Paying Tribute

I really don't know what to write with today's painting; the story behind what inspired me to finally pull out the necessary reference photo is a dark one, one that seems so glaringly out of place during a week which is supposed to be a celebration of Canadian racing: Queen's Plate week.

Like many others, yesterday I learned of the death of Wake at Noon, a Canadian champion. He was thirteen, and died on the racetrack, when he never should have been on the racetrack. He was supposed to be enjoying a well-deserved retirement (some of us think winning $1.6 million should pay for that), not find himself the victim of a freak accident after his connections apparently lied about his identity (purely speculation on my part) to even get him on the backstretch. At thirteen, he wasn't eligible to race at Woodbine - or even allowed to been on the grounds. But nothing stays secret at the track for long.

Anyway...I won't ramble on. I took the reference photo for this on Plate Day ten years ago, and I've often looked at it over the years and thought he's a horse I'll paint one day. I never though it would be under these circumstances. So here he is, a rapid-fire tribute to an awesome horse, and a sad reminder of how pathetic the human race can be.

10 x 8 oil on Artfix linen.

Six Months Till Saratoga!

It's not really that unusal for me to be thinking of Saratoga this time of year. Let's face it, anything that distracts from the Canadian winter is a good thing. I think this time last year I was working on another painting taken from photos I shot on this same trip. Today I sat (and alternatingly stood) in front of Medaglia D'Oro again.

First thing I have to say about this painting is, I'm loving the Artfix linen. I've had my struggles with this surface in the past, but I think adhering it to masonite is making a big difference for me. I'll certainly be preparing more of these linen panels. It was so simple, now I'm wondering why it took me so long to try. I really didn't expect it to work as well, and as easily, as it did. This one is just 8 x 10, so I'll have to look at trying some larger panels.


Today I started with the horse, working up some of the shape with Burnt Umber a bit so he was reasonably established before I started blocking in some colour. I started loosely with the background, blocked in the groom, and then worked up the horse a bit further. I stopped where you see it in the second progress image. While I probably could have worked on it a little more, I was just feeling like I'd like to let it dry a bit before continuing. Because the horse is a little further along than some of the other elements, I'd like to bring some of the rest of it up to speed and that will go a lot better when things are dry.

The weather hinted kindly of spring today - though rain is predicted for tomorrow. It's almost March - the end to winter is in sight!

Not Much to Say

I've got Dave Matthews' music in my head today, and while the title to one of his songs - "So Much to Say" - might make a good one for a blog post, it wouldn't be true tonight! I'm tired after a long day, but I managed to convince myself to paint anyway. I decided to start a new one from a sketch I did last night while watching 24. This one is from some photos I took on my first trip to Saratoga in 2003. The horse is Medaglia D'Oro, and I've had these shots set aside for some time. Not only do I love the horse, the lighting in the photos is great and wants to be painted! I transferred my sketch from last night to an 8 x 10 linen panel I made last week. This is the first time I've tried to make one of my own, and I used some of that wonderful Artfix linen. I'm really happy how well the panel worked out. So far all I've done is started to block in some tones on this one. I kind of ran out of gas after that!


Thought I'd better supplement this post with a couple of photos I took today. Naturally I have to show off Leo, stretching his legs. The other one I just thought was funny. Since Twine's baby was born, I've been at a bit of a loss as to what to do with Clever, the other broodmare. Clever isn't due till the end of March, but I don't really want to try her out with a new turnout buddy, and she's not very happy about being away from Twine. The current arrangement seems to be working well - Twine and Leo are in the side paddock, and Clever is behind the barn. Her baby from last year is Billy, now a yearling, and he's out in the larger back paddock right now. Billy is very curious about the new baby, so he'll come right up to his gate to investigate, but Clever is very protective of Twine, even though they're not in the same paddock. So I caught Clever telling off her son. The thing that strikes me most about this photo is just how big Billy is! Clever is not a small mare.


Well, I have some brushes to clean, then I need to go out for my last barn visit of the day. After that I think I'll try to get to bed! Maybe I'll get there before midnight!

