What's The Formula?

The thing about my daily painting stint is, there are a lot of variables. I had a fellow artist ask me the other day which surface I preferred to paint on. On that particular day I said masonite (a.k.a. panel or board). Then today I was painting on Raymar canvas panel - which a week ago had lost favour with me - and at the moment it's my absolute favourite ground, because today's painting just fell off the brushes. I'm fickle, am I not? But do you think tomorrow I'll be able to recreate today's success? Doubtful!

I realize such things are probably in the artist's mind - I stated in response to a comment on the Thirty Horses blog that we artists are our own worst enemies, something that is not a newsflash! Some of us probably learn to deal with criticism because we know we're harder on ourselves than anyone. And I'm not sure it's wrong to be that way, as an artist. If we were always satisfied with our work, we wouldn't bother to try to improve, would we? With every painting we hope we get closer to where we want to be as an artist, and maybe every tenth painting, I know I might feel as if I've actually achieved a tiny step in the right direction. Tonight is one of those times. I'll enjoy that feeling while it lasts, because inevitably it doesn't last long!

You can see how the above painting turned out on the Thirty Horses, Thirty Days blog.

Late Plate

I think I might be calling this one done. I began this 8 x 10 oil on Classen's Linen panel (by Signature) last September. At this point I should probably just say it's two unnamed racehorses, but in fact it's the finish of the 2008 Queen's Plate, with Not Bourbon beating out the filly Ginger Brew probably by about the extra length his tongue provided!

Below is the painting in the very early stages, as I worked on it at the CTHS Yearling sales. Now, if I start the painting of the 2009 Queen's Plate soon...when do you think I will have it finished?

January pARTy

As promised, here's my painting for the Virtual pARTy. I went with a simple crop to be sure I could get it done in the time frame, given the rest of my schedule! This is 6 x 8 oil on Raymar cotton panel.

We had some great work in this month's pARTy, so I hope you'll take a moment and have a look. Think about joining us next time!

I've been busy at the easel for most of today, working on getting that painting of the three mares I posted the other day past the uglies! I should have an update to post soon...unless I decide to wait till it's complete. I think it actually might be turning out!

Respite

After what seemed like days on end of snow and cold, today was beautifully spring-like. It seems only fair to share the positive weather reports amid the whining! I had a vain hope of riding Monster today, but that fell apart. I did take the time to throw a ball for Swish, and did a stint on the treadmill before dinner and some painting.

Tonight, it was back to oils. I have this 11 x 14 oil on linen panel of the two chestnut boys nearly done after this evening's work. A little bit of attention to punch up the contrast in the horses, and another look at the fore and midground and I should be there.

It's always easier to paint a bright sunny scene than something fairly low-light like this one, mostly because the impact that is obtained through contrast seems to give a lot more satisfaction. This one has to rely on subtlety for the detail. And of course the cuteness of Medz and Mute. My title for this one is a little bit long, but it popped into my head that moment I saw them out in the paddock. "Here, Let Me Help You With That!" I grew up with two brothers, so the statement is very tongue-in-cheek. I want to translate the look on Mute's face as Medz grabs his blanket, surcingle undone, as, "Uh – please don't!" The funny thing is, Mute's had the last laugh on this one. It's Medz walking around with the torn blanket now.

I don't really want to look up the predicted weather for tomorrow because I just know it's not going to be as nice as today. This painting will go on the shelf for a while to let all that Titanium White dry a bit before I tackle the finishing touches, so something else will occupy the easel, and my attention, for a little while. I've kept busy painting, but that's a little deceiving as I recognize I'm still in a state of avoidance because I'm neglecting a few of the big WIPs. Time to get rolling again on those!

Thirty Horses, Thirty Days!

I still had about 3500 words to write today to meet that NaNoWriMo deadline, and that was my first task of the day. It takes a little more attentiveness to write something reasonable than it does to paint at this point. While my story is really just a framework - and for me, 50K words is just a short story :-) - I wrote an ending and at least finished off the scenes I'd left hanging. It needs some fleshing out, for sure. But I met the goal, which is a little mind-boggling to me, with everything else I got done.

I wasn't sure what I was going to paint today. I kind of wanted something with some significance, as it was the last one of the challenge, and I was a bit worried about not ending on a good note! I was getting ready to look through the photos stored on my external drive when the photo I have hanging behind my easel looked at me. It's a mounted enlargement of Sass, Monster's mom. I took the photo when Sass was quite young, probably two or three, and it's my favourite picture of her. I can see a lot of Monster in her at this age, and it's nice to remember her back then, before she started to run into such problems with her knees.

I always liked the composition of the photo - it was off-centre, and that really appealed to me. This is another 8 x 6 oil on Raymar triple-primed cotton canvas panel, limited palette. It will fit nicely with the theme I have planned for the little show I'll put together of these 30 paintings. Stay tuned!

Imagine, it's only 8:45pm! Finished more than three hours before the deadline! Huh!

