Time For A Show

 

A few weeks ago I was asked if I'd like to take part in a local show with some fellow FASM members.  Well, that show is this weekend, and yes I'm going to have work there.  It's being held at Crawford's Garden Centre in Milton, and 10% of all sales are going to the Milton District Hospital Foundation. Milton has grown so much in recent years, it's sorely in need of expansion.  Hopefully our little group will be able to help out with lots of sales this weekend!

I'll be hanging a number of pieces at very special prices in order to encourage local sales, so if you're in the neighbourhood, I hope you'll stop by!  There will also be prints and notecards available. The show runs from 9am-9pm Saturday July 5th and 10am-5pm Sunday July 6th.

So Where *does* the time go?

I'm ridiculously far behind on this blog, with no valid excuse. Yes I've been busy, but what else is new? In the past month I've been to Saratoga for our annual foray, painted a new oil for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony's fundraiser, gone to said ceremony/fundraiser, and am now painting in preparation for the CTHS yearling sales this coming weekend.


The foals, as you can see, are tormenting their mothers - well, the two chestnut boys definitely are, while Sheldon remains more laid back (with a healthy respect for Twine!). Weaning time is very near! Today they get their vaccination boosters, so that will delay their weaning for a week or two.


I still intend to do separate posts addressing the visit to Saratoga, and the Hall of Fame painting. Naturally there will also be something more about the yearling sales. Fall is a busy time, with the Schomberg Village Street Gallery also coming up, September 17 and 18, and the FASM Milton Studio Tour, October 1&2. If you are in either area, maybe we'll see you out!

Waxing Artistic

Rubytuzday

It was rather on a whim I decided to take the most recent FASM workshop offering. Encaustics are a medium I knew little about but found intriguing. After seeing some originals in person at the FASM general meeting where the teacher for the workshop, Cora Brittan, gave us a presentation, I thought if I could manage to attend and cover my usual barn work, I would! I even had everything on the materials list, so I didn't have to buy anything.

Simply speaking, encaustic painting is a process that uses wax. Techically what Cora taught us was mixed media, involving everything from drawing, ink, linocut printmaking and collage. I decided to keep it as simple as possible - I'm a painter, so I felt a bit out in left field! Like a good workshop participant, I did a couple of drawings the night before, so I wouldn't spend half the day working on my drawing and not get a chance to actually play with the wax. It's something I always encourage my own workshop participants to do, with varying degrees of success!

Poseidon

I found out, very quickly, that it would take a bit of trial and error to come up with work I was actually happy with, though I will show you what I did anyway. I used a combination of technical pen, coloured pencil and oil pastel for my drawing. The first one, which I've posted at the top, I went back over a second time with the wax - once I had a better idea of how it worked! The photo doesn't show it, but I used some of my very cool Sennelier iridescent oil pastels over top of the wax as well.


At the very least, I had some fun with colour today. The last one I didn't finish, only putting the wax over the drawing I did with the tech pen. You can see I used the same drawing again - all of the colour is from the waxes. Certainly nothing resembling the intricate designs our instructor produces! I believe I will be sticking to oils for the time being, but every now and then it's nice to just play! I kind of felt like I was back in grade school!

A Final Glimpse of Summer

With the trees rapidly changing colour now in this part of the world, it's time to admit that autumn is upon us! Right now we couldn't ask for more perfect weather - nice warm days, cool evenings (though I haven't exactly dragged out the winter coat yet, which is something for me!) and again, those trees. This time of year also means the Milton Studio Tour is coming up - next weekend, in fact, October 4 & 5. The brochure and map is online at the FASM website, and thought time is running out, I can always mail you one if you contact me!

I've been busy working on some paintings, doing some printing and getting things framed for the tour. The last landscape I did in my weekly challenge (not that I'm admitting defeat yet!) I pulled out earlier this week because it was asking for a few horses grazing. That's the painting I'm posting today. It's 8 x 10 oil on canvas, and I'm calling it, simply, "Summer Pasture."

I hope you can come out for the studio tour! The horses always find it interesting to see a steady stream of cars coming up the laneway!

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.

In Between Rainshowers

Seems we've been catching up on some rainfall activity in the last few weeks. Today it's raining again and quite cool, but it is Victoria Day weekend so you didn't really expect the weather to be nice, did you? We should all be grateful it's not snowing!

Lest you think my lack of posts lately means I've been doing nothing, I'll try and bring things up to date. Last Saturday I taught a "Painting Horses" workshop for FASM. We started here at the farm where everyone met the horses and got to take some photos, and then dear Miss Monster agreed to pose for some sketching. She was remarkably pleasant - I wasn't sure I had the right horse! Her patience did wear off after a bit, but in all I think she enjoyed being told how beautiful she is. In the afternoon we headed over to Hee Haw Hill, home and studio of another local artist, Terry Shaw. Terry has an assortment of animals, including goats, a pig, chickens and some donkeys. I did a short demo again just to quickly show the laying in of some musculature. I had a bit of fun with the colour, so he's a bit orange right now, but this is Eccentric, one of the better turf horses last season at Woodbine.

On Wednesday night I was invited by FASM to speak at the Annual General Meeting, relating my experience last March in Dubai. It was kind of fun to re-live it for an evening. I also talked a a bit about giclée reproductions to help members understand the process and advantages.


I've started some new paintings in the last few weeks as well. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten I have a handful quite near completion! One of the new ones is of last year's Queen's Plate winner, Mike Fox. It's about time I got to that one - it's been in the plans since last June! It's very rough right now. Hopefully I'll have it done in time for the Plate, but I won't be holding my breath!