horse paintings by artist Karen Baker Thumm

Poseidon's Gift - A Mural Mosaic Project

oil painting seascape with horses

The Finished Painting

16" x16" oil/alkyd on panel

oil painting horses in waves

Detail of the horses.

THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING AND PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS

A few months ago, I was invited to be on the creative team for a new mural project being created by Mural Mosaic, called Le Cadeau du Cheval, or The Horse Gift. You can read about this project on my blog since I will be discussing its creation there and just posting the steps here, for the most part. In a nutshell, however, this mural consists of a mother image that is divided into multiple panels. Each artist is given a panel to paint using the theme of horses. The colors and values are to be kept close to the provided panel, but other than that, the artists have free rein to create as they please.

panel for Mural Mosaic

1. Step One was receipt a few weeks ago of my panel from the Mural Mosaic creative team. Much thinking then began about what image I saw in the panel and what I wanted to paint on it. I envisioned an ocean scene and then thought about the legend of how the Chincoteague ponies came to live on Assateague Island. Legend has it that the ponies swam ashore from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon. Since another of my loves is sailing ships, it seemed a natural fit to use this as the theme for my panel.

pencil drawing of a Spanish Galleon

2. After much research on the internet, I created this drawing of a Spanish Galleon in order to familiarize myself with its structure. A galleon will be a very important part of my panel.  In fact, I got so caught up in "research" that I went far beyond what I needed to do the panel.

ocean waves color composition for an oil painting 

 3.Next, on the computer in Photoshop, I created this composition for the background. It shows a Spanish galleon run aground on a reef during a storm. Dawn is breaking, and the storm clouds are receding, but the waves are still large. They will carry to shore horses which were freed from the ship as its hull broke open.

drawing of Andalusian horses

4.Here I have drawn the horses as they emerge from the sea. They were most likely Andalusians; much prized by the Spaniards of the times and would have made excellent mounts for early explorers and treasure hunters. Whether they came ashore in the New World by escaping from shipwrecks or merely travelled across the ocean in ships, these horses became the ancestors of the mustangs which have roamed the north american continent for centuries. They were Poseidon's gift to the New World.

 

5. Painting the panel. See the top of the page for the latest update on the painting as it progresses.

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PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS
These horse paintings have been registered with the Copyright Office and may not be reproduced, copied, displayed or otherwise appropriated without the consent of the artist.

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