I was eager to return to this work after the painting dried. This morning I worked on legs- the horse’s weight bearing foot; the farrier’s chaps and initial wash for his boot. Treatment for the chaps was approached in a different manner than the very modeled and harder-edged shirt. The leather in the chaps still had shadows and highlights, but the surface of the leather is softer, requiring a wet-into-wet approach. Lifting the highlights while the paint was still wet also added to a softer edge. I found I needed all 6 pigments to complete these pieces of the painting- dominant pigments: raw sienna- lower chaps; burnt sienna & ultramarine blue- upper chaps & hoof tool; burnt sienna- hoof.
Next steps: finish the boot and paint the jeans, then pull the painting together with final touches.
Love it even more! Can’t wait to see the finished product.