Re-educating the Remounts

The subject for this demonstration was inspired by a true story, told by a local gentleman about his grandfather who had the task of training the remounts as they arrived in Egypt during World War I. Riding a quiet horse he would lead three others into the soft sands of the desert, then one by one he would ride them. The soft sand made the going much harder for the horse to misbehave, and if either of them fell it would be a soft landing.

STEP ONE

I chose a warm sandy coloured sheet of conservation matboard and draw up the main horse and rider with a Prussian blue pastel pencil, and the rest with a Terracotta pastel pencil.

STEP TWO

Using the side of a broken pastel I roughly laid in the sky with four differing intensities of Cobalt Blue and a cool white and some Gold Ochre and Raw Sienna towards the horizon and some light Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber