Creating a Sorrel in Pigments and Pastels - Part One

Today, I'll show you the first couple of steps to creating a copper chestnut or sorrel horse. For the the purpose of this tutorial I will refer to this color as sorrel, because I will also be doing a flaxen liver chestnut tutorial (hopefully) simultaneous to this one.

As defined by Wikipedia "Sorrel is an alternative word for one of the most common equine coat colors in horses. While the term is usually used to refer to a copper-red shade of chestnut, in some places it is used generically in place of "chestnut" to refer to any reddish horse with a same-color or lighter mane and tail, ranging from reddish-gold to a deep burgundy or chocolate shade. The term probably comes from the color of the flower spike of the sorrel herb."

On to the actual making of the color! First, as with any other horse color, find a reference picture! Since the horse I'm using is a commission - here is the picture I was given to use -

photo provided by Ashley Johnson

First I break out on of my rarely used colors (mostly because I've been addicted to bays and blacks...shhhh). Havana Ocher is a nice orangeish brown color that goes on with a medium stain. 

I paint the color on for two layers. It went on fairly dark for the first layer, and for the second layer it only caused minimum color change.

first layer

second layer

In the next installment I'll darken this guy up a bit then work to redden his coat, if all goes well. Also keep your eye out for my liver chestnut tutorial which should be up soon!