How Do You Surprise Someone Not Easily Surprised?

Saratoga, Baby.

I just commented to a friend that I'm really stuck on what to write about today's prompt, which seems really counter-productive when this whole week's exercise is about getting un-stuck.  We're supposed to talk about a time that we surprised ourselves today. Um....I notoriously work within my own boundaries of self-preservation, so that's a tough one.  This is likely to be another one of those really boring posts! If I've done something that truly surprises me, I've likely blocked it out, so it must have been horrible! 

As my intent today - especially after yesterday's post about "just do it" and breaking out of a rut - is to give Leo and Gracie a well-deserved day off, and find some time at the easel, I've decided I'd better write this post NOW, for better or worse, before I go out and do stalls.  So, my apologies.

I liked this WIP better than the completed painting!  That's never a surprise.  ;-)

2008.  You can read the quick overview here.  You may have heard about our annual treks to Saratoga.  This was one of the early ones.  How determined was I to get there?  Well, I left in the dark Saturday morning, made the six-hour drive to meet Juliet (coincidentally, the above-mentioned friend!) at the house in Ballston Spa.  We did our thing (again, see that blog post), and after the races on Sunday, I got back in the car and drove home!  The 48-hour Saratoga whirlwind trip.  I think, since that craziness, I've managed to make the trip a little less frantic! Still...I actually like to do things like that...so, not entirely a surprise to myself.  It's just all I've got right now, and I'd rather make the most of this day, than stress about this post and have it get in the way of doing something more productive! 

One more day!  :-D

Remember I said I'd probably blocked out some surprises?  I surprised myself missing Hugo's birth.  Eep!  Thank goodness he and Viv managed okay on their own!

I Left My Heart In Saratoga...Why Couldn't I Have Left the Five Pounds I Gained There Too?

Well, everyone is back to their respective homes, returning to reality with I'm sure a variety of emotions. After the first two days, which were somewhat relaxing, the last two seemed to fly by much too quickly.  Saturday was busy, with Kim doing her demo at Spa Fine Art Gallery, creating two new masterpieces to leave with them.  The rest of us indulged in a decadent lunch of savory crepes at a restaurant around the corner, courtesy of a dear friend of Juliet's.  Later in the afternoon was Juliet's book signing at Saratoga Saddlery, which I joined in on, with a couple of breaks to dash down to Spa Fine Art to check on Kim's progress.  At the end of the evening everyone was pretty much exhausted, but there was ice cream to be eaten, and cider to be finished, so some of us probably stayed up later than we should have, but hey, some of us *could* sleep in...something I actually managed, of a fashion, a couple of days.

Kim's second painting

Juliet's book signing.

Then Sunday the departures began.  Sharon left early to head back to Tennessee, Juliet next for a committment at her gallery in Red Hook, NY.  The remaining four of us headed to Mrs. London's for one last pastry frenzy, and shamelessly loitered on the patio (hey, between the ones we ate and the ones we took home with us, we probably bought more than $60 worth of pastries, so we figured we were justified!). After that Jen left us, and the last three of us headed for one more visit to the track.  When we finally tore ourselves away from the track, Kim and I reluctantly said goodbye to Alecia, and started our own drive to the New York Thruway.

One last splurge at Mrs. London's.

And now we wait in hopes we'll all make it back next year, perhaps with some new additions to our little group. You coming?  :-)

If you have a moment, check out the awesome variety of work from our little group, in no particular order:

Kim Santini- acrylic;
Juliet Harrison - black and white fine art photography;
Jenifer Trottier -  drawings and paintings in various media;
Sharon Simons-Passmore - oils;
Alecia Underhill - oils.

Jen showing us some of her illustration techniques, and letting us play.

What is Blue and Orange and Reminds Me of Summer?

I think I have actually finished a "real" painting that's been in the works for a while.  The process I used for it does actually have something to do with the painting I'm posting today.  This larger WIP was rather involved - what started out as a challenge of sorts with fellow artist/photographer Renee Fukumoto, sort of dissolved into something far away from the intended task....but I'm getting sidetracked.  All that is for another post.

You may recognize the fellow to the right.  There is a story behind Kim Santini presenting me with the plush Smurf toy in Saratoga a few years ago, but that's one of those inside jokes I sadly can't share here, haha.  It has morphed into the emergence of Spa Smurf, who has his own Facebook page....something for you to peruse one day when you're looking for avoidance tactics.

