"Devotion," 18 x 36 Oil on Canvas

I could spend the first paragraph listing excuses for not posting more, but I won't bore you with those.  Despite the silence, I have been working away - the horses haven't completely swallowed me up, even though things haven't been completely quiet in that department!

This is the first WIP to pass into the realm of finished, or abandoned, take your pick!  Not signed yet, but I think I'm just about ready to make that particularly difficult move.  This is an 18 x 36 oil on canvas of Viv and Hugo, her first foal (now a yearling).  A couple of in progress pics lets you see some of the steps - above, what I call the "rough tonal" step, then below, the completed underpainting.   Next one in line is getting reasonably close to completion...stay tuned!

Waking Up to Good News

I didn't set a lot of concrete goals for this year, but one I was determined to meet was to paint and submit something for the Inglis Equine Art Prize, a competition organized by Australian Art Sales out of New South Wales, Australia. From the time I received the prospectus, last December, I felt as if this competition was made for me, as the theme was, "Around the Horse Stud." Now, for the uninitiated, "stud" refers to a farm where breeding horses takes place, not actually to those handsome manly equines that may be found there (the stallions). :-D The painting had to depict registered Thoroughbreds. As I happen to have one or two of those around to serve as models, I didn't have much of an excuse to let this opportunity pass by. Lingering in my brain was a certain email four years earlier from Dubai, so I chose to believe cool stuff can happen when you take a chance.

I did battle with what I wanted to paint. It would be a mare and foal of course, but with several thousand reference photos to consider, it would be hard to pick what might be most appropriate. I settled on one of the images of Billy and Clever, and you've seen the resulting painting before. It's a 14 x 18 oil on linen, which I titled "Hush."

I sent off my entry on the first day of the postal strike, feeling somewhat like I was throwing it out into postal oblivion, but the entry made it there in four days. It's taken three weeks on occasion to get an envelope to me from a town ten minutes away via Canada Post in the past, so I was more than a little astounded by the speed with which this entry travelled. As someone who typically leaves stuff to the absolute last minute, it was a big deal to get an entry away with time to spare (and actually have it arrive with time to spare). This morning I woke up to the acceptance email. Who-hoo!

Now comes the most stressful part - packing up the work and sending it far, far away. If only I could go with it! Only 30 paintings worldwide have been chosen for the exhibit, which begins August 11 at the Sydney Inglis Newmarket Complex. The exhibit will remain there until August 14, then be in Melbourne from August 18-24, and on to Scone from August 25-28. How much for a ticket to Aus?

"Hush" 14 x 18 oil on linen

I didn't realize it had been quite so long since I'd updated the blog! I think I've finished this painting - don't you love how sure we artists are of ourselves? My working title for this was, "Not Here, Mom!" but I've decided to call it "Hush." This is 14 x 18 oil on linen.

Billy, featured here as a foal, is now three years old and made his first start yesterday. He handled everything very well, and was fifth in his initial effort, earning a cheque in the process. It's a very encouraging start to his career. You can watch the replay, thanks to Woodbine's You Tube site!


I will be taking this and at least two other paintings to be photographed this week. I always do this with paintings that are too large to scan, so I have a high resolution file from which to make prints. Pirak Studios does a great job photographing artwork, and also offers giclée printing services. I'm probably going to have them do a proof of each of the three paintings I'm taking so that I can offer reproductions. Stay tuned for more information!

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!

The Year of the Chestnut?

Gracie

Just a quick update on what's happening at the easel. It's strictly coincidence that the two paintings I've been focusing on these first days of 2011 feature chestnuts (and one dark bay!). One is fairly small, 8 x 16 oil on Raymar, and it features the boys from a couple of winters ago. The other is a bit larger, 18 x 24 oil on gallery wrap canvas, a warmblood mare and foal.

"Watch and Learn," work in progress

Out at the barn, I still have my token chestnut amid the bays and dark bays. Gracie is a three-year old now, and will probably go back into training in March. Maybe by then one of the mares will give us a chestnut to take the role in her absence? Hummer is in foal to Mutakddim, a chestnut...won't be long now!

Work in progress

Work! In! Progress!

Please forgive my title - what I used to find annoying (bizarre web punctuation) I apparently now find amusing, and so I've used it for this post. The painting in question is one that I can only say I started by popular demand! So many people commented on the photo after I posted it on Facebook, and thought it should be a painting, and I had to agree. This is 11 x 14 oil on Raphael panel. What you see above is the completed underpainting. It's pretty loose, and I'm going to have fun playing with this as I begin the colour, because in order for this to *work* there will need to be an interesting combination of detail and brushwork. Hoping I can pull off what's in my head!


