A Horse Portrait - Step by Step Process

My last equine portrait lent itself to illustrating the steps that go into one of my portraits.  So I took the liberty of snapping some of the check points during the portrait process.  I hope you enjoy the making of one of my custom horse portraits!

Above:  blocking in dark tones with a variety of browns, reds, purples, and some black
Below: some close views of the scribbles of pastel

Above: Almost all the base color is laid onto the paper. This is before I did any blending.

Above: I began blending large areas of the face.  Still wasn't too concerned with detail. Just aimed to get the right colors and values where they needed to be.

Above: Once all the colors are applied to the paper and blended correctly, I start to apply hair texture over the base layer. 
Below: Close-ups of the hair strokes of color.
LOVE THOSE WARM TONES!

Below: I added a background that complimented the warmth of the horse's coat. 

The finished product:
"Sanuk" 16 x 20 pastel horse portrait on archival sanded 400 paper.
Original artwork by Jenna Wilke