Still There, But Showing Potential

I'm hoping to distract you from the less-than-stellar progress on this painting by posting some shots of the two boys in question. They're such a couple of goofs, they always make me laugh. I'm going to miss them both when they go back to work!


I spent today working on more blocking in of colour, and just a bit of working up the detail. The funniest thing about this painting is that I'm really not enjoying the surface. A couple of years ago, this was my new best favourite ground for oil painting. Now that I've "moved up" and am working with the more recently discovered Raphael panels and luxurious Artfix linen, these Fredrix panels aren't quite so special anymore! I only have a couple left, and I think the others will be reserved for studies.


Anyway, I'm going to cut this short because Swish is suggesting she'd like to go out, and I've learned to believe Swishy when she makes such requests! So off I go, and I expect I'll be back with more on this painting soon in my drive to push it past this prolonged ugly stage!

Tick Tock!

I suppose that's my theme for the month. It was pouring rain first thing, so the horses stayed in - and I plunked myself in front of the laptop to whittle away at that target wordcount. In a couple of hours the rain stopped, so the horses went out. It took me a bit longer to do stalls because, of course, they'd been in longer! Lunch didn't happen today - I finished the barn around 2:30pm, came in, started my drawing on the canvas, then went back out to bed the stalls and get ready for feeding. Once the ponies were in again, it was back to the painting!

I indulged myself a little today and worked on Artfix portrait linen. Ever since I did my first two paintings on this surface, I've wanted to do something looser. It seems a bit contradictory to want to do something with less fine detail on a surface that lends itself to such fine detail, but that's just what it had "said" to me when I'd worked with it before! As I have a lot of it now - I took the plunge and bought a roll of it this summer - I figure I have no excuses! And going how things went today, I'm guessing I'll try it again.

This is 10 x 12 oil, and I used the limited palette again - burnt umber, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, titanium white - with a bit of cadmium lemon, unbleached titanium and terra verte. I worked from one of the photos I took this summer at Saratoga of a horse behind the starting gate.

Now, I've got another 1500 words to take care of if I'm going to make that 20,000 target before bed! Better go!

Six and a Half Hours till Midnight

...and then the fun begins! It's gorgeous out, much warmer than it's been, and some of that mud is actually drying up. I've been taking some photos of the horses in preparation for my horse-a-day project, and prepping panels, and avoiding that painting-that-shall-remain-nameless.

I'm going to post a painting today that I finished a few weeks ago - this could well be the last finished-looking painting you see for about a month! I'm calling this "Just Peeking" and it was based on a photo by friend and Fine Art Photographer Juliet Harrison. Juliet has started to offer some of her photos as reference material to artists. I generally work from my own photos - I'm certain I have enough of those to last me a lifetime, and someone else's lifetime - but when I browsed the first photos Juliet posted, I was immediately taken with this image. It struck me as the perfect companion to my painting "Just A Look" (seen recently in my studio tour follow-up post) which features a little near-black Thoroughbred in a similar pose. Now Trixie has a friend! This painting is 16 x 28, oil on Artfix Impasto Linen. I ordered this piece of linen by mistake. My style isn't anything resembling impasto, but I enjoyed working on this surface nonetheless. Be it a coarse weave like this, or the ultra-fine of the Artfix portrait linen...fine linen is still fine linen!

I have no intention of trying to paint at midnight tonight, but I will be doing a bit of writing. I've been browsing some of the NaNoWriMo posts over on the Absolute Write forum, and it's a little bit intimidating to read about some of these folk who are WriMo veterans! I'm kind of like the one who just wants to run a marathon to be able to say I did, even if I'm staggering across the finish line at the end. And just to be clear, this is the 50,000 words I'm talking about, *not* a real live marathon! My ankle would have a thing or two to say about that!

Okay...if you're looking for me, I'll be in the closet!

Brought to You by the Colour Green

Apparently I’m on a green kick this week. Could my purple avoidance get any worse?