I've been meaning to paint Smurf for a while now, inspired by Kim's paintings of various toys and dolls (if you don't get distracted by the animals, have a look at them on her site). While my palette is a lot stingier than Kim's, the simple use of Cadmium orange for the ground does the trick to provide some punch.  I'm going to save discussing complimentary colours until I post the "challenge" painting...but that's what I'm making use of here.  Yes, it was actually intentional!  Sometimes I do pretend to know what I'm doing.  ;-) Our blue friend is 10 x 8 oil on canvas. 

Wish You Were Here!

Hugo really wanted to come with us to Saratoga this year - I told him he have to might wait a couple of years to do that.  Yes, once again I have managed to get away for a few days to bring artwork and visit Saratoga Springs in upstate New York.  This year I have work with Terry Lindsey's Equidae Gallery in the Holiday Inn.  If you are here during the six-week meet, it's worth stopping by the gallery and seeing the great work there!

 On Thursday the first race was a steeplechase, and from there the usual great racing Saratoga is known for.  In a few days it will be back to reality...which isn't a bad thing, but it's fun to be the spectator for a change. 

So Where *does* the time go?

I'm ridiculously far behind on this blog, with no valid excuse. Yes I've been busy, but what else is new? In the past month I've been to Saratoga for our annual foray, painted a new oil for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony's fundraiser, gone to said ceremony/fundraiser, and am now painting in preparation for the CTHS yearling sales this coming weekend.


The foals, as you can see, are tormenting their mothers - well, the two chestnut boys definitely are, while Sheldon remains more laid back (with a healthy respect for Twine!). Weaning time is very near! Today they get their vaccination boosters, so that will delay their weaning for a week or two.


I still intend to do separate posts addressing the visit to Saratoga, and the Hall of Fame painting. Naturally there will also be something more about the yearling sales. Fall is a busy time, with the Schomberg Village Street Gallery also coming up, September 17 and 18, and the FASM Milton Studio Tour, October 1&2. If you are in either area, maybe we'll see you out!

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....

Going Green - 8 weeks old

I did this week's filly painting a day early, because tomorrow I'm off to Saratoga for a few days. I feel better about this one that last week's, and I already have some great pics for next week, thanks to they baby girl showing off for the camera yesterday!

This is 6 x 8 oil on Raphael linen panel. I went back to my old limited palette - still love how those colours come together. If this would dry in time I'd take it with me, but that's not going to happen. As it is, there will be a few of my smaller paintings at the Beresford Gallery, across from the track on Union Avenue. Make sure you pop in if you're there! They have a beautiful collection of paintings for sale from a variety of International artists.

Back to work - lots to do before I go to bed tonight - I'll be leaving at 5AM so I get there in time for the races!

Racecar Sounds!

I know all foals race around, but Thoroughbred babies seem to do so with a particular intensity that reminds me it's what they're born to do. Jubie's little girl is as precocious as they come. I could watch her for hours.

This painting is 11 x 14 oil on board. I admit I plan to polish this one a bit more. I was pretty happy how I managed to get the drawing down with reasonable accuracy - those legs are always a challenge! I love the loose, sketchy look, but it needs to be taken just a little bit further. Maybe then this filly will make the trip to Saratoga - the one painted on board, at least! The one out in the barn has to wait a few years before we know if she's going to have what it takes!

Making Plans

It's getting to be that time of year - when I start trying to plan the annual trek to Saratoga. Getting away from the farm for a few hours, let alone a few days, is always a challenge. It's kind of a dream to one day spend some time painting on the porch of the Beresford Gallery during the Saratoga meet - will this be the year I pull it off? I'm not holding my breath. It's more likely this will be another whirlwind. Theoretically, I could go down in the morning, go to the races, and come back at the end of the day - it's only a six hour drive...

I started a new painting this week, which is helping fuel the plans. This one is much larger than what I've been sharing of late - 24 x 30 - and my reference photo is one I took at the Spa a few years ago. I had to wait until I'd made a little progress on at least one of the horses to share it - this is very early days, very loose, throwing paint around just to get the canvas covered. As you can see, I have yet to accomplish that!

