Painting Progression-Horse Portrait in Acrylic-Step 5

The final stage of this painting should pull everything together.  I apply a final glaze of acrylic color over the dark areas of the horse with a mixture of burnt umber and ultramarine blue.  I do not want to obliterate the warm sheen of umber on the highlight areas of the horse's coat, so I use a generous amount of mat medium in my glaze to keep it semi-transparent.  I finish in the darkest details with black, then adjust a few subtle areas such as the pink of the muzzle and the blaze on the nose before adding the final touches of extreme highlights over all of the reflective areas on the horse and tack.  I add some clean light blue in the background, next to the horse's face to increase the contrast in this area.  This will draw maximum attention to the face of the subject.  The last thing to do is add my signature and the painting is complete.