I thought I'd show you a couple of early stages, too. First one is the panel, stained with transparent red oxide, and the rough tonal drawing. For the underpainting I used burnt umber, ultramarine blue and titanium white. As you can see from the image at the start of the post, I've let some of that red toned panel peek through. I just like the effect, even though it will be covered, more or less, once I add colour! The underpainting has dried very quickly (thanks to some less humid weather, and an efficient dehumidifier!) so it won't be long before I get to start that next step.


For a diversion, tonight I believe I finished my first cow painting! I'll show him off after I get the client's approval. See you soon!

You Win Some, You Lose Some...

Some days paintings just seem to fall off the brushes...and others, well, are a hard-fought battle from start to finish (or abandonment, as the case may be!). Today was a bad case of the latter. I've wanted to do this painting for a long time - such a sweet moment between Twine and her first foal, baby Gracie. Gracie got her name because at only two and a half days, she was referred to the Ontario Veterinary College large animal clinic with colitis. She spent five days there, and fortunately recovered, though the reason for her illness was never determined. Out of that experience came her name, Therebutforgrace.

This painting is just a 5 x 7 sketch, oil on masonite, and I think part of the issue was the panel - I just felt as if I was fighting it the whole way. I think this is one I'd like to do larger, and it could be a partner piece to the 11 x 14 I did of Toula and her baby last year.


I could easily do a series of paintings of these mare and foal moments. I have some really cute photos of Clever and Billy. I think Leo and Spider were both tough love babies, though, because I don't remember too many touching moments with those two!

...And Hope For The Best

That's the last part of that saying I mentioned the other day - breed the best to the best. It's a relief when you make it this far - foal safely on the ground, already struggling towards mom's head, and mom nickering softly to her new baby. Hey, only three and a half years to Plate Day!


I used a couple of photos to put together this painting. I've always wanted to do a just-foaled painting, and last year was fortunate enough to have a friend take some photos when I was foaling the mares. This is Twine, and Gracie when she was just minutes old.


After yesterday's struggle...today's painting went about the same way! I was happy with how I was able to map out the drawing fairly quickly (and I did draw today, lines instead of shapes). Then I started, again with the new palette...and it just wasn't happening! I did deviate a bit to get the colour I wanted, and finally admitted the whole wet on wet thing just wasn't happening the way it should. This is 8 x 10 oil on panel, and I did feel like I was fighting the surface a lot, the paint just not staying put. Oh well. Just like surviving breeding season and eleven months of equine gestation....some days it's about the small victories!

Has It Been Six Weeks Already?

Well, I got the Nikon to cooperate enough with me to show some pics of baby Leo, who is already six weeks old! His aunt Clever hasn't given him a buddy to play with, but it won't be much longer now.


It's sunny but cool today, with a cold wind, and to horses that usually means some action! I didn't catch Monster and Gladys when they were putting on their show, but Leo had a bit of a romp...and then a good long nap in the sun. I always lies right up against the barn like this - I assume because it's the warmest place to be!


Still haven't got a decent photo of my latest work on Toula and her baby, so for now you'll just have to trust me that it's coming along great. I'll try and get something before the end of the day, unless I work on it some more, in which case I'll just wait! In the meantime, I hope the baby pics keep you happy!

Beauty Sleep

The title is in honour of Monster today - napping in the sunshine, in our lovely mud. I'm without my camera right now, as both body and lens had to go back to Canon for some attention, so I've been running off with my father's Nikon D80. We're not getting along that well, unfortunately, as apparently I can't even get it to focus! I have some really cute baby pics of Leo, but they're fuzzy! That doesn't stop me from using them as painting references, but it does make me hesitate to broadcast that I can't actually take a decent photo! It's a bit humiliating. So far it's been hit and miss, with far too many misses, I'm afraid.

I checked the mare and foal underpainting yesterday and was surprised to find out that it's dry to the touch, which means I can get back to work on it. In the meantime, seeing as I'm apparently in monochrome mode, I've been working on further refining the underpainting of another piece. This is 16 x 20 oil on panel of Canada's 2007 Horse of the Year, Sealy Hill. There's still a ways to go, and hopefully the fact that the racing season in Ontario is just a couple of weeks away will keep me motivated to continue!

Back to work!