I've come to enjoy this messy way of doing things - starting with broad areas of tone and refining from there. This is just the underpainting, of course. It's quite fun to do a racing scene this way, concentrating on tone for the first few layers, then starting to gradually add all the colour that makes Thoroughbred racing such a beautiful sport.

Oh, The Pressure!

A trip to Saratoga inevitably provides an endless stream of inspiration for an equine artist, particularly when directly involved in Thoroughbred racing. After three days of taking photos at the beautiful track - followed by a visit to good old Woodbine on Sunday for the last jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Breeders' Stakes, I'm itching to get at it. Unfortunately for me, I have some pressing paperwork and prior commitments that take precedence at the moment. I am dealing with some serious easel envy today, having just read fellow Saratoga-goer Kim Santini's blog post! It will be interesting to see how we both interpret our trip, as often we were standing side by side taking photos. Photographer Juliet Harrison was also with us, but we're going to have to wait to see her black and white work, as Juliet is off to Scotland now!


It was a fun day out at the barn today. Yesterday, for the first time, I put flymasks on the babies, knowing the game would be to see how long they lasted! I was amazed they left them on yesterday, though one of them got Gracie's off (from the opposite side of the fence, no less). Today, however...Clever's colt had his off before noon, and about an hour ago I saw Leo's was about to follow. It's all a game with those two boys!


Priority number one in the painting department at the moment will be the piece I'm working on for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame silent auction, to be held the evening of the induction ceremony, August 27th. I've been asked to paint harness horse extraordinaire, Somebeachsomewhere, one of this year's inductees. So while my Saratoga paintings must wait a while, I'm looking forward to painting this great horse. My panel is prepped, and I've started sketching. I won't be posting it until it's done, but in between stages I'm sure I'll be able to get at some of those images floating around in my head following out trip. All I'll have to do is buy some Ben & Jerry's to bring the atmosphere back!

So Much for Quality Control

I know I've raved about Raphael linen panels many a time on this blog. I've loved the surface from the first time I tried it. With a cross-border trip in the works, last month I ordered some panels, stocking up on a few sizes, and had them delivered to my friend Juliet in New York. The panels are shrink-wrapped, and I don't take that off until I'm ready to use them. The size I needed for a new painting was one I'd ordered in that latest batch, and brought back from a trip to Saratoga this past weekend. The trip was amazing, but how could a trip to Saratoga be anything but?

Imagine my disappointment when I removed the shrink wrap tonight to find, first of all, that the surface has changed, and secondly that the linen is not completely adhered to the panel. I checked the second panel of the same size, hoping at least one of them would be good - without luck. This is the downfall of ordering online from a company on the other side of the border! Given that the company I ordered from, ASW, is not known for its customer service, I'm left with trying to come up with a way of fixing the panels, somehow. Attempting to return them would be even more of a nightmare! It's a sad, sad day! Thank goodness I have a supply of the old panels, but it doesn't look as if I'll be ordering anymore Raphaels. And now to come up with an alternate support for a painting that is already on a tight deadline! Eep!

A sad post like this at least needs a cheery photo, so I'll post one or two from the trip. In typical Saratoga fashion, it rained one day, but we were blessed with two days of sunshine. Now I want to go again! And I don't want to wait for next year!

I Think, Maybe...

I know this is a shock, after the last few weeks of *nothing* but I may have actually finished a painting tonight. I'd actually hoped to have it done a couple of days ago so that I could take it to the photographer, but that didn't happen. I'll be going back there soon enough, I'm sure, so this one will wait till the next trip.

This is the painting from the image that got the most votes on the poll I posted many months. All the babies around here are a lot bigger than this now. I do have more recent pics of this foal, but...well, they're on that hard drive from which I'm still hoping files will be recovered! The painting is 11 x 14 oil on Raphael linen panel. It may get a few touches here and there, but I'm posting it now anyway!

A week from now I'll be in Saratoga, so these next days will be packed. Meanwhile, my friendly neighbourhood peacock is still around. I think the horses are almost used to him now. I've grown a bit tired of him, personally! I want him to go home!! Stray dogs I know what to do with...stray peacocks, on the other hand, I don't!

Guest Artist ~ Juliet Harrison

I've never had an issue with considering photographers as artists, but if I had, Juliet's work would have convinced me of their inclusion. In a world now dominated by digital, Juliet continues to work with traditional black and white photography, lovingly developing her images in her own darkroom.

As an artist who prefers to work predominantly from my own photos for reference, I have a particular appreciation for the art of photography. Often I will get an image and stick quite closely to it, but I always have the freedom to fix my mistakes, or make adjustments to make the painting better. Photographers don't have that option. Perhaps there is some leeway in the darkroom and in cropping, but for the most part they are trusting their eye through the viewfinder, and shooting with film demands even more precision. Those of us who shoot digital sometimes rely, perhaps too much, on the knowledge that firing off shots isn't costing us anything.

I have had the privilege of seeing Juliet's work in person, after admiring it online for many years, and like any original artwork, there is just no comparison. I was particularly excited about these shots she took at Saratoga last summer, and thrilled she agreed to share them here! Suffice to say a couple of these will be in my art collection on our next meeting - they would be already, if not for a major 'fail' by the postal system!

More of Juliet's work can be seen on her website and blog, and she also makes some of her images available for purchase to artists for reference. Juliet has also published a book of some of her images, White Horses, From the Literal to the Sublime, a must for any art or horse-lover's library.

Off to the Races
by Juliet Harrison

I never knew much about the Thoroughbred world, at least not the racing part, until 3 years ago this summer, when I spent a day in Saratoga at the track with Linda Shantz. (Equine painter and Thoroughbred horsewoman extraordinaire) Although I have been photographing horses, with my B&W film camera for many years, it was hard for me to figure out what my “vision” would be in this fast paced and often too far for my lens, world of action. I am used to working close up and being able to isolate parts of the horse’s body and environment. This seemed not at all possible at the track. So the images I shot from that first year in Saratoga were pretty much useless for me. They were either boring standard track/race shots or blurry as the horses went by too fast. But I was inspired by being there. I wanted desperately to figure out something that would work for me. Hey, I needed a reason to go back the following year with Linda.

Throughout the year in between, I learned much more about racing from my many emailed conversations with Linda and knew there was something there I needed to capture. Ideas began to percolate in my mind. I had no interest in those distant shots. They would never read well in B&W anyway. Of course the structure of the muscle groups on a sleek thoroughbred is a great subject for me. But to do those I would need better access to the saddling paddock and barn areas. It wasn’t going to be the actual race that I would photograph, but something about what happens behind the scenes. Or what most visitors don’t pay much attention to while there. And I kept being drawn to my thoughts about the relationship between the horse and the jockey. These amazing men and women who dedicate their lives to these magnificent horses. Sure they have to be adrenaline junkies. That is a given. But there has to be more for them to be so driven to do this. So, the question I presented to myself was, how do I portray that “something more”?

Last year, back at Saratoga for two days this time. Armed with more knowledge and a fresh focus….I started to photograph….What I photographed was the moment before the horse and jockey leave the saddling paddock. Hoisted into the saddle, instructions from the trainer done, social “jockeying” with the owners and press is past…this is sometimes the first real moment of communication between the horse and the jockey. As they leave the paddock the jockey goes through a process of getting settled. Part of that process is the tying or knotting of the long reins. It is called “getting tied on”. The reins are often thought of as a live wire of communication between horse and rider. This is the moment I photographed. The intimacy of that moment of adjusting the line of communication. The series title….Getting Tied On….of course.

I will be back in Saratoga this summer with Linda. These images and one other will be exhibited at Terry Lindsay’s Equidae Gallery at the Holiday Inn during race season. And I am excited to see where the series develops and what new ideas I get for my vision at the race track.

Coming Up Short

Well, it didn't quite happen today. I didn't quite get today's painting finished, because the mare and foal that have been away for a couple of days returned tonight, and the foal is a little under the weather. I know it's just 9:40pm, but suffice to say my head isn't quite there!

Technically this wasn't a daily painting anyway. This was one I started a couple of weeks ago when I was still waiting for my oils to get back from SK. I didn't do much - I was trying to see if I could do something remotely close to what Val Hinz does (hahahaha...right!). I'll show you what I did in that session. I was pleased with the progress today, just trying to keep it simple, loose, with lots of colour. It was headed in the right direction, at least! The 'stretch run' will have to wait!