Comeback

Okay, I feel a lot better about today's painting than I did yesterday's, though to be fair I put a lot more time into it, starting much earlier. I've been looking forward to working from this photo, so I went back to a 10 x 8 masonite panel. After working smaller, that made things easier as well. So this is Mike Fox in the post parade before winning the '07 Queen's Plate. It was nice to do him with the sun hitting him - in the previous painting I did of him, on his way to victory, he's more in shadow so I didn't get to play with colours quite the way I did here. I still used the limited palette, however.

I forgot to mention one very important thing about yesterday's painting - I didn't have a panel prepared that was the appropriate size, so despite my complete dislike for working on a white ground, that's what I did. Can you tell? I sure could, and that contributed to my struggle - as if I wasn't having enough trouble!

Wear and Tear

I didn't think I was going to make that 40K NaNo target last night, but the pep talk over there noted it was "before bedtime" not midnight...so I made the push. Of course now I'm trying to keep a cold at bay. I'm hoping it remains a "psuedo-cold" - just a sore throat, aches and chills. That's plenty to deal with, thanks! I've written a bit today, so the 50K is in sight. We just won't mention that it's really pathetic writing!

I decided to revisit Gladys today at the easel. The photo I worked from was taken in the same shoot as the one I used for Monster the other day. Gladzilla and Monster; a match made in heaven! This one is 5 x 7 oil on Raymar triple-primed cotton canvas panel. I'm kind of getting the hang of this surface. Once again I used the limited palette.

Hopefully I'll get to bed at a decent hour tonight!

Two-Thirds of the Way: Day 20!

I write in my head a lot - I'll think about what I might want to say in my blog post, then of course by the time I get to this point, where I'm actually posting, I'm completely at a loss for anything interesting to say! Of course when I went to bed at 1:30am last night, I was pretty sure I'd be dragging by now, so perhaps it's understandable I'm not all that coherent! After making the 30K target for Nano before midnight, I ended up writing another few pages freehand before I went to bed...which was when I glanced at the clock to see the time.

I started today's painting a little earlier than last night's - by an hour or so! This is 6 x 8 oil on Raymar cotton canvas on panel (triple primed again). An guess what? The same limited palette. I've been painting mostly Thoroughbreds in this project, just because I have so many models around here, so if my draught horse looks a bit like a TB, you'll have to forgive me! This Belgian I photographed at the Kentucky Horse Park last summer. I have to admit I like the looseness of these ultra-quickies. I'm usually such a blending freak that I often don't end up with visible brushstrokes, and it's really nice to get away from that.

The next NaNo target is 40K by the end of Monday. As I guess last night's after-midnight stint gave me a bit of a leg up, I think I can afford to get to bed early tonight! Or, well...earliER!

Starting Week Three!

I have to admit, today was the first day I found myself wishing I didn't have a painting to do - not because of my subject, but because I was dragging a bit! No good reason - it's just difficult some days to fit it all in. I had an appointment with the chiropractor, and some arrangements to make for a horse, as well as the usual barn duties. We're in that transitional state, weather-wise, I don't particularly like: rain last week turning to snow over the weekend (though no accumulation to speak of), and dropping temperatures not yet cold enough to freeze the ground. That means mud. And muddy horses. Bottom line - lots of extra work!

Today's subject is a friend's pretty little Morgan-cross mare. I had a bit of fun with the colour - such a flashy girl deserved a bit of brightness! It's fun to see where this limited palette can go. This one is 6 x 8 oil on Raymar triple-primed cotton canvas panel.

The "novel" (I use that term very loosely!) is progressing, of a fashion, though I'm feeling more like I'm just accumulating words than telling a story. While I've learned to paint in fits and starts if need be, I can't do that when I write, and it's certainly showing! Ah well...tomorrow's schedule is a bit simpler, so perhaps I'll be able to devote a bit more concentration to it!

Oh, just one more thing - the grey filly I painted Friday, Pleasant Mix? She was running *yesterday* and she won. Ha! Take that, superstitions!

Rainy Days and Purple Panels

I think the last posting I did of my Mural Mosaic panel was officially what we artists like to call "the ugly stage." It's been leering at me since. As soon as it was dry, I could barely stand to look at it! I found I had to work on it tonight to try and push it past that point. I'd like to say I'm happy with how things went, but I seem to recall being reasonably content while it was still wet the last time, so I'll reserve judgment for now!

Sorry for the blow by blow on this. I was considering not posting again until it was complete. From a progression standpoint, what I did tonight was put another layer on the background to tie it together better, and then started working on tightening up the detail on the horse. I can see a few things I need to adjust while it's still wet, before I clean my brushes. Then it's back out into the rain to take care of the ponies one last time for the day!

Purple Panel Painters, Unite!

I was just browsing the Equine Artists' feed - this is kind of a group blog that collects blog posts from various members. I've been enjoying watching the progress on many of the Mural Mosaic panels on our Equine Art Guild forum, but it was fun to see the more public postings too. At the EAG some of us have jokingly formed the "Purple Panel Support Group" to help ourselves deal with the particular challenge of these purple panels! Seeing so many of them completed or nearing completion is putting the pressure on, though!

