Tolt in Motion~

I have started another painting, this time of an "Tolting Icelandic horse". This time I decided not to paint the rider. The size is 12" by 18" and am using "Aquarello Fabriano Artistico Bright White hot press Watercolor paper".

Here you see the photo I am working off of, another nice shot from Dawn Shaw at Lone Cedar Icelandic's. I penciled this one a bit darker so hopefully you can see the basic drawing. Take you time with this part.
The first washes of color.. the sky, ground and start of a tree.
This time I decided to add texture to the ground and I found the best way to do this...is use a sea sponge.
Adding some more color to the ground and filling out the trees.