The details: 8 x 10 oil on panel; purple underpainting (if I can call it that!) in acrylic.

Just an interesting, albeit useless, fact about this scene, and my reference photo. The horse on the right is the same chestnut Kim Santini and I painted for our Preakness pARTy. I laughed when I realised that. Of course Juliet Harrison took our pARTy photo. This was a shot I took of the race at Saratoga, as the horses entered the straightaway.

My apologies again. Off to the barn to check on the kid.

And Now, Making it Saratoga

I hadn't really planned to post my latest work on this, but I thought it might be interesting to see the way this one is progressing. I was pretty sure I wanted to put something in this that identified it without a doubt as Saratoga - namely, one of the red and white awnings. I'm not even sure what you call this particular structure, but under these are television monitors that broadcast the races. See, at Saratoga, many, many people park themself at the paddock with their coolers and lawn chairs and blankets and the like, and don't go anywhere near trackside. While it's not my idea of a day at the races, it does lend to that festive atmosphere that is such a part of the meet. I'm not sure how many of the folks camped out in this area make use of the TV monitors, let alone notice the horses behind them in the walking ring! Oh well. It's like the people in the infield at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, I guess - less about the racing, more about the party.

I'm quite impressed that I painted at all today, after picking up and unloading 138 bales of straw, and then mucking out. It didn't help that it was cold out today, with an inhospitable wind chill - not so nice after temps yesterday that made it above freezing. So just a little work tonight. I checked it out in Photoshop before starting to block it into the painting. I think I'm going to call it quits in case I mess things up!

Six Months Till Saratoga!

It's not really that unusal for me to be thinking of Saratoga this time of year. Let's face it, anything that distracts from the Canadian winter is a good thing. I think this time last year I was working on another painting taken from photos I shot on this same trip. Today I sat (and alternatingly stood) in front of Medaglia D'Oro again.

First thing I have to say about this painting is, I'm loving the Artfix linen. I've had my struggles with this surface in the past, but I think adhering it to masonite is making a big difference for me. I'll certainly be preparing more of these linen panels. It was so simple, now I'm wondering why it took me so long to try. I really didn't expect it to work as well, and as easily, as it did. This one is just 8 x 10, so I'll have to look at trying some larger panels.


Today I started with the horse, working up some of the shape with Burnt Umber a bit so he was reasonably established before I started blocking in some colour. I started loosely with the background, blocked in the groom, and then worked up the horse a bit further. I stopped where you see it in the second progress image. While I probably could have worked on it a little more, I was just feeling like I'd like to let it dry a bit before continuing. Because the horse is a little further along than some of the other elements, I'd like to bring some of the rest of it up to speed and that will go a lot better when things are dry.

The weather hinted kindly of spring today - though rain is predicted for tomorrow. It's almost March - the end to winter is in sight!

Not Much to Say

I've got Dave Matthews' music in my head today, and while the title to one of his songs - "So Much to Say" - might make a good one for a blog post, it wouldn't be true tonight! I'm tired after a long day, but I managed to convince myself to paint anyway. I decided to start a new one from a sketch I did last night while watching 24. This one is from some photos I took on my first trip to Saratoga in 2003. The horse is Medaglia D'Oro, and I've had these shots set aside for some time. Not only do I love the horse, the lighting in the photos is great and wants to be painted! I transferred my sketch from last night to an 8 x 10 linen panel I made last week. This is the first time I've tried to make one of my own, and I used some of that wonderful Artfix linen. I'm really happy how well the panel worked out. So far all I've done is started to block in some tones on this one. I kind of ran out of gas after that!


Thought I'd better supplement this post with a couple of photos I took today. Naturally I have to show off Leo, stretching his legs. The other one I just thought was funny. Since Twine's baby was born, I've been at a bit of a loss as to what to do with Clever, the other broodmare. Clever isn't due till the end of March, but I don't really want to try her out with a new turnout buddy, and she's not very happy about being away from Twine. The current arrangement seems to be working well - Twine and Leo are in the side paddock, and Clever is behind the barn. Her baby from last year is Billy, now a yearling, and he's out in the larger back paddock right now. Billy is very curious about the new baby, so he'll come right up to his gate to investigate, but Clever is very protective of Twine, even though they're not in the same paddock. So I caught Clever telling off her son. The thing that strikes me most about this photo is just how big Billy is! Clever is not a small mare.


