Fine Art Horse Portraits
What is Hyperrealism?
Wikipedia describes "hyperrealism" as a "genre of painting resembling a high-resolution photograph. The hyperrealist style focuses its emphasis on details and the subjects. Hyperrealistic paintings are not strict interpretations of photographs, nor are they literal illustrations of a particular subject. Instead, they utilize additional, often subtle, pictorial elements to create the illusion of a reality which in fact either does not exist or cannot be seen by the human eye."
About the Process
The dramatic black background is achieved by printing a black digital file on Arches Giclee watercolor paper. A one inch grid is drawn lightly in pencil. The horse is then hand-drawn (focusing on getting the details just right - one inch at a time), layered with gouache, and finally detailed under 5x magnification with pastel pencils, India ink and metallic inks using Rapidograph architectural pens. Individual hairs and even eyelashes are painstakingly added.
Once the details are complete, the pencil grid is erased and black charcoal powder covers any imperfections. The final portrait is sprayed with archival matte spray. Each portrait takes between two hundred and six hundred hours to complete.
Every horse is unique. In order to capture the essence of each individual personality, Adina meets the horse and owner and watches them interact to gain an understanding of their special bond.
The horse is photographed and measured for reference. All portraits are created to exact 1:1 life-size measurements. The artist works with the owner to select an initial pose and the portrait is developed and completed using the following steps:
