Speaking of Meet The Model – I Want To Meet Yours!

This will always be my favourite blog - there's a lot of history here - but I decided recently I should probably have a blog attached directly to my website. I have this one linked, but Facebook doesn't like it. I don't know if it will like the new one any better, but I guess we'll see!

I've started a contest there to celebrate thirty – yes, that's 3-0, 30, three-zero! – years of painting portraits. You might want to check it out, if you haven't already seen it. Top three entries will win paintings of their horse! To see what's involved, hop over there and have a look. 

My poster girl for the contest is Trixie here, formally known as A Nifty Trick. The painting is called "Just A Look," and has always been popular. It's 24 x 36, and while the original is sold, there are limited edition giclées on canvas and smaller collector and fine art prints available, should that interest anyone!

Deadline for contest entry is October 15, 2017, so don't waste time! :-D

Sometimes, You Just Have To Give Yourself a Kick In The...

"New Digs With Toys," 5 x 7 oil study.

Facebook.  We love it. Hate it. Love to hate it.  Every so often these "challenges" come along – we've been having some fun with a music challenge, posting different favourite songs, and recently the art challenge has resurfaced.  I did it a couple of weeks ago – but it's inevitable that one will get tagged again to do it.  When that happened, I decided to make my own challenge, to do a painting a day for five days.  Having done several thirty day challenges (see my Thirty Horses, Thirty Days blog for many of them!) I figured I could pull off five, and maybe get myself jump-started back into a better studio routine.

It's amazing how much better I feel about day two's painting than day one.  I'm hoping by Friday I'll be unstoppable!  Haha....please don't let my horses hear that, they may take on a challenge of their own to stop me!  ;-) 

"Leo ('Hey, Good-Looking!')" 6 x 6 oil study on Raymar canvas panel.

2015 Calendars Now Available!

I've done a calendar again this year, and they've just arrived!  I'm really happy with the way they've turned out.  There are a limited number in stock;  if I get enough demand I'll order more.

Images included are:  Watch And Learn, Have We Met, Widget Watch, Promises Promises, Just Peeking, Miss Me, The Plans I Have For You, Speak To Me of Fabulous Things, You Still Love Me, Fire Filly, On The Horizon, and Here, Let Me Help You With That. The calendars are printed on premium heavy stock and coil bound, and the closed size is 8.5 x 11 inches.




Calendars are sold out - thanks to all who purchased one!  Hope it's part of a happy 2015!

A Jubie Retrospective

"Dreamy"  8 x 6 oil study on Raymar panel, sold.

I went to visit Jubie at her new home this past Saturday.  Now called Raeleah (Rae), she is living the life in paradise.  She has been such a wonderful model, I thought a little retrospective of the work she's inspired was in order!  Not that I'm done painting her, yet! 

Definitely paradise.

"Firstborn," 14 x 11 oil on Raphael linen panel. Sold;  reproductions available!

"Jubilant"  11 x 14 oil study on Raphael linen panel.  Available, framed, $500.

"The Bond (or, You Still Love Me, Don't You?" 14 x 11 oil on Raphael linen panel.  Sold, reproductions available.

"These Eyes," 6 x 8 oil study on Raymar panel.  Available, $100.

Birthdays Are Overrated, Right?

"Reciprocal," 8 x 16 oil on panel

Today is Peaker's birthday - Peaker being the first foal that was born on my little farm that wasn't mine (cough*Monster*cough). She was born one very cold February morning, eight years ago, first foal of her mom, Too Clever.  I remember it was cold enough I went and bought a foal blanket for her...and when I put it on her, Clever decided she was an alien, so I had to take it off.  Poor little Peaker!  She grew up tough!  Last I heard Peaker was in Minnesota.  I hope she is doing well, and that she shows up on my radar again.

After remembering Peaker's birthday, it occurred to me that I had completely let Leo's birthday slip by!  Yesterday marked five years since my goofy boy arrived, and he's been causing trouble ever since.  He even broke his halter yesterday.  In hindsight, it was almost as if he was trying to get my attention. Haha! 

Both Peaker and Leo have been models for my paintings.  Above is the most recent one featuring Leo (and his buddy growing up, Spider), an 8 x 16 oil on Raymar panel called "Reciprocal."  Below is on of my favourites of Peaker, galloping through the snow with her friend Maria, both of them yearlings.  This one is 11 x 14 oil on Raphael panel.  Both paintings are still available; if you're interested, let me know!

The next birthday is one I never forget.  Anyone want to hazard a guess whose that might be?  ;-)

"Fresh Snow," 11 x 14 oil on linen

Falling Back on Photos

You know it's feed time when the widgets start eating the fences...or each other.

