Critically Endangered
Up until now I have tried to do distinct species, with the rare sub-species or two. Well, it is my birthday so I get to break my own rules today. This is a breed of horse rather than a species. As far as I can tell with my research, this is probably the most endangered breed of horse. There are by some accounts not even 100 left. Others put the number over 200, but most of them are not in breeding situations so unable to continue the breed.
This horse is the size of a pony at 12-13.2hh (hands high, each hand is 4 inches) but is considered a horse. They look more like a horse that shrank than a pony. Because of their smaller size they may seem like they are only a child's horse, but they have incredible stamina and strength, able to carry an adult all day without problem. Genetically they are closest to the Garrano horses of Portugal.
This is one of my digital paintings. It is my memory of Obsidian, the horse I learned to ride on. He was a family friend's black Arab stallion, greenbroke, he refused to take a saddle, and he hated women. I still loved him, and because of him trying to bite me or rub me off on trees while I rode him I learned how to stay on a horse pretty well.
This painting shows my two styles of painting and how much more realistic I am able to get when I work in digital. My digital paintings are all at least 16"x20" though because of the resolution I paint at, I can print them even larger. You are probably see why sometimes I get frustrated by the size and medium I have limited myself to with this project. I am a detail person. I prefer getting things as close to perfection as I am able. I zoom in when painting and will work pixel by pixel if I have to in order to get things the way I want them. The watercolour painting took me an hour maybe on the other hand the digital painting took me many days to paint. It was done with a mouse using Photoshop CS5. I am not allowing myself to do any digital painting during this project. I want to completely embrace the lack of control inherent in watercolour and not have mediums compete with each other.
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