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

This was one of those "if every day was like today" kind of days. For one, the weather was beautiful, by March-in-Ontario standards. Sunny, "warm" (that means above freezing)...and I have the pictures of the happy muddy horses to prove it! It would have been a great day to ride, but with the footing going from frozen to mud over the course of the day, well, it wasn't the greatest of options. Instead, I distracted myself by throwing myself into the new mare and foal painting of Toula and her baby...fueled somewhat by a 1kg bag of Peanut M&Ms supplied by said mare and foal's 'guardian,' shall we say! And no, I didn't finish a whole bag of Peanut M&Ms!


This is a good time to give the blow by blow of the early stages of one of my "traditional" oils, done with a complete underpainting. I decided on an 11 x 14 Raphael linen panel for this painting. The first step is to tone the surface, and my current favourite colour for this is Burnt Sienna. This stage is very simple - I dab some paint on the panel straight out of the tube, dip a large brush in solvent, and smoosh it around! As it gets to be half-dry, I'll take a larger, soft brush and even out the brushstrokes, or I may take a rag and smooth it out if I want to eliminate those brushstrokes altogether. Next, comes the drawing. I've used a sepia coloured pencil because it smears less than graphite with the introduction of solvent. The drawing doesn't have to be perfect, because I'll continuously correct and refine as the painting goes along. The image above shows things at this point.


Next comes what I term the "rough tonal." This is simply straight Burnt Umber thinned with varying amounts of solvent. I just want to block in some basics; I don't spend a lot of time on this stage (above). Often I will put the painting away for the day a this point, but today, because I had time and unprecedented motivation (:-D) I carried on. I'd decided I would try and video the process so that I can try putting together something. Interestingly, I found I painted more steadily because it was almost like having an audience, which in turn felt like subtle pressure to produce results! So after a short break to go throw hay for the horses, I was back at it.


My palette for underpaintings is simple - this time around, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White. The first layer is typically very loose and quick. The foal went so fast, tonight I just kept on and thought I might actually get the whole surface covered. I have to admit I'm a little shocked that I managed that, by about 10pm! And yesterday I didn't even *start* painting until 9pm!


Now, I will leave it. The paint is very wet, so I'll let it dry for a while to decide whether I'll refine the underpainting with another layer, or dive into colour. The colour variations you may see are due to the difference in lighting as the day wore on! At the very top of the post I've put a detail image to give an idea of just how loosely I'm painting at this point.

And just because I mentioned it, I must post a photo of some muddy horses! Gives you an idea of just how small Monster is compared with Gladys, too! Quite the pair, don't you think?

You Scratch My Back...

Well, this lovely photo of two hairy muddy horses doing the reciprocal grooming thing is actually my way of thanking everybody who participated in my blog poll. If you haven't peeked already, the overwhelming favourite is the dark bay mare and foal. Just an interesting little fact for you...along the lines of the whole "degrees of separation" concept...this mare's name is Toula. And Toula is a half-sister to our very own Medz, chestnut boy extraordinaire! You *do* remember Medz, right? How could you forget that handsome chestnut face? I didn't know that when I picked this photo. I try to remember the names of all the mares when I take photos at this farm, but sometimes it doesn't happen!


Today was a busy one. Twine was ready to be bred, so she and Leo went on a road trip to King City's Norse Ridge Farm. Twine's rendez-vous today was with Alumni Hall, a son of AP Indy. Check out the great shot of him by Dave Landry that was posted on Jen's Thorough-blog a few weeks ago. Due to the van driver's previous commitments, Twine and Leo had to stay at the farm for a few hours after the breeding this morning so that Bill (driver) could fulfil those other commitments. I followed them up in my truck, and after they were settled, decided being in the area was a good excuse to go to Fincham's Harness shop, which is only the best place in Ontario to by halters or tack. I *did* have a reason - Gracie and Billy are outgrowing their weanling halters, so I needed to pick up a couple of yearling halters. I've been wanting another shank and when what I wanted wasn't on hand was told if I was willing to wait, one could be made up on the spot. I considered that a wonderful excuse to browse some more! Naturally I found a couple more things I needed. I stopped myself from buying new collars for the dogs though...beautiful as they were! Not sure I could write those off.

Once I dragged myself away from Fincham's, I headed down to Woodbine and got licensed, heard the latest news on the backstretch, had lunch with a friend, and then we caught the third race from Gulfstream to see Unstable team-member Bully run. Than inspired a call to Florida to talk to our other (long-lost!) friend, trainer of Bully and learn the 'gang' will be home in a little over a week - in plenty of time for Opening Day (April 4!). I managed to get back to Campbellville, make it to the feed store and be back on the farm to welcome Twine and Leo back. For some reason I'm tired! Tomorrow, it's back to life as normal...as normal as anything gets around here!