Cinderella, Cinderella...

Turning a cool photo into a painting...

Last year, Woodbine Entertainment initiated a contest to select "The Official Queen's Plate Artist." I did enter, what I thought was a beautiful painting of 2014 winner Lexie Lou, and was disappointed when it didn't make the top five – after all, painting Canadian racehorses is what I do!  Anyway, such is the life of the artist – we have to know how to handle rejection, because we don't always fit with that the powers that be are looking for. I decided to enter again this year, and went with something much more generic – a horse in the walking ring, rider up, groom leading her. I had taken the reference photo last summer at the races, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to paint it.  When they announced the 2016 contest – late enough that I'd been convinced they weren't going to run it – I didn't have a lot of time to contemplate what I was going to paint, and picked up the reference photo, already printed. I managed to get the painting done and entry made a week before the deadline, as I was travelling to San Francisco!

One of the photos I shot that day.

The notification date for the five finalists came and went, and I figured once again my work had been bypassed – though last year they'd sent out an email passing along that information. I went to check out the Plate website, and there was the announcement. Clicked through to see the top five...and there was my painting!  That was a pleasant surprise! Now, the painful part begins - the winner is determined by a voting process, and shameless self-promotion is NOT my strong suit. Popularity contests are not things I win. I'd rather see work chosen on merit than on who has the most friends. That said, I've been humbled by the show of loyal friends who have shown their support in my Facebook posts!

Janet and "Cinderella" – that's what the halter plate says!

Now...the title of this post doesn't mean what you think it might.  The grey filly in the painting, named Letter Fly, was bred by a friend of mine. Due to unfortunate circumstances, my friend had to sell her at the yearling sales. She ended up making her first start as a three-year old in Iowa, of all places. After showing little in those early races, my friend was able to buy her back and return her to Ontario, and she was christened "Cinderella" by the trainer's granddaughter. Here, she's gone from a cheap maiden claimer in Iowa to an allowance winner. She is sound and still racing as a five-year old, but when she no longer wants to be a racehorse, she'll be safe.

So, I hate asking for votes for myself, I really do. Cinderella, on the other hand, is very deserving of them! To vote, visit Woodbine's Queen's Plate website, and scroll down to follow the link that will take you to the  voting site.  There has been a bit of confusion in the voting process – you will need to rate the options given from first to fifth. I hope you enjoy all the artwork that has made the finals!

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.

Expectation

"Toss," 24 x 24 oil on canvas...one where I did stop at the underpainting!

Friend and artist extraordinaire, Jen Trottier, just posted a work in progress on Facebook (check out her Instagram account to see other WIPs).  It's very cool, but it's one of the comments (by another friend, photographer Juliet Harrison!) that inspired this post.  Basically, Juliet said she liked the painting as is. Had to "like" that comment, because I don't know how many times I've had a work in progress in the underpainting stage, and thought, "Wow, I really like it right there, I wish I could just stop now, and call it done."

So...why don't I?  I think as artists, at least as somewhat established artists, we have this thing hanging over our heads called "expectation."  We think if we don't do things a certain way – in our usual style, which our followers and collectors have come to expect – we'll lose our audience.  No one wants to disappoint the people who have come to appreciate our work, right?  So we push on, put out more of the same to get the positive comments.  Every now I'll share something different, and that internet silence, as I like to call it, is a killer.  I know I'm not the only artist who has contemplated coming up with an alter ego and letting that persona do whatever that one wants...marketing oneself as a completely different artist, and not telling anyone.  I know of artists who have gone ahead and done just that.  I've given it serious thought!

I liked this one at this stage...but "finished" it.

 

Expectation can be a real aggravation. I can run another parallel to riding with it.  I had the most brilliant lesson on Leo the week before last - it's the one where we ended up cantering that X, in the video I posted.  All riders know that feeling you get with an awesome ride.  I couldn't wait to ride him again the next day! And guess what?  He was a complete idiot.  Completely distracted, nothing was coming together.  Part way through the ride, I gave myself the proverbial smack upside the head and realized I'd gone into that ride with a certain expectation, and I was really disappointed as a result.  It was a good reminder that in the grand scheme of things, Leo is doing great, but he's still very green.  He's still going to have those days, and I just have to use those days to ride the horse I have at the moment, and help us both learn and improve.  Since then, with both Leo and Gracie, I've tried to go into my rides without having a real agenda.  And you know what?  I think all three of us are much happier for it.  ;-)

So, can I apply the same to my art?  It's much harder for me to start a painting without some sort of expectation as to where I want it to end up.  Can I give myself permission to decide to stop and sign it, if I have one of those "I like it just the way it is now" moments?  Maybe.  I'll work on it.

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.

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.

Getting One to the Wire, and Starting a New One!

This weekend I finished what may be my most ambitious painting to date - remember this one? I don't even remember when I started this painting, and I'll admit it had me intimidated more than once! It is, however, complete. Well, I haven't signed it yet - I'll put it away for a week or so and take a final look before I do that part, then sometime after the mares are done with foaling, it will be among those I take to be photographed. This one is 24 x 30 oil on canvas.

As a reward, I let myself start a new one today! I think my working title for this will be, "Not Here, Mom!" Billy used to make the funniest faces as a baby - I have a lot of really silly photos of him. Come to think of it, he still makes some pretty funny faces! Oh well, do boys ever really grow up? ;-) This one is 14 x 18 oil on linen. It's always fun to start a new painting, and you know how much I love doing mares and foals.