Monday Guest Artist ~ Karen Baker Thumm

We're getting some interesting weather right now in Southern Ontario. On Saturday, summer decided to pay us a visit, but by 5pm a powerful storm system moved in and made bringing-in time at the barn a bit wild! The temperature dropped a good 20 degrees for Sunday...and today it's supposed to be like summer again. The bad news for me is I really need to get on my taxes (no kidding), so my "day off" this time around will be spent crunching numbers instead of enjoying the weather. I know...that's what procrastination gets me!

Today's guest artist is another Equine Art Guild member I've "known" for years. Karen is an Associate Member of the prestigious American Academy of Equine Art, and has always been very generous in sharing her knowledge and experience with aspiring equine artists. There is a wealth of information, as well as a number of examples of her beautiful work, on her website. You can also see some of these paintings develop on her blog. Thanks Karen!

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Growing Pains
Karen Baker Thumm

I’d like to start off by thanking Linda for inviting me to be a guest
blogger on her blog this month. It is an honor to be chosen by an
artist whom I greatly admire.

In sticking with this month’s theme of growth, I decided to address
a subject that many of us traditional realist artists face at some
point in our development as artists, and that is the need to wean
ourselves from too much dependence on photographs. As equine artists,
it’s almost a necessity to rely on photographs to produce our art
since our subjects are not the kind to sit still for hours (or even
seconds!) while we capture their likenesses.The trick is to move
beyond the photograph at some point to make a more unique work of
art, and that is where the growth part of our development as artists
comes to the fore.

One of my recent paintings is a perfect example of moving beyond the
photograph. “Meet The Green Team” is its title, and so we shall. The
first image is my reference photo for this painting. I very much
liked the expressions of these two gentle giants, their connectedness
to each other and their mild interest in the viewer who has
interrupted their quiet moments together. In order to convert this
photograph into a work of art that was more of my own concept, I made
a number of changes.

The first choice I made was to change the left hand horse’s coat and
mane colors since I wanted the painting to be of a pair of Belgians.

Next I decided to eliminate the sweat on the horses in order to go
along with a theme of quiet relaxation.

Thirdly, I decided to pretty up the trailer by eliminating the rust
and broken railing and giving it back some shine.

Since I'm not fond of wide blazes that go over the nostrils, the
right hand horse got a blaze adjustment which worked out very well.
You can see that he actually has a very fine muzzle which was
disguised by that wide blaze.

The two ears almost touching in the center created a weird tangent,
so I changed one ear to a more forward position and eliminated that
problem.

But, the changes didn’t stop there. The wheel fender was eliminated
since it added nothing to the compositon. I changed the far side of
the trailer to show more openings and make better sense of it. And,
finally, I played around with different crops until I found one which
worked well and which allowed the image to fit onto a standard size
canvas.

It’s a good thing that I like to challenge myself because, Boy! did
this painting challenge me! The first thing I did was to make a color
study in pastel to use as a guide for the oil painting. Other
reference photos were used for the highlights and shadows on the
horses and for reflections on the trailer. A couple of Breyer horses
and a mirror also helped show me where the reflections should go.
Using all of these tools helped me to create a painting that was both
challenging and very rewarding.


I’m so glad that I took the risk and created a painting that I can be
very proud of. Whether it wins any show awards or not, it’s already a
winner for me. Growing pains and all, it helped to build confidence
in myself and was one more step in my growth as an artist.

Purple Panel Painters, Unite!

I was just browsing the Equine Artists' feed - this is kind of a group blog that collects blog posts from various members. I've been enjoying watching the progress on many of the Mural Mosaic panels on our Equine Art Guild forum, but it was fun to see the more public postings too. At the EAG some of us have jokingly formed the "Purple Panel Support Group" to help ourselves deal with the particular challenge of these purple panels! Seeing so many of them completed or nearing completion is putting the pressure on, though!

So, for some progress! I'm not going to explain my subject now - but I'll post pictures so you can see where I'm at. The EAGers know who this is, as I've shared over there, so no letting it leak! Not that it's a big deal, but I'll post my little blurb to go along with the panel once I'm done. If you can figure it out, let me know.

The first step was to transfer my drawing to the panel. I dug up old photos, and new photos, and played around a bit in Photoshop as well as my sketchbook to come up with what I wanted. The darkness of the panel meant using a white china marker for the drawing, which actually worked out quite well when I started adding paint. The solvent will dissolve the marker with some persuasion, but "stuck" enough to give me the guidelines I needed once I started working in the paint.


On the advice of a few EAGers I put a light coat of a 50/50 mixture of mineral spirits and linseed oil over the panel to help the paint flow. While it did allow me to cover the panel quickly, and with a nice looseness, it also increased the drying time of this layer significantly! I managed a rough tonal, then had to leave it. The paint on this layer is very thin, so I'll be doing a better job of covering the panel with the next one. I'm keeping my colours in line with the panel at this point - French Ultramarine Blue, Venetian Red and Unbleached Titanium, which, mixed together to the blue side, gave a nice bluish-purple. Maybe a little cooler than the orignal panel tone, but working for what I wanted for this underpainting. I've actually used these colours for an underpainting before, so I did have basis for my decision!

