Falling Back on Photos

You know it's feed time when the widgets start eating the fences...or each other.

I have been painting.  Really I have.  It's just that sometimes I feel as if I'm posting endless WIP updates on my Facebook page, and never actually finishing anything.  I'm trying to keep my focus to one painting right now, because it's been a WIP too long, and it's very close to completion, so I really just need to keep my head down and get it done!  I WILL be heading to the easel after I finish writing this post.  I think - or hope - a couple more sessions will see this one ready to sign. 

Brigitte and Rachel, two-year olds home to grow up.

 In the meantime, the ponies have been providing me with fresh inspiration for new paintings.  At the top of the list is the always-entertaining widgets!  It doesn't matter which version I have on the farm....the widgets are always beggin to be painted.  If I can just get to them all, I'll have a really fun series!

Monster, the old lady on the farm at fourteen!

So for now...everyone was being particularly photogenic today.  The only one I didn't get a pic of was Leo.  Don't feel sorry for him, I've got lots of pics of the boy, so missing one today wasn't a slight!

Star, with Polly peeking over her back.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball!

Okay, this painting is not finished.  I decided to be okay with that, rather than rush it, because I think it has potential.  Trying to get it done tonight would most likely lead to me completely messing it up.  Today didn't exactly go as planned, so I actually didn't start working till around 5pm, and this composition was just a bit too involved to whip off quickly!

This is 9 x 12 oil on canvas, and my model is the other yearling, Stevie (Steve McQueen!) playing a newly developed sport, widgetball!  Of the three boys, he showed a particular aptitude for it.  I will continue to work on this one, and post the completed piece!

Somebody's Watching You!

Today was a busy day.  I've had a break from doing stalls lately, as my barn helper started back last week, but she needed to get her car fixed today, so wasn't able to come.  Twine was ready to be bred, so I had to get her all prettied up and put her and her colt on a van to Aurora.  I'm also dog-sitting a friend's dog today.  I decided to work with a different reference for today's painting than I had initially planned, instead going with a simpler option, something that hopefully wouldn't take too long to complete!

Sooooooo......I give you Sheldon!  Sheldon is Twine's yearling colt by Einstein.  This painting is 6 x 8 oil on canvas.  There's quite a bit of glare coming off the still-wet surface, so my apologies for that!  Also, I think my photo is a bit crooked!  The fence rail  is closer to horizontal! 

Hard Fought

 Several times along the way I was ready to toss this painting out the window.  The drawing happened easily enough, but after that it was a battle all the way!  This is Freddie, one of the yearlings, and the painting is 8 x 10 oil on masonite.  The palette is more extensive than the last couple of days - I struggled with where I was going, and ultimately settled on the one I brought home from the Val Hinz workshop a few of years ago.

Anyway....it's far from perfect, but here it is just the same!

Ten Years with Monster: A Retrospective

"Precocious" 6 x 8 oil on canvas.

Today my wild child is ten - where does the time go? I could ramble on about her history, this by-nothing-out-of-nothing homebred, but I will spare you and instead share some of the paintings I have done of her over the years. If you'd like to see some photos of her, you can have a look at my Flikr album.

I will explain the evolution of her name, however. I love coming up with registered names, but have a hard time with barn names. She was very quickly christened "Entertainingangels" and registered with the Jockey Club, but it was several months - yes, months - before I decided what I would call her on a day-to-day basis. And then - well, it took on a life of its own! First she was Javelin, Java for short. As she became a feisty yearling, she turned into Javamonster! It wasn't long before I just dropped the Java part. In polite company she is Java, but her true friends know her as Monster!

"Beware The Monster" 5 x 7 oil on canvas.

"Monster - The Look," 5 x 7 oil on canvas.

"Aw, Mom!" 10 x 8 oil on canvas (sold). 

Gladzilla and Monster (sold). 

"Emerging" 30 x 24 oil on canvas.

"Faceoff," 5 x 7 oil on panel.

Breakfast. Coloured pencil (sold).

The painting with the forgotten title haha!  Oil on shellaced masonite (sold).

"Nobility Without Conceit" 20 x 16 oil on canvas (NFS).

"Dreaming Big," 5 x 7 oil on panel (sold).

"Camera Shy" 14 x 11 oil on canvas (sold).

"Freestyle" 2o x 16 oil on canvas.

"Attitude," oil pastel (sold).

"Insight," 8 x 6 oil on canvas.

"The May Foal," 8 x 10 oil on canvas (sold).

