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!

Just A Little Break

I'm feeling like I have several of my paintings in the 'uglies' all at once right now. I know it will pass, but I just wanted to do something small and quick today. I was up at the other barn to pay Monster a brief visit yesterday, and it was such a nice sunny day I took my camera along. While this other farm is less than ten minutes away, the landscape is different enough that it is probably a few degrees colder than my place, because it's not sheltered from the wind at all. I had trouble holding the camera steady! I didn't take a lot of photos because I got cold so fast, but I got a few shots that will inspire more of these little paintings.

This one is just 4 x 6 oil on Raymar panel -a tiny painting of a huge horse! Bellator is a young Warmblood gelding. I've photographed him a few times - once 'officially' for his owner - and I expect I will be doing another painting of him!

It's always good to take these litte breaks from the more serious paintings. I need to do more - I miss them! We'll see how April shapes up - perhaps another "Thirty Days" is in order!

Somebeachsomewhere ~ 2009 Hall of Fame Inductee

And here it is! 18 x 14 oil on Raphael linen panel of Somebeachsomewhere.

I took the painting to the photographer this morning - after some more crazy thunderstorms last night, the clear blue skies and light breeze made for a nice drive to Waterloo. Pirak Studios is where I get my artwork shot. Every time I talk to people about doing reproductions of artwork, I stress the importance of starting with a quality digital capture, and they do a great job at Pirak.

This afternoon I went to the framer, though I've brought the painting back home in order to put a coat of retouch varnish on it to protect it - something that can't happen until after it's photographed, but needs to be done before framing! Once again I'm fortunate to have a great framer who so often does jobs on a tight schedule for me! Corby Custom Framing is in Carlisle, Ontario.

Next Thursday is the induction ceremony, where the painting will be part of a silent auction to raise funds for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. I just wanted to mention and thank the 'support crew' that made it possible for me to meet the deadline for this project! I'll have more details on the limited edition canvas giclées to be produced from the painting once it's available. Again, proceeds will go to the Hall of Fame. If you're ever at Woodbine, be sure to have a walk around - it's located near the entrance at the west end of the grandstand.

In the midst of all this running around I also did a photo shoot of some of the beautiful warmblood youngsters at Inish'Or. Haven't had the chance to get them off the camera yet, or I'd share some of the pictures! Now it's time for something to eat - somehow I missed lunch! Wonder how that happened...

It's A Matter of Opinion

Well, today it was back to more familiar territory - working with a reference photo! The photo in question was taken by Judy Wood, who responded admirably to my comments about wanting to do a series of "horses being bad" paintings, inspired by one of my own Monster in my first Thirty Days project. This is one of the youngsters at the farm at which Judy boards her own horse, and she captured a little disagreement between youngster and trainer during a long-lining session. And just so you know, this is *not* a Thoroughbred! Yes, that's right, Warmbloods have such moments! I thought it was a fun contrast to the quiet scene of the other day. As I said, most of the time, things proceed without drama...but every now and then one will feel the need to express his or her own opinion!

This painting is 8 x 10 oil on panel and I tried to work very loosely and quick and not think too much. The pressure helped - I had time to rough out the drawing on the board this morning, then had to go to a much-needed chiropractic appointment, picked up a few groceries (and absolutely *no* chocolate, I'll have you know!) and then spent rest of the afternoon doing stalls. All that meant I didn't get to the easel until after supper. True, it's only 9pm, but, while this isn't perfect, I wanted to preserve the freshness - what I've done probably took two hours, all told. It was a bit of a relief after the sweat that went into Monday's painting.

Don't worry, this horse did get things sorted out and agreeably carries a rider now. As the owner of a bay horse with a fair bit of attitude, I did enjoy the opportunity to paint someone else's horse 'being bad!' Believe it or not, Monster was very easy to start under saddle, and we didn't have any discussions like this. She was a star pupil - the fun began when she decided she knew what was going on!

See you tomorrow!

I Tried...Honest!

Well, I did paint yesterday, though it was a bit of a quick one because of a bunch of other stuff I needed to do - but it seemed I had a bit of "what can do wrong will" going on. First, I discovered we had no internet connection! As an apparently dedicated NaBloPoMo'er, I decided I would have to drive to a wireless spot. I live out in the country, so that's no small decision at nine o'clock at night! As it turned out I didn't have to go that far to get a connection, but was stopped dead when Blogger wouldn't load. I tried for a couple of hours, but it wasn't meant to be - I couldn't make my post. I posted my sad story on the NaBloPoMo site here, though I don't know if that "counts" for their purposes, so I guess I may have to admit defeat. I'm still going to continue my painting a day and blog a day...even if technology's failings have left me out of the NaBlo running!

Today I did an 8 x 10 oil on Raphael linen panel of a friend's Warmblood filly. I was teaching a workshop for the Credit Valley Artisans in Georgetown and due to my internet troubles last night, I didn't get the drawing done as I'd hoped. That meant doing it on the spot - I was a little worrid that I might choke under the pressure of an audience! It didn't go too badly though. So this is Chrystelle, a daughter of Dutch Warmblood Pacific Star STV out of a Thoroughbred mare. She was a baby at her mother's side here, and as a yearling, she is still just as gorgeous. And available for sale, I believe. If you want more info, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction! If I didn't already have a horse of my own standing out there, I think I'd be finding a way to get this filly in my barn.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful than the last couple of days. I know one thing though - with painting number 15 today, I'm officially half way!

Newsworthy

So I’ve been holding out on the art news...

Back in May, I received a call telling me my artwork had been chosen for the cover of the Canadian Warmblood Horse Breeders’ Association’s Fall Classic Breeders' Sale catalogue. The artwork is also featured on the poster advertising the event, and the original painting was on display at the CWHBA booth at the Spruce Meadows Masters! The original will be auctioned as Lot 0 at the sale, to be held October 10&12, 2008. They did a great job putting together the cover design, and I’ll be looking forward to hearing the results of the auction! The painting in question is called “Air” and the reference photo for this work was purchased by Ottawa-area photographer Gleb Esman.


The second bit of news…I had two paintings accepted into the New Jersey Equine Artists’ Association Fall show. You’ll be familiar with both – one is the recently featured “Man on a Misison,” and the other is “Sunkissed.” The opening is this Sunday, September 15, and I’m actually going to be there. My friend Sheri lives in South Jersey, and I’m long overdue a visit, so this seemed a great opportunity. It was a real honour to be accepted into this show, as was the cover for the CWHBA auction.


I've been busy in and out of the studio getting ready for the upcoming FASM Studio Tour, October 4&5, 2008. More new paintings in the works; trips to the framer, trips to the photographer...and so on! Hopefully we'll get past the rain and have a great weekend for the tour.