"I love horses!  I bought this image along with the green and yellow horses so I could hang them together in my living room.  Just love them, thanks!"  A.D.
 
Sometime these images really take on a life of their own as I’m making them.  It was so with this one.  I researched photos of horses in the position I wanted.  Then found and positioned leaves to reflect or suggest the musculature and shape of a horse.  Both horse heads were not altered in any way except a little enlarging of the eyes via Photoshop.  The solid, heavy browns of the horses demanded something a little more airy around them.  So I used the leaves on the left for contrast. They are actually grape vine leaves chewed by Japanese beetles.  Yes, MY vines…grrrr…  The watercolor swirly sky reminded me of sand and I liked the idea of movement from wind and clouds.  I originally scanned this without the gray vegetation on the right side and it just didn’t feel right.  Your eye just slipped off the page along with the horizontal line of the horses back.  It needed a “stop”, so the bush was added.  Worked like a charm…
 
Brown horses is oak; black horse is hibiscus; mane and tails from cosmos leaves; black legs from an aged and blackened hibiscus; brown legs aged lily.  Flying leaves are barberry, azalea and artemesia.  Lucifer along the bottom.
 
As leaves are biodegradable and will fade and deteriorate quickly, original Art is scanned immediately after creation, preserving their beauty long after originals are gone.   Enjoy!