Order from Chaos

A Better Outlook for Polly

The paintings I've been working on lately have been very structured, organized.  My more detailed work usually goes this way.  I start with an accurate drawing; drawing is transferred to painting surface of choice, drawing is fixed with oil paint, tones are indicated, a complete underpainting is used to establish tones before proceeding to colour.  After such discipline, sometimes I throw that out the window and just mess around.  The result is often less than perfect, but somehow it helps balance things in my brain when the screws get too tight.

This little painting isn't complete by any stretch, as there is much more order to be established.  My life has continued to be somewhat chaotic of late, with yet more horse stress (though at least this time the biggest scare didn't end with losing the patient)....so yesterday, I started this, then went and rode my silly chestnut mare for the first time in a week. Funny how nice a ride one can have when one goes with absolutely no expectations.  ;-)

Tune in at a later date for the finished piece.  But don't hold your breath. 

 Experimenting with colour....

....then wimping out!  Will try to get some back.  ;-) As well as fixing the scary legs.

Keeping It Simple

Life has been less than simple of late, leaving limited time for painting. In a vain attempt to accomplish something at the easel, I did this little oil sketch today. This is 5 x 7 oil on masonite panel, and the horse is Society's Chairman, from a photo I took in the paddock on International Day at Woodbine last October. I had intended it to be a more complete colour piece, but I decided I like it just the way it is. Now if my life would just follow suit.... :-)

"Sheldon Sleeping," 5 x 7 oil on linen

I put the final touches on this little study tonight - I do love to do these loose, sketchy studies to balance out the more complex, detailed pieces I do.

Holiday Inspiration

I always seem to end up taking photos on Christmas day, and this year was no exception. Some of the photos were just funny, and some potential inspiration for future paintings. Come January, when some of the horses ship out and the workload on the farm is a bit lighter, I hope to get going on some new work while continuing the commissions still on the go. The photo above is of the two boys, the weanlings, and it's one that I just like as a photo, so I might not paint it.


The next one would fit in my "horses being bad" series. I think it already has a caption: "Sometimes life just bites you in the butt!" That would be Gracie, who has taken it upon herself to boss around Peaker!


Above is the Christmas commission that went to Ireland. This is an 8 x 10 oil sketch/study of Ozzie and Duke. I'm hoping the recipient enjoys it!

Welcome To The Planet...

I have to admit at one point today I stopped and thought, "Okay...what was I thinking?" Today was a good example of what I'm dealing with this month. I did anticipate yesterday that it would be a challenge to get a painting done, so I did my sketch last night. Hope you all don't think that's cheating! I really wanted to paint this one, and I knew it would be a little complex so it was worth taking the time last night working through the drawing, after I posted yesterday's kickstart painting.

First I'll give you the details on this little oil. It probably wasn't the best day to experiment, but for the first time, I thought I'd try to paint...on paper! I've always loved the look of oil "sketches" on paper, and this was my debut attempt. The paper is 100lb Bristol Smooth, which is key - the paper has to be heavy enough to support the weight of the oil. I've worked in oil pastels for years, so seeing some of the oil leech through the back of the paper doesn't concern me. I'm fairly light-handed with my paints, so the coverage is pretty transluscent. Surprisingly, as I look at the back of it now, there is no oil showing through. It's approximately 11 x 8, and done with my usual limited palette of Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Medium, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White. I worked with the white ground, whereas with a canvas or panel I would tone the ground.

The biggest difference between painting on paper and on canvas is that the paper is very absorbent by comparison. For one, that means drying time is much faster, but it also means the paint handles completely differently on the surface. That was the main challenge, and why this piece is, well, more detailed than I expect most of my work to be this month. I had to be very careful every time I put brush to paper.

Now, on to the story! While I would like to tell you this is Clever's new foal...it's not! Clever is still waiting, unconcerned. This is our boy Leo, shortly after he was born, February 9. Hard to believe he's seven and a half weeks now. He's grown up so much! When the foals are born I always find myself saying, "Welcome!" because they really are coming from another world! I joke that Leo made the wrong stop - he came out with that sleek racehorse coat, not very appropriate for Ontario in the middle of February. There's a song by Switchfoot that would be my theme song for today, and really a very good song for a horse racing story soundtrack, in my opinion. Check out the words and let me know what you think. Some of my favourite lyrics are in this song:

The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be...

So the day...if you don't want to know, feel free to stop reading now! First and foremost, it was beautiful! Sunny and clear. Spring! The vet was out in the morning to check Twine and Gladys to see if we might have some breeding to do anytime soon - and Twine is ready. Gladys had her first swab. I won't tell you about that if you don't know what it is - suffice to say we ended up sedating her for the procedure. I took advantage of that state to also pull her mane, because that's not her favourite exercise! Apparently then I was on a roll, and after taking a shedding blade to Monster, I decided I had to pull her mane too, so she wouldn't look quite as scruffy beside Glad!

They all got turned out, and I went into the house to see if I could get this breeding arranged for Twine. At first it wasn't looking promsing - the stallion is very busy right now, and the only time available was tomorrow morning, which I knew wasn't good for the van driver. Long story short...he's going to take her up early tomorrow morning, then she and Leo will stay at the farm for a few hours till he gets all his racehorses shuttled back and forth to Woodbine.

All right...probably more than you wanted to know. Add to all that my usual stall cleaning...I think it was about 4pm when I wondered why I felt so light-headed and realized I hadn't eaten since 8am...but that's the way it goes, most days!

Okay...enough babbling. Remember to check my online store at Etsy if you're interested in any of these paintings. I really like little Leo here....so you'd better act quick if you do too...he might not be there for long!

See you tomorrow!

The Other Half of the Entry

Today I painted Peaker's best friend, Maria. Maria only left a couple of weeks ago to join Miss Peaks at the training centre - I wonder if they were reunited! Maria was purchased as a weanling last December. She was a little backward, but the last few months really started coming together. She's a very pretty thing, and while Peaker gives the impression of being somewhat modest and innocent, Maria is the opposite! She has a dishy, almost Arabian face, and a mischievous eye.

This painting is 8 x 10 oil on panel. I knew my time would be tight with this one, as I had plans to go to the re-opening of the Art Gallery of Ontario this afternoon. I'm content with the sketch-like quality of this one. I've always liked the freshness of oil studies on panel, where one can see the tone of the panel showing through. Once again I was using the limited palette.

I did get some writing done last night, and I need to keep on top of that! Time is ticking!

Remembering that I'm doing these horses by age, and this takes care of the yearlings...that means the weanlings are next! I've really been looking forward to doing them. They have such irresistable little faces! Well...if I can still call them little!