Painting Movement in Color

Tres Vientes

When painting wild horses, painting anatomy is significant, but there is so much more— I’m painting atmosphere, emotion, and movement. The wind in the mane, the dust in the air, the softness in the shadows… all of it comes alive through tertiary color mixtures.

Instead of flat browns or heavy blacks, I use blue-violets for shadows, yellow-oranges for sunlight, and soft neutrals created from complements. These colors breathe, just like the land. They let a horse feel like it’s part of the plains — not sitting on top of a background.

Tertiary colors don’t shout… they whisper. They carry memory, dust, distance, and story. They’re how I paint not just the horses — but the wind around them.

These mustangs were running full speed out of the water, catching up to the herd, which was leaving for the evening into the Wyoming mesas at Salt Wells Creek. It was an epic moment to capture on my camera, and even more to capture their energy on the canvas with all the colors and brush strokes.

The title of this oil painting is “Tres Vientes”, meaning “Three Winds”, painted on a 24x48 gallery wrapped canvas.