Creating the illusion of motion

An interesting technique that I picked up as a photographer was how to create the illusion of motion.If you focus on the moving object the foreground and background will be appear to be blurred in the plane that the motion is happening.

In this painting I attempted to recreate this effect.

After some consideration I felt that I would use horizontal strokes throughout the foreground and background. This gives the entire painting a feeling of moving along a horizontal point. By not doing the same thing with the horses it brings them into sharper focus and makes them pop against the background.

A dusting of pastel powder to simulate mist helps to soften the effect, making it less pronounced and more realistic.