Dreaming of Spring

We finally got a real snowfall on the weekend, followed by the coldest day and night of the year, so it's been kind of nice to think about nice green pastures as I finished up this painting. It's great to get this one done, as it's been in the works for longer than I care to admit! When I first started this, I had my doubts that it would ever amount to much (which is why it's taken me so long to complete it) so I'm reasonably pleased how it turned out! For a change, this is a warmblood mare and foal, and the painting is 22 x 28, oil on gallery wrap canvas.

I am doing my best to finish up a couple of these long lost WIPs - next one is on the easel, and I worked on it last night. After that, I will reward myself by starting a couple of new ones! In the meantime, I need to come up with a name for this one. As always, input is welcome!

Indoor Activities

It's hard to believe a week ago we had our coldest night of the winter. Today it rained off and on all day, and naturally the new baby spent the day indoors. As you can see, he still did his best to test out his legs.


The horses that did get out came in as soon as their stalls were ready. I managed to get some painting done in the afternoon. As my plans to post this painting were interrupted on Monday night by the new kid's arrival, I'll post it here. I can't even remember what I was going to say about it! It's 24 x 24 oil on gallery wrap canvas, and this is just the beginning of the underpainting, using Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna and Unbleached Titanium. This is a Thoroughbred in the post parade at Woodbine, and I just love the angle of this horse's head. It makes things a bit more challenging, but there's nothing wrong with that. There is a bit of glare coming off of the canvas because of the wet paint, but this is the progress to date!


I'm hoping to have a more normal sleep tonight - last night I still watched Twine and baby a bit through the night to be sure everything was okay. We're supposed to get a lot of rain tonight. I'm guessing a lot of the snow will be gone by morning! I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that. What can you do?

Promises, Promises!

Well as...ah...promised...I finished this painting so I can finally post it! I had such a lot of fun with this painting because of the horses' expressions. These two are Gladys, who you probably know by now (on the left with the blaze) and Jay, the big chestnut gelding that was here last winter. This is an 18 x 24 oil on gallery wrap canvas. I guess technically I'm not done because I have to paint the edges and sign it!

It's nice to get one of my big paintings done. I always like to balance the smaller, faster pieces with the larger more detailed works like this. I'll pull out the next bigger painting tonight and try to get it rolling. That one is still in the early stages of the underpainting – I don't think I've posted it here yet. It's another close crop which are probably still my favourite thing to do. I will likely start up some new smaller pieces before too long – it's time for some middle-of-the-night work, thanks to Twine's approaching due date.

On that note...time to head out to the barn and start getting things ready to bring in and feed. Can't have the ponies waiting now, can I?

Like You Want to See More of It

Snow, that is. I don't think it snowed today, actually. I've lost track to tell you the truth. The scary part is, it's only the middle of January. I think last year we got most of our snow in February and March. Auuugggghhhh! Not that I'm making predictions or anything!

So what do I do tonight? I work on a snow painting! In my reference photo, the two girls weren't getting snowed on, but the way things developed as I went, it seemed a good fit! It's not as if we haven't had many scenes like this, this winter. Once it starts to get close to feed time, everybody inevitably hangs out at the gates. And typically they stand facing the house; like, okay, I can take the hint! My working title for this was "The Usual Suspects" but I won't call it that - I think that title's been used enough. I'll have to come up with something. This is 8 x 8 oil on gallery wrap canvas. It was a little hard to photograph, so it may be coming through a little dark.

The cold we've had the last few days has really taken its toll on my motivation - it saps my energy and after doing the barn it's hard to convince myself to pick up those paint brushes. Now it's just about time for the last trip out to the barn for today. At least at night I don't have nine sets of eyes like this , staring at me expectantly!