right out into the arena after his dam with no hesitation, while Jimmy didn't want to leave the stall and had to be coaxed.

Foal 4

Bruno stood quietly surveying the large open area of the arena, his ears pointed forward until his mother lay down to roll. Suddenly he burst into action, bucking and kicking on his long spindly legs.














Foal 2

Jimmy once in the arena watched Bruno's antics and decided to join in and took off as fast as his slightly wobbly legs would carry him and almost fell making a sharp turn but managed to stay upright.

Before long it was time for them to return to their stalls for the night.

I will post each of these sketches at a later date once I have completed the outline drawing.

Thoroughbred Foal

After the beautiful warm sunny spring like day, winter has come back with a vengeance. It is 22F (-5.6C) and dropping with strong winds and snow.

I worked on this drawing of a Thoroughbred foal that a friend had at her stable.

He was a big solid baby from the time he was born but had such a laid back personality.

In fact in the morning when she went into the stall to put his halter on he wouldn't even bother to get up and she had to lift his head to put on the halter. He learned things quickly and seldom gave any trouble.

It will be interesting to see how he matures and if he continues with having his sweet personality.

This original 5" x 7" graphite pencil drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $30.00.

Alert

I wanted to do a number of drawings of foals in various different breeds of horses.

An Arabian foal seemed like a good place to start. The head on an Arabian with the its small muzzle and dished face makes it almost impossible not to recognize.


















This original 4-1/2" x 4-1/2” graphite pencil sketch when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $25.00.

Now I have to head out and go to the Executive meeting at KAGS.