If You Haven't Heard From Me, I'm Probably Buried Somewhere Under Several Bales of Hay....

 Amazing how quickly a month goes by, is it not?  I am happy to say I survived the annual hay 'season,' at least the first part of it.  It's one of those things only horse people and farmers will understand - that borderline anxiety as we wait for the first cut of hay.  I was fortunate this year in that my stash lasted me through to this year's crop.  Running around looking for hay to tide you over until the new stuff arrives is not fun.  So now, I've stored as much as I can store.  Needless to say the last two loads came on the hottest day of the year so far I think, but that's just how it goes at hay time. 


My time in the studio has been sporadic, but with hay and breeding season finally behind me, I'm starting to get back into some sort of rhythm.  I have a number of new paintings on the go - no less than five in various stages of underpainting.  For this post, however, I'm sharing an older one. I don't feed round bales, personally, but I do love the sight of them waiting in the fields.  This one is an 8 x 10 oil on canvas board - available for $80.  I have hay to pay for, you know! 

Stay tuned - new paintings will be showing up shortly!

Not Enough Hours! Week 6

It was tough fitting in the week 6 painting today! After feeding and turning out this AM I had 175 bales of hay to take care of - a morning workout when there are just three people, total. The usual stalls waited at home, and tonight I had to be out. As a result I'm posting a somewhat sketchier than normal painting of our girl. Sometimes it's good to only have so much time. All things considered, I guess it's not too bad!

This is 6 x 8 oil on linen.

Rush, Rush, Rush

Time was pretty tight again today. I had to get a load of hay, then go back for a load of straw. Then there was the Shop Vac distraction...anyway, I finally started painting around 2pm, and only had till 4pm (feed time) to get something done. As usual, I can see a few issues with this, but I'm not going to tell you what they are if you haven't figured it out!

This is Mute, a four-year old Thoroughbred gelding. He and Gladys were actually both purchased at the 2005 CTHS yearling sale. While Gladys didn't make it to the races, Mute was stakes-placed as a two-year old and made over $100,000. Today's painting is 10 x 8 oil on panel. The limited palette experience is pretty interesting, I'm finding. When I started out I was pretty sure I was going to end up with a bright orange horse; then I seemed to actually remember what I was doing and it turned out okay in the end. Maybe by November 30 I'll have it figured out, but I'm not making any promises!

I'm having a really hard time getting decent photos of these little paintings. Because they're typically wet, and because the thickness of the paint varies over the surface, some funky things happen! Even taking them outdoors doesn't help. Just another chance to remind everyone, there's no comparison to seeing original artwork in person. And now a word from our sponsor.... :-D

Everything Stops for Hay

Three of these, full, folks!

Finally! The first cut hay is in. Wednesday was an all-day hay project, and naturally, one of the hottest days of the year. I'm trying not to whine about the nearly 600 bales we packed in, when I think I'm just one of the clients my suppliers deal with. Now I just have to wait for straw! After threatening rain for the last few days, storms apparently hitting everywhere but our little nook on the Niagara Escarpment, we've had a steady downpour that started in the middle of the night.

This week's landscape "entry" 8 x 10 oil on canvas

I am playing the hay card as my excuse for not getting much painting done this last week. I did some work here and there and will post the evidence when I have a bit more time to blog. My weekly landscape project didn't get started until Friday night, and occupied me again yesterday afternoon. Not ready to call it done yet, but I managed to put some horses in this one!

Today, I'm hoping to make a now-rare trip to the races. If you've been following long enough to remember the Thunder Gulch colt I broke a couple of years ago...well, today he's making his first start at Woodbine. Now three, and a gelding, while his barn name is Medz, he'll always be affectionately known to me as "Rupert" despite his owner's disapproval! Go Rupert Go!

Rupert, aka Medz, aka Medidocihospisurg, as a yearling