Ivanhoe Painting

Dear Folks,

Here is the finished painting of Ivanhoe as promised. I decided that I had to get this on the blog today while I had time to mess with the computer. As you can see, the background has changed quite a bit. The foreground has had heavy impasto added with a palette knife and the background trees on the left have been blued into the distance. The trees on the right have been developed more and the tape and posts in the background have been removed in favor of a more prominent shrub in the foreground. The shrub gives the painting some balance in its composition. I am very pleased with the action in this work. This is the sort of action I really like to portray in horses. Sally and I are discussing the possibility of entering this painting in a competition later in the year. I'll let you know what we decide. Also, I want you to know that for some reason, perhaps the compressing of the file, the color in the background is grayer than the actual painting. The trees on the left are more yellow than in this photo and the trees on the right have much more color to them.

Jay