TRAVEL WITH MY ART #18: PLANINICA (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

Hello dear readers! I'm back with another TRAVEL WITH MY ART POST.  This time I'm taking you to Planinica hill in Bosnia and Herzegovina. You might remember this place from my numerous posts about it. Like Goranci, Planinica is only a short drive away from Mostar. If you are lucky, you might even come across semi-wild horses.  I've been meaning to paint Planinica for a long time.

You know a friend of mine asked me recently whether I ever paint locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I do, but perhaps not as much as I should. There are definitely a lot of beautiful places in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I illustrated and painted some of them in the past, but now I decided that it is time to feature more of Bosnia and Herzegovina in my TRAVEL WITH MY ART POSTS. After all, this is where I'm currently based at. 

This location painting is a bit different because it features an animal- a horse. However, this animal is definitely a part of this place. When I decided to paint Planinica, I knew there had to be a horse there.  Moreover, I have a commission for a canvas (a horse painting) coming up, so maybe this was just me warming up for it. I did make another horse painting in July but I gave it to my niece before I had the opportunity to take a photograph of it.  I enjoyed painting this horse but I also worked on the background. The whole purpose behind this series on my blog is to take you places with my art. So, obviously I devoted some attention to the landscape as well.  

THE MAKING OF THE 'A HORSE ON A PLANINICA HILL' PAINTING 

I made this painting yesterday. Once again I used Royal Talens acrylic paints on a mixed media sketchbook paper. I'm not sure how many hours I put into it but I finished most of it in one sitting. I sketched the horse with a watercolour pencils and then I added the acrylics. Bellow you can see the work in progress collage. I added some finishing touches once I was out on the balcony- I remember it was so hot my acrylic paints dried on the panel almost as soon as I put them on. I love Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I struggle with surviving plus 40 temperatures in the summer. It's almost midnight as I'm typing this and the sweat is coming down my face. Well, back to the subject of this painting. 

I tried to convey the feeling of this place. Let's say I tried to do the best I could with the landscape.  The mountains in the background are not detailed but that is how it is in the reference photograph. I used my own photographs as a reference for this painting. I didn't use a single reference photograph, I checked a few of them and sketched my own thing. Painting the horse didn't take up much time. Horses were actually one of my first motives. I remember drawing a horse in charcoal  back when I was in high school. A lot of artists are fascinated with horses. They are stunning animals for sure.

 In fact, the thing that took the most time was the grass. I tried to add some texture to the grass. I don't know can you see it in the photographs, but I tried to make the grass look realistic. The same goes for rocks, but somehow I didn't find them as challenging as the grass. The format for this painting is A4, so I couldn't really do the fine details. Seeing it now, it looks like a mix of impressionism and realism. 

MY PREVIOUS VISITS TO PLANINICA- Are you interested in learning more about Planinica? You are welcome to check out old posts here, here, here, here, here and here.  Planinica is one of the hills that overlook Mostar and it is possibly my favourite one. It is 862 meters tall. It offers fantastical views of Mostar city and the surrounding mountains and hills. There is a mountain track leading to the top if you're into hiking, but you can also get there by car (whether rent a car, taxi or your own) or a bike. 

A FEW MORE PHOTOGRAPHS OF MY NEWEST PAINTING.....

TRAVEL WITH MY ART (LINKS TO MY PREVIOUS POSTS)

#1 PALERMO ISLAND SICILY (ITALY)

#2 BAY MALA STINIVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#3 IRKUTSK, SIBERIA (RUSSIA)

#4  MATEJUŠKA, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)

#5 HVAR CITY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#6 ZENTA MARINE, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)

#7 ZAVALA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#8 SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#9 MALA STINIVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#10 HVAR TOWN, ISLAND HVAR ( CROATIA)

#11 JELSA TOWN, DANCE O THE SAILS (CROATIA)

#12 ZAVALA, ISLAND HVAR, (CROATIA)

#13: SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#14: BAY BRIZENICA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) + original visit HERE

#15 BAY LOZNA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#16 BAY VEPRINOVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#17 BOL, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

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