When The Year Really Starts

The boys of winter?

New Year's never really seems to hold much meaning for me.  Okay, so I have to remember when I write the date that a year has passed (and I actually still write cheques, as well as keeping a couple of logs and journals for different things, so yes, I write the date often!). Otherwise, for the most part, one day blurs into the next this time of year. Get up, do horses, do more horses, hey, horses again, then a little break before I have to, yes, do horses once more.  I maybe sit down twice a day (not counting driving from one barn to the other), and hopefully eat a couple of times (though not necessarily sitting down!). Evenings are when I paint - not usually for long, but I've been doing a little bit most nights.

When the layups go back to the track, things finally slow down a little. It's that big trade-off, though -– horses leave, income plummets! It would be nice if people decided February was a good time to buy art or commission portraits, but it doesn't tend to work that way. I do have to take advantage of the time, though, and get caught up on, well, everything.  Painting, bookwork, farm maintenance, and so on.

The girls of winter!

We're almost at that time, now.  The layups will be going back very soon – the Woodbine backstretch opens mid-February.  I will be left with a very odd assortment this year.  I sent my one and only in-foal mare to another farm in November because I was supposed to be moving, and didn't want that stress on top of everything.  The move thing fell through (another story altogether!) and for now I have a stay of execution of sorts, but I'm not going to bring that mare back this close to her due date – the whole reason I sent her in November was so that she could be well-settled in her foaling environment.   I have last year's foal, now a yearling, and his mother, who is not in foal.  I have my "old" girl, Monster (officially sixteen!), and two off-track Thoroughbreds looking for new homes. Hopefully they will find homes soon, though that will leave things really sparse around here, until horses start coming back from the track, with one need or another.

Anyway...that's where things are at in my part of the world, right now! This means there should be more frequent updates around here.  I think one day on Facebook, I don't remember exactly where, but I committed to finishing one painting a month.  As the end of January is coming at me quickly right now, I guess I'd better make that happen! Stay tuned!

Happy New Year?

One of the WIPs spending time on the easel.

Stretch Drive!

"Turn For Home," 24 x 30 oil on canvas, framed.

I'm not sure if I written a blog post on the Equis Art Gallery Relocation Campaign or not - the last few months have flown by, despite February seeming to draw on with endless cold temperatures! It's been a year and change since Juliet started the gallery, and one of my favourite paintings sold through the gallery in those early months. Now, the gallery has grown to host an amazing collection of contemporary equine artwork, and Juliet is seeking to move to a larger, storefront space.

You can read about Juliet's story on the campaign page, and take a virtual tour with her through the present gallery space.  You might even catch a glimpse of some of my work.  Any token donation to the venture is appreciated, not only by Juliet but by those of us who are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be part of it.

I've donated my painting, "Turn For Home" to the project, and it's being auctioned on Facebook. You'll find information there on the reserve bid – essentially, this is an opportunity to collect a significant painting at phenomenal savings, and at the same time, pay it forward to the equine art world. If the painting doesn't sell at the auction, it will return to its regular, retail price.  There are many other pieces that have been donated available as well – some really beautiful work which really should be snapped up!  I only wish I had some extra money right now!

As things come down the stretch (of course I have to say that, right?) on the campaign, I'm going to throw an added incentive out there.  I will give you the collector print of your choice (pretty much any image I've painted is available as a collector print)....for any donation over $20.00USD.  Just be sure to mention to Juliet that you are taking advantage of this, and then contact me to provide shipping information for your print.

Thanks for reading – it means a lot to all of us in the gallery!

Loose Ends

Zippy, Lounging ~ 5 x 7 oil on panel.

I've been spending a lot of time glaring at my easel of late - knowing there is work to be done, but feeling as if I'm just going to make a mess of anything I touch...kind of a reverse-Midas thing, where everything turns to muck.  The oil pastel commission I've been working on is in a good place (by which I mean more than not in my studio, haha), and just getting a rest from my eyes before I put the final touches on it, so I felt I needed to at least be making an attempt with the paints.

My solution has been to finish up some studies that were abandoned somewhere along the road. Some of them were just done during one of my daily painting projects, so they got a day's work but I always wanted to go back to them.  One I actually started from scratch (how brave, haha).  One just involved cutting down and stretching over new stretcher bars.  All I figured I could play with, and if I turned them to muck, nothing much would be lost except a bit more of my self-esteem!  ;-)

At the top is Zippy as a baby - he still has that look of owning the world!  Another study from the same time frame has found a new home, with artist friend Elizabeth McCrindle – it's always an extra honour when another artist likes my work enough to want it!  I have one of Elizabeth's paintings hanging on my studio wall. You can see the paintings in a blog post she wrote when she received them - thanks again, Elizabeth!

Einstein ~ 10 x 8 oil on canvas.

