Every now and then, I like paint a portrait model of a famous racehorse. Usually, they're current stars from the UK/Ireland racing scene, horses which have caught my attention for their talent and character, and painted either during their career, or shortly after retirement. You can see them all on this tag.
But recently, I read a book written in the 1930s, about one of the most famous horses in his own day - Brown Jack. His Wikipedia entry is very dry reading, listing his racing achievements without touching on why he was so loved in his own time, or remains famous for racing fans today. This biography page does a much better job of it - this is a horse who famously liked cheese sandwiches and would receive parcels of cheese in the post from young fans. A horse who'd make guest appearances at the racetrack - not only the days when he was racing, but to hang out in a fenced off playpen, so the people could meet him and give him a pat.
He was one of those oddly beloved equine 'celebrities', whose fame and popularity make them as important in racing history as any prolific stallion, Triple Crown champion, or Grand National winner.
So I decided he thoroughly deserved to join my little herd of racehorses, and got to work...
Here he is, with my own copy of his biography forming the perfect caption!
Because of his era, all Brown Jack's photos are in black and white, so I based his colouring on this portrait by famous English artist Alfred Munnings. I tried to incorporate the art style a little bit, too, without letting it look too messy on the model, as brushstrokey impressionist colouring would just look like bad painting out of context, and I really wanted him to work as a model in his own right.
There's another painting of him inside the book, a portrait by Lionel Edwards this time.
And here he is with one of the photographs. I chose the mould which looked most like him anyway, but it did have some extensive modification for a better match : profile tweaked, mane plaited, tail shortened, shoulder muscles filled, topline adjusted along the spine and rump, belly enlarged, gelding operation, knee adjusted, hooves larger and longer. Quite a lot of work before I could even get started painting!
I did the standard fake-scenery photoshoot with him as well, here he is from several different angles...
I absolutely love this shade of bay!
ReplyDeleteThis is why I enjoy doing portrait customs, I probably wouldn't have tried this shade until a horse came along that needed it, copying from pictures forces changes to the established way we paint, not settle into a rut exactly, but a routine of what colour combinations we KNOW work. These slightly different shades are harder to match but satisfying to get right!
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