Sandy Day in the Saddle

12x9 watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb cold press paper done last week during one of our sandstorms. This western theme painting was prompted by reviewing family photos. COPYRIGHT 2023 Kay Smith

A Horse Herd

5.5x6 watercolor on 140 lb Arches cold press paper, a fairly realistic group herd of various colored horses as they run along a fence line. An imaginary equine scene this bunch of horses could be anywhere. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Cowboy and His Horse

9x12 ink using black Tombow brush pen on Bristol board 300 series done last week.  With no pencil drawing beforehand, only dark areas were put in first then water added for greys; white is the white of the paper.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Wild White Horse

8.25x5.25 hard charcoal pencil over partially gessoed vintage page done last day of April.  He was photographed on our last trip to Alto, NM, and belongs in a wild horse herd that roams open spaces. He is thin and up in years but did let me pet him.  This was sketched in my junk journal from the 1950s era.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Painted Pony

22x15 watercolor that is now SOLD.  It was painted over a white peony floral that I didn't like.  Look closely and you can see the flower centers.  After horse outline was sketched in I used mostly darks to fill in the background and some greys for shading values.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Happy Trails

11x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper painted a few years ago for a western show a friend and I did in Oklahoma.  This shows the back end of a white horse and a cowboy in a red shirt, an imaginary scene for the most part.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Horse HaHa

12x9 watercolor and ink line drawing (Micron 01) on wc paper I did today.  I had made marks on it to test new acrylic markers and had put the sheet under smaller works.  The dark blue on the halter lead is part of the marker tests and has white gel pen marks as I was testing those also.  Splattering was done when almost dry on the horse's head for the dappled coat.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

White Steed Carousel Horse

8x5 gouache and ink collage mixed media on paper done today.  First I glued a page from old novel onto paper and when dry, used a Uniball Vision Elite pen to draw head and neck of a carousel horse.  The horse was part of a larger photo that I cropped and will be featured on WetCanvas weekend drawing event hosted by Helen.  I left the white horse the white of the paper book page so this is not colored; I wanted the text to show.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

White Carriage Horse

8x5 watercolor, collage, Tombow brush pen on paper done today.  The horse is featured on WetCanvas weekend drawing event in which we have only 2 hours to draw or paint our chosen reference out of 16.  First I drew him with Tombow black ink and decided to add sentences for his main mane and forelock out of an old novel.  These were collaged on.  Watercolor added to background of mixed blues and a little pink for his nose and upper lip area.  Mostly I used quinacridone burnt orange + ultramarine blue for a mixed brown. Total time was an hour.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

White Horse

12x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb paper, done yesterday, a realistic subject on an abstract background.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Crazy Horse in Color

11x15 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, a vivid loose color version of my earlier grayscale horse, finished yesterday.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Mane Attraction

5.5 x 7 inches watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper.  Drawn first with pencil I laid colors in wetly using limited palette then added watersoluble colored pencil scrapings with sandpaper into wet areas for texture.  This work is SOLD.
Image copyright 2013 Kay Smith.

Flying Hooves

Enough of the snow scenes already. Let's see some yellow green grass and galloping horses stirring up dusty roads! This watercolor is 9x6 inches on Arches 140 lb cold press paper. I especially like the white guy who is their leader and the sunlit side versus the shadow side. The sorrels and palomino fellows are just supporting actors.

Saddle Up!

12x18 watercolor of my brother's profile on a white horse, first painted 5 years ago and now doing more of these macro or cropped view closeups of western art. See Happy Trails image posted 10-17-10. My brother has this painting hanging in his O'Donnell, TX ranch house.