I spent an afternoon and early evening in the dunes the other day, making sketches and paintings. On the way cycling home as the sun was going down I saw some dune ponies silently foraging. The sun was backlighting their manes and made for a mysterious view. I took some photos and worked on this at home. I love drawing animals, I sketched in the ponies first and then painted them along with a light wash behind them to make sure i retained the important backlight. Then I just painted in the landscape. The shadows then tied the ponies and landscape together.

I used Saunders Waterford hot press 300gm. I would also highly recommend the sable no.4 brush I bought from Rosemary and Co. Check out their range! Fantastic handmade brushes from the UK, and very reasonably priced for the quality. Sables seem to lose their points quickly, this brand feels a lot more springy and finer than the Da Vinci Maestros and W&N n07s Ive used previously.

Ive documented my process below as it was rather unusual painting the ponies first.