Custom Horse Painting: One Horse, a Pair or a Herd, and What to Decide Before the Work Begins
A custom horse painting starts with three decisions: how many horses are on the canvas and what they are doing, what coat colour and palette they have, and what size your wall needs. At the ArtMix studio in Almaty, these paintings are done in oil by the artist Anna Chernysheva. A commissioned painting starts from 60,000 ₸, and the price and timeline are set before work begins and do not change.
In Kazakhstan, a horse needs no explanation. Everyone knows what one looks like, so every inaccuracy shows on the canvas: in the legs, the turn of the neck, the set of the head. Below is what to discuss before you order, so the painting ends up yours rather than one more postcard horse.
One Horse, a Pair or a Herd
The number of horses changes the meaning of the painting, not its size.
- One horse: character. It is painted in full or close up, just the head and neck. Such a piece holds the eye and sits well in a study, a hallway or above a chest of drawers
- Two horses: a relationship. They walk side by side, reach for each other, one looks back at the other. What matters is what happens between them
- A herd: movement and space. The rhythm of backs and heads, dust, the horizon line. A herd needs width, so it is almost always a long horizontal canvas
- A horse in a landscape: a place. The figure is small, and the main thing is around it: mountains, steppe, sky
| Subject | What it conveys | Canvas format | Where it fits |
|---|
| Head close-up | character, gaze | vertical or square | narrow wall section, study, hallway |
| One horse in full | bearing, movement | horizontal | above a chest of drawers or console |
| A pair | relationship, story | horizontal | bedroom, living room |
| A herd | rhythm, speed, space | wide horizontal or a series | large wall in a living room or study |
| Horse in a landscape | place, mood | horizontal | above a sofa in the living room |
You will not find superstitions here about how many horses there “should” be or which way they must run. The number is chosen by the story and the direction by the wall, more on that below.
Walk, Trot or Gallop: What Is Harder to Paint
A standing horse is easier to paint than a running one. In motion it has four legs, each in its own phase. Anyone who has seen a horse up close will notice a mistake in the joints, and in Kazakhstan there are many such people.
For a long time artists painted the gallop wrong. Until the late 19th century, when a running horse was first captured in a series of photographs, it was shown stretched out: front legs reaching forward, hind legs back. In reality, at the moment the horse leaves the ground, its legs are gathered under the body. That is why a painting with movement needs references: they help choose a phase that looks alive rather than drawn.
This is where academic training helps. Anna graduated from the Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, and an academic education teaches you to construct the figure first and only then paint it in colour. That keeps the proportions of the legs, the length of the neck and the turn of the head right.
### Which Way the Horse Looks and Runs
The viewer's eye follows the movement. If the horse's muzzle presses against the edge of the canvas, the painting looks cut off, so more space is left in front of the horse than behind it.
The same goes for the wall. A horse running towards a door or into a corner leads the eye out of the room, and it works better when the movement points inwards. So the direction is decided together with the spot where the piece will hang, and the hanging itself is easy to check later against the article on how to hang a painting properly.
Coat and Palette: Why a White Horse Is Not White
A white horse on canvas has hardly any white paint. A pale coat takes on the colour of the light around it: golden in the morning, sliding into blue and violet in the shade. A black horse, on the other hand, is built from blue and brown reflections, and pure black is kept for the deepest shadows.
You can see this in Anna's work. “White Horse” is painted in a muted golden-yellow scale, while “Black Horse” is cool and blue. “Horses” and “Horse” are also in golden tones. One subject in different palettes gives different paintings: a warm one warms the room, a cool one calms it.
The palette is chosen from the wall: one or two shades in the painting should echo what is already in the room, in textiles or wooden furniture. How this works, and why a painting should not match the colour of the walls, is covered in the article on how to choose a painting for your interior.
### Which Coat Colour to Choose
If the horse is imaginary, the coat is chosen like a colour accent in the interior:
- grey, which people usually call white: a light patch that works well on a dark wall
- black: graphic and strict, it stands out against a light background
- bay and chestnut: warm, with copper and ochre, close to wood and leather in the room
- dun: sandy and calm, easy to fit into beige rooms
If the horse is real, yours or one you know, the coat is not chosen but conveyed, together with its markings: a star on the forehead, a blaze, white socks. That is already a portrait of a specific animal, and the photos it needs are covered below.
Background: Steppe, Mountains or Nothing
The background decides what the painting is about: the horse or the place.