Well, I have some brushes to clean, then I need to go out for my last barn visit of the day. After that I think I'll try to get to bed! Maybe I'll get there before midnight!

Tick Tock!

I suppose that's my theme for the month. It was pouring rain first thing, so the horses stayed in - and I plunked myself in front of the laptop to whittle away at that target wordcount. In a couple of hours the rain stopped, so the horses went out. It took me a bit longer to do stalls because, of course, they'd been in longer! Lunch didn't happen today - I finished the barn around 2:30pm, came in, started my drawing on the canvas, then went back out to bed the stalls and get ready for feeding. Once the ponies were in again, it was back to the painting!

I indulged myself a little today and worked on Artfix portrait linen. Ever since I did my first two paintings on this surface, I've wanted to do something looser. It seems a bit contradictory to want to do something with less fine detail on a surface that lends itself to such fine detail, but that's just what it had "said" to me when I'd worked with it before! As I have a lot of it now - I took the plunge and bought a roll of it this summer - I figure I have no excuses! And going how things went today, I'm guessing I'll try it again.

This is 10 x 12 oil, and I used the limited palette again - burnt umber, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, titanium white - with a bit of cadmium lemon, unbleached titanium and terra verte. I worked from one of the photos I took this summer at Saratoga of a horse behind the starting gate.

Now, I've got another 1500 words to take care of if I'm going to make that 20,000 target before bed! Better go!

Landscape Catchup

I'm determined to meet the landscape challenge, even if it means producing and posting less-than-admirable work. These three little pieces are each experiments in different ways, and what I classify as quick studies. Sometimes these things come off better than others. In the midst of everything else that's been going on around here in the past few weeks, well, let's just say, beggars can't be choosers! I have been working on my more serious pieces, and hopefully in the near future will reveal the results of some of that work.

Just a quick description of these three pieces. The little landscape is just on Fredrix canvas pad, and is using Kevin MacPherson's plein air palette (inside after dark in my studio, however!) of simply Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, Thalo Green, Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Yellow Light. I love the colours, though the painting was very simple and quick. The middle piece is a cloud study, done on gessoed birch panel, 8 x 10. The one thing about all this rain, we've had some pretty cool clouds! Again, just a quick study. The third is 5 x 7 oil on shellaced Masonite - the first time I have worked on such a surface. This one isn't done yet, but is done from some of the photos I took on my recent Saratoga trip. This horse and rider are on Clare Court, a sand ring type gallop on the backstretch.

On the farm front, our record rainfall this summer is causing a bit of havoc. Forgive me if I don't really want to talk about it! There's gotta be an ark around here somewhere....

Maybe It Never Rains in California, but it Sure Does in Saratoga!

Well, I pulled off the whirlwind trip to Saratoga and made the most of it. I met up with Juliet Harrison as planned, and we headed right to the track (once we remembered how to get there!). In typical Saratoga fashion it was hot, and the clouds started to roll in as the afternoon went on. It was a "Breeders' Cup Win and You're In" day, so four nice stake races were scheduled. Right before the Go For Wand, the rain hit. Like die-hards, we stood by the rail and waited to watch the race. Taking pictures at this point was kind of difficult because while we were willing to get wet, we weren't willing to let our cameras get soaked! Thanks to the program which I'd earlier been grumbling about (the tops of the pages weren't cut...and most of it is printed on newsprint, so my hands were black) I had a shield for my camera, even if I'd left my rain coat in the truck!

Ginger Punch put in a huge performance to win the Go For Wand - I was really impressed. After spending most of the race locked in on the rail she broke out and emerged victorious. In the post parade she'd looked clearly disgusted by the rain, so I'd thought maybe it wasn't going to be her day...but a bit of rain and race-riding wasn't going to stop this girl! The rain did stop us after that race, admittedly - we didn't stick around to see Commentator win the Whitney, unfortunately!

A visit to Saratoga isn't complete without seeing some galleries and a stop at Mrs. London's for the to-die-for pastries. Sunday we hit the races again and upheld our now-tradition of some Ben&Jerry's (despite the exhorbitant cost of it at the concession stands!), took some more pics, watched some more great racing and yes, got rained on again.

Till next year! :)