Look what I finally dusted off today! The painting formerly known as ‘Backstretch’ and later renamed “First Time Past” (current working title). Lots of different greens in this one, and like the Mike Fox painting, I’ve been blocking in colour over the underpainting. recently, having worked on paintings with a detailed underpainting as well as one without (Eccentric), I’m reminded just how much simpler it makes things to have that tonal roadmap. I was able to make a lot of progress, quickly.

I’m also enjoying the Artfix linen with this piece. When I started this one, I didn’t think we were going to be friends! I really did contemplate locking it in the closet on several occasions. It was worth those early “fights” I’ve decided. Guess I’m going to have to buy more!

Saratoga Dreaming, January Edition

I put my "First Time Past" painting aside today for a rest (for both of us!) and started work on a new one. This will be my second on Artfix linen, so we'll see if I learned anything from my struggles. It's an 8 x 10 oil, so less surface area to cover!

I took the reference for this painting on my first trip to Saratoga, in 2003. As someone who has spent a lot of time on the backstretch, this is a familiar scene. It was summer, of course, and after training each day, a horse is bathed (say it "bath'd" with the 'a' short...we don't "bathe" or "wash" racehorses!), and then walked. Naturally their feet get dirty again as they walk, so before going back in the stall, the groom will wash the horse's feet and dry the legs with a towel. It's all part of the routine...one that starts around 5AM, or did for me, way back when it was what I did for a living!

I've had this photo set aside for a long time. It's always appealed to me, but I wasn't sure I liked the composition as shot. With the painting, I've actually added the right foreleg as it wasn't visible in the photo, and it just didnt' look correct without it. You can kind of see me starting to work out how it should look as I go. I'm not done yet - I'm really only blocking in an underpainting of Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium white so far, though I'm taking a few liberties and using the colour as colour. Just couldn't help it! The surface was toned with a light wash of Raw Sienna before I started. I'm really happy with how it came along today.

Spending some time on this little breather should let me get back to the larger, more complicated racing painting with some added inspiration. Right now, it's looking like time for bed!

Seriously...Where's the Chocolate?

It's perhaps a sad thing that one of my greatest motivators to get to the grocery store is needing to replenish my supply of chocolate. Yes, even out here in Boonieville we have a couple of corner stores of a fashion (all gas stations seem to have convenience stores now) but when I talk about chocolate, what I'm usually looking for is "real" chocolate, the higher the cocoa percent, the better! When I go away (in a geographical sense) I look for new chocolate. Have you read my profile? That degree and minor I have? I figure that gives me the authority to remind everyone that chocolate is GOOD for you! Has to be the high cocoa content stuff though. More antioxidants than that red wine everyone goes on about. And you don't get drunk on it!

Okay...painting, right? My next task is to finish the other piece that was abandoned mid-underpainting last October. When I originally edited the photo for this, I flipped it, and I was going to call it "Backstretch Banter" because the riders were making me laugh. When it came down to it, though, I decided to leave the orientation as it was - the field in a route race going past the grandstand for the first time. The race in question was actually the '06 Canadian Oaks. Maybe my reasons for not changing the photo too much were directly related to that!

This is one of those "count the legs" paintings. I'm still doing that. I'm also testing my memory, painting those legs. My photo ref doesn't show as much as the painting does. I still have some work to do there. Too bad this race was over the old dirt surface at Woodbine, or I would just throw in some Polytrack kickback!

As I'm sure no one but me remembers, this is the first painting I've done on Artfix Linen. The surface is so smooth, it's been giving me some real challenges. Just when I think I have the hang of it, I lose it! I've got the sketch for another painting blocked out on another, smaller piece of this. Haven't touched it with paint yet. I think I've come to the conclusion I like a bit of texture!

Rain, Rain...

...well, I'm not going to say "go away." We've had such a dry summer things could use a really good soak!



I've been working on a couple of new paintings this week. The one I posted last time of the racehorse standing on the training track is coming along. The next piece I've started is a racing piece. It's my first painting on Artfix Belgian linen. This linen is sooooo smooth it's actually taking some time to learn how to work with it, so I have been struggling a bit! I hope it comes together, because right now it's looking a little troubled! Once the underpainting is done I expect it will get easier, but the underpainting is taking much longer than usual.

Okay....back to work!