Experiments, oils by Jenny Johnstone

Lovely effect though! Lots of movement. I find the legs and hooves hard to accept, but that is purely because I am a horse enthusiast! It does conjure up an arabian horse galloping through the sandy desert in the evening glow of ... sunset ....

Don't worry about how oils are supposed to be used ..... in fact, it's quite common to work with oil over acrylic; I'm less than keen on paintings that are half one thing and half the other - ie, the oil overpainting stops short at patches of acrylic; I've never really seen that work. But it can save time to underpaint in acrylic .... I very rarely do that, but many do. I know little about horses and haven't painted them, so have no idea whether the placement of the legs is right; I defer to those who do. I suspect the hooves may be a touch small - but tell me to shut up, because I don't REALLY know! You've produced an interesting, and warm, effect, though.

Interesting effect. And oils over acrylics is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, as long as you keep the acrylic fairly thin (I don't think it works very well the other way round because the arylic won't stick to the oil). I've started painting the edges of my box canvases in acrylic, extending into a rough underpainting, before speading the oil paint on. I tried just oils on the edges. It took forever before I could do the base!!

Thank you Gudrun, I did have trouble with the feet - this kind of horse the lower legs and ankles always seem impossibly skinny for such a big animal but of course they are 'running on their toes'. Easier to do shire horses feet I think. Thank you Robert, the oil paint is hardly more than a thin glaze. Thank you Amanda - yes I have heard that acrylics cannot be painted over oils and my acrylic background was just very watery washes

Jenny, horses legs are mostly bone and tendons, not much muscle, hence they look skinny!

Jenny, if you want to experiment with oils and acrylics, may I suggest a little "effect" that can be unusual and ste people thinking? Paint some pebbles, all different colours , as tho they are in a stream. When dry, paint over them with a "thin" layer/glaze of light blue. People will ask how you painted the pebbles under the water !!

thank you Norman, might try that one day

Missed this one before Jenny, I love the effect as I said in the latest picture it gives a real magical feel to the painting. The horse looks good to me although as Robert says I will leave that to the experts.

Thank you Glennis