- A neutral background, dark or light, leaves only the horse. This is how a close-up head or a single figure is painted
- Steppe and a low horizon give space: lots of sky, little ground, a herd moving along the edge
- Mountains. For Almaty this is a subject of its own: the summer pastures outside the city, the Assy plateau where herds graze against the ridges. Such a painting reads as your own place, not as decor. More about the mountains of Almaty in painting is in the article on landscapes of Kazakhstan
Which Canvas Size to Choose
- head close-up: vertical or square, helpful in a narrow wall section
- one horse in full: horizontal, otherwise the legs and tail feel cramped
- a herd: wide horizontal. If the wall is long, the herd can be split across two or three canvases sharing one horizon line. How such series work is covered in the article on a custom triptych
Above furniture, a painting usually takes up 60-75% of its width. The calculation with examples is in the same interior article.
How Much Does a Custom Horse Painting Cost
The price depends on the type of work. A horse painting falls into one line of the price list:
- a horse, a pair or a herd based on your idea, in your own size and palette: this is a commissioned painting, from 60,000 ₸
- a finished piece you can take home straight away: from 22,000 ₸, and what is available today is shown in works available now
The exact price depends on size and subject: a herd in the mountains takes more work than a single head on a dark background. It is set before work begins and does not change afterwards. All prices by type of work are in the painting prices section, and current prices can be checked on WhatsApp.
The timeline is also known in advance, and guide times by type of work are in the step-by-step guide to ordering a painting. If you need a horse painting as a gift for a specific date, see a painting as a gift: what to consider, which explains how not to order too late.
How Ordering a Horse Painting Works
- A WhatsApp message. What you would like to see (one horse, a pair, a herd), where the painting will hang and when you need it. A photo of the wall and its size make the conversation concrete right away
- References. Photos of horses, poses and coat colours you like, paintings with a similar mood, a photo of the room. Based on them, the subject, composition and palette are agreed before work starts, and then the price and timeline are set
- Progress photos. Photos arrive as the work moves forward, so you can see where the painting is heading. Changes along the way are discussed individually
- The finished piece. Oil paint dries slowly, so the painting is packed only once it is dry. How it reaches you in Almaty and other cities of Kazakhstan is described in the same step-by-step guide
### A Horse Portrait From Photos: Which Pictures to Send
If the canvas will show your own horse, photo quality decides the likeness:
- in daylight, without flash
- from the side and in full, so all four legs are visible
- the head separately, at the horse's eye level, not from above
- not too close with a wide-angle phone lens: the head swells and the legs shorten
- close-ups of markings, if there are any
How a portrait of an animal from photos works in general is covered in detail in the article on a pet portrait on canvas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many horses should there be in a painting? As many as the story needs. One horse conveys character, two convey a relationship, and three or more become a herd and bring movement. The only rule here is compositional: every figure needs its own space on the canvas.
Which way should a horse run in a painting? Into the space of the canvas and the room. More space is left in front of the horse than behind it, and the piece itself is hung so that the movement goes into the room rather than towards a door or a corner.
How much does a custom horse painting cost in Almaty? At the ArtMix studio a commissioned painting starts from 60,000 ₸, and finished works from 22,000 ₸. The exact price is set before work begins, after a conversation about size and subject, and it does not change afterwards. Current prices can be checked on WhatsApp.
Can you paint my horse from a photo? Yes. You need several clear photos taken in daylight: the horse from the side in full, the head separately and close-ups of its markings. If you have only a few good photos, send everything you have and you will be told whether they are enough for the work.
Can I order a horse painting if I do not live in Almaty? Yes. The conversation happens on WhatsApp, progress photos arrive there too, and the finished piece is shipped to other cities of Kazakhstan by a transport company. Shipping abroad is discussed separately.
How to Order and Where to Find Us
See Anna's new paintings and students' work on the studio's Instagram: they make it easy to pick a mood for your own painting. How ordering works at the studio is described in the commissioned painting section.
ArtMix studio: 69A Satpaev St, corner of Gagarin Ave, 1st floor, office 101, Bostandyk District, Almaty. Phone and WhatsApp: +7 707 413 32 05. The studio is open daily by appointment, and the map and directions are on the studio contacts page.
Start your custom horse painting with one WhatsApp message to +7 707 413 32 05: send a photo of the wall, its size and a couple of pictures of horses you like. The artist will ask the follow-up questions, and you will know the price and timeline before work begins.
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Anna Chernysheva · published