I have been painting.  Really I have.  It's just that sometimes I feel as if I'm posting endless WIP updates on my Facebook page, and never actually finishing anything.  I'm trying to keep my focus to one painting right now, because it's been a WIP too long, and it's very close to completion, so I really just need to keep my head down and get it done!  I WILL be heading to the easel after I finish writing this post.  I think - or hope - a couple more sessions will see this one ready to sign. 

Brigitte and Rachel, two-year olds home to grow up.

 In the meantime, the ponies have been providing me with fresh inspiration for new paintings.  At the top of the list is the always-entertaining widgets!  It doesn't matter which version I have on the farm....the widgets are always beggin to be painted.  If I can just get to them all, I'll have a really fun series!

Monster, the old lady on the farm at fourteen!

So for now...everyone was being particularly photogenic today.  The only one I didn't get a pic of was Leo.  Don't feel sorry for him, I've got lots of pics of the boy, so missing one today wasn't a slight!

Star, with Polly peeking over her back.

"I'm sorry 2014, We Seem to Have Gotten Off on the Wrong Foot, Can We Start Over?"

"Hello, I put in for a transfer to Florida, did you receive it?"

That's how I've been feeling these days.  January has been somewhat of an uphill battle, through snow no less (literally, as of yesterday, as well as figuratively!).  I really don't like to whine about the weather - yes, I know, it's January, this is Canada, we get winter - but this year I admit I'm finding it hard to ignore.  Why did I stop spending winters in Florida, again?

I had a project for January - I moved Jubie, the last of the broodmares seeking a new career, to a boarding stable so I could get on her and better her chances of finding a new home.  Started off with a couple of days on the longe line, then we got hit with the first cold snap.  Sorry, but my craziness doesn't quite extend to getting on a mare who hasn't been ridden since she left the track in 2008 (and had quite the reputation) when it's -16 C (or less!).

Put it off for a couple of days...then the lights in the indoor arena weren't working. As I was getting there after dark, well....again, not going to get on said mare in the dark, thank you!  Next day I arrived while it was still daylight – of course the lights were also working by this point.  :-)

Jubie was a superstar, very sensible, no silliness. Yay!  A few days later....another cold snap.  Okay, the words POLAR VORTEX were being tossed around with abandon on the news.  There go a couple more days of riding.  Next – my stomach gets hit with something.  I think I've decided it was the medication I started taking for my bad ankle, but either way, it was a rather violent reaction that sent me crawling to my bed in between trying to manage the horses and doing stalls.  After about three days to recover from that, I felt strong enough to get back to riding!  Two days in a row, before....a return of that -20-something weather!

Swishy knows how to deal with the Polar Vortex.

By this point I'm just feeling beaten up and spit out, and desperately locking my eyes on that predicted high of -6 for Saturday the 25th.  Naturally that's when the predicted 2-4 cms of snow turned into about 20cm...so Saturday was spent moving snow, getting hay, and the usual horse chores.  I still felt guilty for not getting up at the end of the day to ride.

I did, however, managed a bit of painting, which, needless to say has been rather hit-or-miss this month, for no good reason.  When I decided on Friday afternoon to hit the easel, I really didn't mean for that to be literal – but yes, I managed to whack the back of my hand on the edge of the piece of plexi that rests under my palette - hard enough to actually cut my hand.  It kind of felt as if the easel was telling me, "You're not worthy, come back another time!"  Yes, okay, winter is doing my head in.  ;-) I decided to fight back and try painting with my left hand.  I did end up working with my right (dominant) hand, but it was an interesting exercise I should try more often.

Left hand....okay so you can at least tell it's a horse!

So, here we are, with a week left in January.  The weather isn't looking to be a whole lot friendlier this week, but I hope I manage to get a few rides in.  Perhaps I'll even manage to paint some more.  But who is with me, come January 31st....what say we celebrate the Chinese New Year and start over?  :-)

Back into the comfort zone....dominant hand...working title "Fire Filly!"

Round, Round We Go...

January first.  I think I've been here before;  it feels somewhat famliar.  ;-) I have to admit, I'm not one of those who gets all reflective and sentimental at New Year's anymore.  Time goes by so fast, and I am guilty of letting one year run into another, much the way one day runs into another.  When you work seven days a week, pretty much all year, it can be hard to slow down enough to separate things!

This was not the kindest of years, to many people I know.  While I'm also not one of those who expects every day to be unicorns and rainbows, I do think we aren't dealt more than we can handle, so I hope that means 2014 will balance things out.  In my world, there will be fewer horses in the barn, which better mean more painting, or else I'm going to have to face getting a job in the real world!  Driving into Toronto a couple of mornings in the last few months should have been enough to stress the importance of avoiding that!

So here we go...on to 2014!