Hooves

I love looking at real horse hooves. I can stare at them for hours and not get bored. My reference notebook is filled with many different hoof samples and I can always manage to find something new in those photos that I never saw before. Hooves are probably my favorite part of the horse to paint. Today I decided to document this horse's hooves as I painted them.

Primed hoof.

A base coat of naples yellow.

Adding varying brown stripes.

Using glaze washes of lighter browns and tans to
"Push back" the stripes.

Repaint the hair along the coronet band.

Add more hoof detail with oils.