Horse portraits
A horse portrait from a photograph
Oil on canvas, painted from the photographs you already have — the one at the show, the one in the field, the one on an old phone from 2014.
A horse is a long animal photographed by people standing on the ground, and that is the first problem. From standing height the camera sits below the horse's back, the lens tilts up, and the head — already a long wedge — stretches further while the legs shrink. The painting then has the proportions of a cartoon. Most horse portraits that disappoint their owners fail here, before colour is ever discussed. The fix is dull: stand further back, hold the phone at chest height, and keep the horse's eye near the top of the frame so the legs stay in the picture.
The second problem is that a horse's identity is not concentrated in the face the way a dog's is. It is in the whole animal: the length of the neck, the set of the shoulder, the way the hind leg comes under the body, the height of the socks. A head study can carry a horse if the head is drawn at its real width. A full figure has to have the legs right, or the owner knows within a second and cannot say why.
The head is a long object, and most photographs flatten it
Photograph a horse slightly from the side and slightly below the eye rather than square on. Square on, both eyes sit at the edges of the face, the forehead reads as a plank and the muzzle becomes a circle. A three-quarter view from the near side gives the jaw, the cheek and the poll something to do, and lets the near eye be painted as an eye instead of a slit at the silhouette.
At a show you will usually have a professional's ring-side shots, which are excellent for the body and poor for the head, because the horse is in a double bridle with its nose down. Send both: the ridden frame for the arch of the neck, and a quiet head shot in the stable for the eye, the nostril and the set of the ears.
Coat colour is a moving target
A bay in July is not the colour of a bay in February. The summer coat is short, the dapples show, and the highlights pick up the sky, so the shoulder carries blue while the quarters carry warm red-brown. A clipped winter coat is darker and flatter, and the clip lines are sometimes visible across the quarters. We paint the coat of the season in the photograph, because owners recognise their horse's season.
White markings have to be exact: the height of a sock, the shape of a blaze, whether the white crosses the coronet. These are a fingerprint, and they are the first thing a painter working from memory gets wrong. If a marking is hidden by a boot or a shadow, say so — we would rather ask than invent a sock two inches too high and have you notice it every day.
Tack, background and what to leave out
A halter is a decision, not a detail. Some owners want it because it is what the horse wears; most want it gone, and removing a plain leather halter is routine. Removing a bridle with a bit, a martingale and a breastplate is harder, because the straps cut across the cheek and the hair underneath has to be rebuilt. You see the removal in the mock-up before we commit to it.
Backgrounds matter more than people expect. A green field behind a bay flattens the silhouette; a dark stable doorway or a line of trees gives the head an edge to sit against. If the only photograph has a lorry, a fence and three other horses behind it, all of that can be reduced to a soft tonal mass — not a different place, just less of it.
Legs are where a full-figure portrait is won or lost. Horses stand with one hind leg resting, the near foreleg slightly forward, the hooves on grass that hides the coronet band, and all of that has to be read rather than averaged. We keep the stance of the moment in the photograph, because a horse standing square and formal is a horse in a sales catalogue, not the one in your field.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
From $189 for an 8 × 10 in, $289 for 12 × 16 in and $389 for the 16 × 20 in most people pick, up to $1,390 at 36 × 48 in. A horse with a rider counts as two subjects, and a second horse adds a fixed amount. Shipping is free worldwide and the table above is the whole price list.
A head study works at 12 × 16 in and a head and neck at 16 × 20 in. A full figure standing needs 24 × 36 in at minimum, or the legs and hooves lose the drawing that makes them read as your horse rather than any horse. A rider pushes the minimum to 24 × 36 in as well.
A plain halter, yes, and we show you the result in the digital mock-up first. A full bridle with bit and martingale is possible but slower, because the hair under the straps has to be reconstructed from other angles. Tell us at the start so it is priced into the mock-up rather than discovered halfway through.
Usually yes. What matters is that the head is readable, not that the print is perfect. Faded or creased photographs are restored digitally first for $60–$70 and you approve that version before any paint is mixed. Where the detail was never in the photograph, we say so instead of filling the gap with a guess.
Three to five weeks of painting plus three to five business days in transit. Rush delivery is three weeks including painting for $90. The mock-up arrives within 24 hours, two progress photographs follow while it is on the easel, and the finished canvas gets one free round of adjustments before it ships.
Send the photographs of your horse
Send whatever you have — ring-side, stable, an old print. We will tell you which frame carries the horse and what size it needs before you commit.