James Power workshops -Thur 11 14 June, 2026

The Weather Gods were kind to us for the second of Dedham Art Society’s Horse Painting Workshops, led by equestrian artist James Power in the grounds of The Munnings Art Museum, Dedham.

Thirty seven of us gathered in the marquee over two sessions where James talked us through various ways of measuring and simplifying the horse’s anatomy, using geometrical shapes and key dimensions. We all then attempted to put this information into practice by sketching from various horse photographs.

After a short lunch break, the star of the show arrived - a lovely bay Welsh Cob named Will. We artists arranged ourselves around him and set to work. Some continued to sketch, others added colour with watercolour, acrylic or oil paint. It was of course quite challenging as Will frequently changed position, but was certainly good practice at capturing the essence of a subject quickly. Hopefully the workshop will stand us in good stead when we come to prepare our entries for next year’s competition.

It was pleasantly warm with not much breeze, so ideal conditions for a lovely afternoon’s painting outdoors.

Attached is a small selection of work produced during the afternoon. Although everyone was working from the same horse, the results were wonderfully varied and reflected the different styles and approaches of the artists taking part.