When that initial layer was finally dry, I was back at the easel with the same palette. Now I worked to cover the panel more fully, still keeping it monochromatic, and getting my detail more solid without really losing the looseness. So I'm at that stage now where I could very happily leave this as is - who needs full colour anyway? It's that fear of messing up a satisfactory underpainting!


Good or bad, this needed time to dry. As it turned out, I didn't have time to work on it this week, thanks to a small bout of horse stress. No more excuses now though! The panel is dry, and I have a day to paint. Add to that, there's a bit of a deadline on this, so no time to dwell on my insecurities! Boldly go! ;)

But It's Not My Birthday!

A couple of weeks ago, I got a package in the mail. I was expecting something of this shape - flat, about 15 x 15 inches - but just to be safe, I had my bomb-sniffing dog check it out. Finn quickly became disinterested, so I took it inside and opened it up.


What did I find? A very purple panel!



Okay, enough joking around! Earlier this year, thanks to fellow EAGer Michelle Grant, I became aware of a project organized by the Mural Mosaic. Be sure to take the time to look at their site to see the scope of what they've developed. This particular project is called Le Cadeau du Cheval, or "The Horse Gift." Panels have been distributed to equine artists all over the world, and many Equine Art Guild members are taking part. We're having a lot of fun on our forum, seeing what everyone is coming up with. After seeing some of the "shape" panels some of my fellow artists are dealing with, I'm getting over some of my "panel envy" at having been given a plain jane surface to work with!

The "mother image" has not been revealed, so the artists will be watching it pieced together with the rest of you! Well, except maybe for those over-achievers with too much time on their hands on the project, who have puzzled the panels together like a kid at Christmas who just can't wait till the big day! Personally, I don't want to spoil the fun!

I've decided what I'm going to do, but I'm not going to tell you just yet. I've done a quick drawing on the panel, and I'm just waiting until I get the first layer of underpainting on the Mike Fox painting before I let myself get to work on this!

Stay tuned!

Looking for The Spot

This is another one of those Equine Art Guild pARTy pieces! I was the host this week, so this is from my own photo. The filly in question is Bri, a now three-year-old Theatrical filly, and the photo was taken shortly after she returned from the track last September. There's no place for turnout at Woodbine, so coming to the farm means exactly that, and the horses take advantage of it, kicking up their heels and enjoying a good roll! Bri here looks as if she's seeking the perfect place to drop and get a good back rub. Inevitably, she'll come up squealing and race off with a buck. Feels too good, I'm sure! I did this in an hour, which was pretty cool. Simple, limited palette, but it seemed to work. 10 x 12 oil on canvas.

Fast and Fun

I've fallen behind taking part in our Equine Art Guild "pARTys", with all that's been going on. I caught up a little today, doing two. This first one, I printed out the photo weeks ago - I like it as soon as I saw it. The photographer, Donna Ridgeway (also and artist, of course) is from Montana, and I drool over her photos all the time, so it was a treat to work from one. This painting is 10 x 12 oil on canvas, and I worked for two hours. It's certainly not done, but It least you can tell they're horses!

The next one is only 6 x 8, oil on canvas panel. I figured working small I had a shot. I actually find it harder to work small like this. It was still a lot of fun. I only spent half an hour on this one. Again, not done, as I won't be able to help tweaking it a bit, but starting with a blank canvas and getting to this in the time frame was kind of cool!


It was a foggy day today, kind of warm (had it not been so damp) so spending most of the day indoors painting seemed the thing to do. It's nice to get a break from the serious paintings for a bit, and hopefully get back to them with fresh perspective!

An Invitation to Dubai!

Just after this past Christmas, I was contacted by a company in Dubai about an art auction and exhibition to take place in conjunction with the 2007 Dubai World Cup. Of the artists contacted, 11 were chosen and commissioned to paint one of the past winners of this prestigious race. My assignment was 1998 winner Silver Charm, one of my favourite racehorses in his day.

The timeline was short -- they wanted the paintings by the end of January! Anyone who knows anything about oil painting knows that in itself is a huge challenge. The other challenge was the size. The paintings needed to be large, and the 30 x 40" canvas I opted for was toward the small end of their suggested sizes. I set to work, and managed to get the painting done. A deadline is a great motivator!

I won't bore you with the ordeal of shipping -- another challenge with the short timeline. The important thing is the Silver Charm painting (and two others they requested for the exhibition) made it safely over to Dubai. The paintings of the World Cup winners were photographed for a limited edition book that would commemorate these past winners.

A couple of weeks ago the Art Connection emailed the North American artists with the news that the Dubai Racing Club was going to be issuing invitations to us to attend the art exhibition and the World Cup! Needless to say, we were all stunned by their generous offer. The best news is we were all able to accept. All of us are also members of the Equine Art Guild so it is quite exciting to have an EAG contingent travelling to Dubai for an art show!

Be sure to check out these other North American artists! Tom Pauly painted Cigar(1996), Rebekah Creech painted Captain Steve(2001), and Ginger Lowry, Almutawakel (1999). The remaining artists are from overseas, and it looks as if we are a truly International group.

Above you'll see the painting -- Silver Charm and Swain battling it out. Naturally we're all hoping for a successful event, but regardless, we're all honoured to be given this wonderful opportunity.

On another note, the latest Equine Art Guild online show, The Artist's Muse, is now live! Don't miss this incredible collection of artwork, and read the stories about the horses that have inspired us. Monster and her mom are there, and in good company!!