Indian Ponies!

Sometimes our classes paint by request. The kids become attracted to certain paintings hanging in the studio, so I adjust them for even the youngest artists to successfully paint in a 1-1/2 hour art class. 

For example, this Indian Pony (acrylic on canvas) has inspired a lot of interest, so we painted it in tempera paint on 135 lb watercolor paper. 

The kids were so excited!




We started by drawing the shape of the horse's head using a secret tool to help them draw it LARGE.

(The secret tool is a flip-flop, adult size large, which is amazingly similar to the shape of a horse's head!)

The next step was to paint the background. We decided on a simple blue sky, so we did this by double-loading our brushes with both blue and white paint. 

Now it was time to look at lots of photos of horses and decide what type of markings and colors our horses will have. 











Then we selected our paint colors, mixed more colors on our palettes, and painted away! Finally, we added the mane and the facial details, and we dried the painting. 

Now for the really fun part! We added the war paint.


War paint could be added with the fingers in the same way Indians painted their ponies.

Some artists used brushes as well as fingers to apply the paint. 

The last step was to add a few feathers. Some chose to paint them on, and others glued on real feathers!