Legendary Sires Triptych in progress: First step: create preliminary sketches

Above: Prelim sketch of the strong and extremely vicious tempered Hastings, sire of Fair Play.
Above: Pre-lim sketch of Fair Play, the noble and beautiful sire of Man o' War.
Above; pre-lim sketch of the mighty Man o' War.

These are working sketches for a watercolor/ink triptych of the the Man o' War sire line. I studied these horses' photos and histories to get a feel for who they were. I then sketched what I felt.

Hastings, the stallion in the first working sketch, was a dangerous and aggressive horse that would lunge for any man given the chance. The only photo I could find of him was not a flattering one; he had his ears laced back with an angry expression. Why yes, he was a handful! Behold this nugget from pedigreequery.com:

Notorious for his bad temper, stablehands dare not approach him on the rare occasion that they needed to catch him (they built special chutes from his stall to his pasture and to the breeding shed in order to handle him safely) without literally carrying a big stick for defense purposes. (credit: pedigreequery.com)

EEEK! I decided to give Hastings an ears-up "look of eagles," but I also made sure I gave him a sneer and a "stand back" look to his eye. His nostril is also tensed and flared. He is not inviting you into his personal space!

Fair Play was a stallion of great beauty and refinement. He was a talented race horse in his own right, but then he sired Man o' War. And we all know what Man o' War went on to be...
Many say Man o' War was the greatest race horse that ever lived, and I can't say that I can argue with that. No small feat! Man o' War was simply awesome.

I wanted to give Fair Play an air of royalty, and I gave him a head-held-high with a faraway look in his eye. He is focused on the future...

Man o' War will be depicted in a full-body pose, rippling with muscle, standing in front of a Glen Riddle barn. (Glen Riddle was the name of the farm in Maryland that belonged to Man o' War's owner, Samuel Riddle.)

This triple portrait will be my homage to this great and historically significant sire line.

Watch here for updates.

Also on the table, Legend IV, inspired by the incredible and temperamental Whirlaway.