Sweet Vengeance

Today, round two of the Flymask Duel. Spider, outfitted with his new, improved mask, was set for the challenge. He wasted no time, showing impressive smarts to get Leo's mask off, stopping the clock at 8:45am. Rather than going for the velcro, which had proved to be his undoing yesterday (or...kept him from undoing, more accurately!) he went for the top of the mask, and simply pulled it over Leo's ears. Well played, Spider! That's right, folks, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have nothing on us!


(Truth be told, I had to save poor Leo and remove the mask, as that "supervelcro" wasn't going to give and who knew what trouble he could get into trying to run and fight with a mask hanging off his jaw! As I figured Spider was at a disadvantage in the competition yesterday with the less powerful velcro of the older mask, I awarded him the victory today, despite incomplete mask removal. ;-) )

Ah, Leo...payback's a bummer!

Wishing and Hoping

I'll be posting all of the great efforts by our Belmont pARTy participants very shortly on the Virtual pARTy blog. In the studio, however, we will now return to our regular programming!

Next in my June Thirty Days, I decided to do a yearling. Those gawky weanlings become awkward yearlings on January 1, but as the months go on, they start to look like horses instead of babies. It's June, and in the last two months, the two February babies here on the farm have changed so much, starting to fill out as they continue to grow. Both of them are probably about 15-3 hands. This is a great time for them - all they have to worry about is eating and playing and trying to stay out of trouble! Their greatest stress is standing for the blacksmith every six weeks (ahem - Billy!!).

Today's painting is 9 x 12 oil on canvas panel. You might recognize it as the one I started with acrylics last weekend. Gone is that red and blue complimentary underpainting! I kept it pretty simple, and tried to keep the colour fresh. This colt I photographed at the local breeding farm I often visit. This guy is destined for one of the yearling sales south of the border later on in the summer.

Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Tag Neglect

Okay...so there are blog awards...and then there is tag! I'm starting to wonder with all the awards and tagging going on, when do people actually blog about...what their blog is about?

For the first time I have been tagged - and I really do think you should have a look at the beautiful jewelry at Purple Crystal Equine Jewelry! Here are the links to her blog her Etsy store. She also trains her dogs in Schutzhund. I'm not sure how many people actually understand just how impressive that is. Schutzhund is a lot of work. It makes the CKC obedience I did with Zen and Maggie look like child's play.

I always wanted to have a Schutzhund dog. Thing is, the other trainers I hung out with mostly had German and Czech import dogs, so I developed expensive tastes! I really wanted a German import Rottie...but at the time I was heavily into dogs enough to have been willing to put in the time, I didn't have the $3,000 or so that dog would have cost me. Hey, I had a $200 horse! That was in the budget!

So, I ducked the last "7 things" for the award. I'm not sure everyone really wants to know 7 other things about me. Well, I told you one above, right? I always wanted a Schutzhund dog. Okay, so similarly, I'd like to event. That's kind of the equine equivalent to Schutzhund. In Schutzhund, you have three phases - tracking, obedience and protection. In eventing, horse and rider must do dressage, cross-country and stadium jumping.

Hey, that leads me into number three, then. I *have* done a triathalon...sort of. I did a couple of little "Try-a-Tris" one year. That included swimming in a lake that was about 60F at the end of May. Seriously cold water for a non-polar bear. It was fun though. I can swim and I can bike, but due to my ankle I can't really run to save my life. I try...but really, that third phase involved a lot of walking for me. Or, sometimes, hopping!

Wow, so that's three. How about some art-related stuff? In Grade One, kids from Grade Six used to come to me to get them to draw horses for them. Funny. I knew horses had hocks when I was four. Am I the only one who is impressed by that? (that's five..two more!)

Six: the first car I actually owned was a Hyundai Pony. Maybe not the coolest of cars, but I paid cash for it and the fact that it was called a Pony was enough for me, especially as I didn't have a real horse at the time!

Seven: When I was growing up, I never, never, NEVER did chain letters. So why am I doing this? These things seem a bit different to me - it's kind of hard not to acknowledge when someone passes on an award or basically gives you a plug on their blog through a tag like this. I may be slow to respond, but I still appreciate the notice. So thanks to Purple Crystal Equine Jewelry! And my apologies to anyone reading this for subjecting you to useless information about me! I should maybe have just let the beautiful jewelry stand on its own!

(Just a quick note about the photo: I know it may look kind of ferocious, but Billy suffered no ill effects from Medz' reprimand for pushing the boundaries. I'm really missing Medz and Mute right now, because without his two older buddies to keep him in line, Billy is testing things out with me! We've had a couple of discussions in the last week! Such is life when dealing with yearling Thoroughbred colts!)