So, for some progress! I'm not going to explain my subject now - but I'll post pictures so you can see where I'm at. The EAGers know who this is, as I've shared over there, so no letting it leak! Not that it's a big deal, but I'll post my little blurb to go along with the panel once I'm done. If you can figure it out, let me know.

The first step was to transfer my drawing to the panel. I dug up old photos, and new photos, and played around a bit in Photoshop as well as my sketchbook to come up with what I wanted. The darkness of the panel meant using a white china marker for the drawing, which actually worked out quite well when I started adding paint. The solvent will dissolve the marker with some persuasion, but "stuck" enough to give me the guidelines I needed once I started working in the paint.


On the advice of a few EAGers I put a light coat of a 50/50 mixture of mineral spirits and linseed oil over the panel to help the paint flow. While it did allow me to cover the panel quickly, and with a nice looseness, it also increased the drying time of this layer significantly! I managed a rough tonal, then had to leave it. The paint on this layer is very thin, so I'll be doing a better job of covering the panel with the next one. I'm keeping my colours in line with the panel at this point - French Ultramarine Blue, Venetian Red and Unbleached Titanium, which, mixed together to the blue side, gave a nice bluish-purple. Maybe a little cooler than the orignal panel tone, but working for what I wanted for this underpainting. I've actually used these colours for an underpainting before, so I did have basis for my decision!

When that initial layer was finally dry, I was back at the easel with the same palette. Now I worked to cover the panel more fully, still keeping it monochromatic, and getting my detail more solid without really losing the looseness. So I'm at that stage now where I could very happily leave this as is - who needs full colour anyway? It's that fear of messing up a satisfactory underpainting!


Good or bad, this needed time to dry. As it turned out, I didn't have time to work on it this week, thanks to a small bout of horse stress. No more excuses now though! The panel is dry, and I have a day to paint. Add to that, there's a bit of a deadline on this, so no time to dwell on my insecurities! Boldly go! ;)

Mike Fox, Step One!

Wow, I actually managed to get what I wanted done on this painting, ahead of schedule! I completed the first layer of the underpainting on Mike Fox. This layer is very thin, the tone of the panel still showing through, so I will more completely cover the surface one this stage is dry. Sometimes I will go back after a second drying period to establish the details more firmly before I move on to colour. Remember how long it took me to finish the underpainting of my "First Time Past" painting? Um...do you even remember the painting? (Yeah, yeah, I need to get back to that one!).

In case I haven't mentioned, this one of Mike Fox is a 16 x 20 oil on masonite panel. The panel was toned with Raw Sienna, and so far all I'm working with is Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber and Titanium White.

Getting to this point on this painting meant I was free to start my Mural Mosaic panel tonight! I've just started blocking in the underpainting, but you'll have to wait to see it. Maybe tomorrow!

Resurfacing

I haven't managed to do much painting these last few weeks. It's a combination of being busy with the horses and other art stuff, not to mention the income tax deadline and quarterly GST filing! Things have dried up more or less, so it's time to think about fixing some fencing and putting up some new paddocks.

When I'm not painting I'm always doing other art-related things. This is the time of year there are a number of juried shows coming up, and I'm deciding which ones I might enter, as well as what will go where. I was recently accepted into a show in Ohio at Dancing Horse Farm, and shipped the work a couple of weeks ago. Be sure to take a look at an online display of the exhibit. The three paintings that were accepted have been posted here on the blog in the past, but in light of the show, I'll post one of them again. The snow may be gone, but there are babies everywhere this time of year. This one I called "Snowbaby," a small oil pastel on panel.

There's a new project coming up that I'll be letting you in on shortly. In the meantime, I have some work in progress that is no doubt dry, so it's time to get back to it!

Tomatoes, Still

Wait - those aren't horses! And you know what else? That's not oil! Yes folks, you'd better sit down, but this is acrylic on panel. With my repeated confession that acrylics and I just don't get along, I'm somewhat amazed by this. I'm not trying to say I think it's brilliant or anything, but it's a small miracle to me that I produced anything I would consider showing here at all! The size is 7 x 11.

So why, you ask? Well, it was somewhat last minute, but I decided to do a FASM workshop today, presented by our esteemed past president, Leigh Cockburn in his studio at Just a Wee Gallery. The workshop covered Composition and Design in the morning, and painting with acrylics in the afternoon. As a self-taught artist, it never hurts to have a refresher on the principles I've had to work out on my own, and I figured I could fight with acrylics for an afternoon for a change of pace. The only time I'd ever tried acrylics was in the one and only university art class I took, and it was a disaster. As it turns out, the way Leigh works in acrylics is very similar to how I work in oils, so things didn't go too badly.

My title is a little bit of a play on words that only I will probably get, as usual. The still life part is easy enough, but there is a song by Ben Folds called Still which is one of my favourites.

"Even the things that seem still are still changing..."