We Came. We Saw. We Ate Ice Cream.

Another Saratoga visit is history! For the first time I can remember since my initial trip to the 'Spa' in 2003, we had perfect weather. For me, rain and humidity in Saratoga is just a given, but this time around, after being overcast and muggy on Wednesday afternoon when I arrived (complete with a few token drops of rain, just to say it did) the weather was unbelievably beautiful.


One of the highlights of this trip was being joined by fellow equine artist and racing fan Sharon Passmore. Sharon and I were both Equine Art Guild members, and often correspond back and forth about racing, comparing our experiences and stories of the business. She was able to share connections that got us signed into the backstretch in the morning for amazing photo ops, as well as box seats for the races on Thursday afternoon. Add to that our paddock passes courtesy of the Beresford Gallery, which represents my work at their gallery across from the racetrack, and we were set! Juliet Harrison joined us Thursday, and after sending Sharon on her way home to Tennessee early Friday, Juliet and I took advantage of that backstretch contact for more photos. We also visited the yearling sales barns, and saw the recently renovated pavilion.


The joy of being able to rent a house for our short stay inevitably means ice cream. I can't help but take advantage of the US's greater selection of flavours (not to mention better prices!) of my favourites, Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry's, and fortunately my friends indulged with me! It is, however, tradition for Juliet and me to buy an overpriced serving at the racetrack at least once, which we did on our way out Friday afternoon. And of course no trip to Saratoga is complete without at least one stop at Mrs. London's for amazing pastries. We did a lot of walking, but I'm not sure it was enough to balance out the intake of calories!


I'm home again, and did make it back to the easel today. Each year I order some art supplies and have them sent to Juliet so that I can save some of the shipping costs. I'm anxious to try out some of the paints I ordered - decided to try some Vasari oils and see how they compare to my faithful Old Hollands. So far I've only tried one tube - the colour is brilliant, but they're a lot oilier than the rich OHs. We'll see how it goes.

One more thing that made the transition back to reality a bit easier - Ben & Jerry's on sale at Fortinos! Now if we could just get some of those flavours....

A Little Closer

Well, I managed to get some work in on this painting tonight, yay! It was a busy day at the barn, what with dealing with what seems like a delayed-reaction flood in the barn (thought I was going to be spared when it stopped raining and all was dry), mucking out as usual, and supervising a couple of horses being reintroduced to turnout after stall rest. I had to make a trip to the grocery store - motivated primarily by the fact that my banking machine is at the grocery store and I had some cheques to deposit...well, that and the anticipation that there would be holiday chocolate on sale! I showed great restraint, I thought, in only purchasing *one* bag of Lindor chocolates at half price. Coincidentally, Haagen-Dazs was also on sale, and it's illegal *not* to buy it under such circumstances, don't you know? Thanks to that and a gift from the most thoughtful of friends of some Green & Black's organic chocolate, I'm well-stocked for a few days, at least!

All I did tonight on this painting was work on blocking in the colour of the dog, and it made all the difference with how I feel about the painting. There is still much work to be done, but as the dog, obviously, is the most important part, working out this first layer of colour was very important. I know I need to sort out values and perspective yet, but my adjustments in those areas will be much easier now. In case you're interested, this is 11 x 14 oil on Raphael linen panel.

Of course, much of the work I did tonight involved the notoriously slow-drying Titanium white, but that won't prevent me from continuing to work on this. The rest of the painting - save for the sky - is dry, so I will be working next on bringing up some of the detail that I've thus far neglected!

There And Back Again

Home again, after an enjoyable trip to New Jersey. My friend and I talked about how most people think of New Jersey as what they see off the Turnpike – industry, basically – but Sheri lives in South Jersey, closer to Atlantic City, in the Pine Barrens. I understand completely why she loves it there. It’s beautiful and peaceful and exactly opposite to what everyone thinks of New Jersey.


When I arrived Friday, Sheri told me Big Brown was running at Monmouth on Saturday…did I want to go? I laughed. Do you have to ask? I responded. So Saturday we went to the races! It was a great day – the home-town crowd was friendly and excited to have the Big Horse there again. BB didn’t disappoint, though both Sheri and I agreed that BB should probably stand for “Big Baby”! It’s too bad this horse won’t run at four, because he still seems so immature. He got the job done, regardless.


Sunday was the opening of the NJEAA Fall Showcase. It was a great collection of artwork, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn “Man on a Mission” was awarded an honourable mention! The EAG was well represented. It’s so nice to see original artwork in person – it always gives me an even greater appreciation for the artists. Nothing compares to it!


Monday it was time to head home, but not before a photo shoot of the Arcadia gang, and lunch at Marcello’s. If you’re ever in Hammonton, New Jersey, it comes highly recommended! Great pizza (we had takeout Friday night and couldn’t help going back, apparently!). After all these years, not much has changed when the two of us get together. Lots of horses, Haagen Dazs and catching up on a few movies! What more could you ask for?