Milwaukee Brew ~ 8 x 10 oil on canvas.

Two of the paintings I was playing with a palette I haven't used much, favoured by artist Anders Zorn.  It's a limited palette of ivory black, cad red, yellow ochre and titanium white.  Admittedly I didn't push it much, but it was interesting just the same.  Both are studies of Thoroughbred stallions – Einstein (BRZ), sire of Sheldon, and Milwaukee Brew.

The last one is the restretch - I did this one as part of my daily painting projects, from a photo taken at Saratoga.  Now, I need to get these up on my website, in hopes that they, too, will find new homes!

Ready ~ 10 x 8 oil on linen.

 Oh, wait - one more!  This is Victor, a little study I started last year and finished up while I still had the Zorn palette open.  Catching a breeze on a warm spring day - which I hope we will see again, eventually!

Victor, Catching a Breeze  ~ 6 x 4 oil on canvas.

Just a PS - it's interesting to note the difference between my usual limited palette, which was used on the racehorse painting, compared with the stallion and Victor studies.  Which do you like better? I'm a time and place kind of person - I have to shake things up now and again, and studies are a great way to try out new things.

Paint. Every. Day.

"Ask," oil on linen study in progress.

June.  Finally we are getting some seasonally appropriate weather.  It’s amazing what that does for the psyche.  After a difficult winter and a tentative spring, it’s looking like just maybe we might have a reasonable summer. I even wore shorts yesterday!

I was tempted to do another Thirty Horses, Thirty Days to jumpstart myself this month. It’s been a while, and I have enjoyed the ones I’ve done in the past.  What holds me back is, well, reality, basically.  For one, getting a painting done every single day with everything that’s going on at the moment would be extremely difficult.  Then there is the fact that I have many small paintings, and I really don’t want to accumulate another 30.  So, what I decided was to commit to painting something each day.  It might be working on one of the larger WIPs, it might be a new study/sketch.  As long as the brushes and paint make contact with some ground or another at least once, that’s the deal.  The other motivation for not doing a Thirty Horses is that I don't want to limit myself to just horses, so we'll see what else I come up with along the way.

Sunday, (June 1^st) I started a small oil on linen study (above).  Yesterday (June 2^nd) time was tight and I was literally picking up a brush at ten to midnight.  I wiped out what I did, because I wasn’t happy, but I’m going to accept that's the way things are going to be some days and just go with it.  Today might be another one of those days, but we'll see.  Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have a few new small paintings, have finished some of the larger WIPs, and maybe even have started some new ones.  Bottom line is, I need to get back into some kind of routine to get past a particularly dry spell. I should be painting almost every day anyway, so this needs to carry into July and beyond!

"Victor," a start that I ended up wipng off.  Perhaps I'll try again today!

 Just.  Paint.

Last Painting of 2014, and First Sale of 2014!

As I said in my last post, days tend to run together in my world.  That title is for those of you who differentiate! Above is the final commission I completed in 2103, a 12 x 24 oil on Raphael linen panel. Below is the first sale of 2014, made through a new gallery in Red Hook, New York, Equis Art Gallery.  You can follow the development of this exciting new venue on Facebook! A great way to start off the New Year, I think!

"Toss" is a 24 x 24 oil on canvas.  Reproductions are available through Fine Art America.

Wish You Were Here!

Hugo really wanted to come with us to Saratoga this year - I told him he have to might wait a couple of years to do that.  Yes, once again I have managed to get away for a few days to bring artwork and visit Saratoga Springs in upstate New York.  This year I have work with Terry Lindsey's Equidae Gallery in the Holiday Inn.  If you are here during the six-week meet, it's worth stopping by the gallery and seeing the great work there!

 On Thursday the first race was a steeplechase, and from there the usual great racing Saratoga is known for.  In a few days it will be back to reality...which isn't a bad thing, but it's fun to be the spectator for a change. 

American Academy of Equine Art Invitational at Spindletop - Lexington, KY

How many weeks ago now was it I said I had news? Here I am, finally catching up. It was a nice surprise to learn my painting "Strategizing" was accepted for inclusion in the AAEA's annual invitational art show. I was a bit stunned to be invited to submit for the show, as time and again I have been rejected from their juried exhibitions! I've done enough juried shows to know how it works, and to not take it personally, but I admit it was starting to get to me!

The show this year is to be held at Spindletop Hall in Lexington, Kentucky, running from April 2 (hmmm....guess that was Monday!) until May 26, 2012. The opening reception is Sunday April 15, 2012, from 1-4pm. If you are in the area, be sure to check it out! I only wish I could get away to see it myself, but, well, by the size of our girl Twine, I don't think it would be a good idea, do you? Maybe that will be my next bit of news!


As soon as the show is online, I will post the link, so that if you are not able to view the actual exhibition, you can enjoy it virtually. I know I'm looking forward to seeing it!