A Long Time Ago, We Used To Be Friends...

Brotherly Love - Sheldon and Zippy

Hey, how is everyone?  Who is everyone, these days, anyway?  I have been in hiding, of sorts, I believe.  It seems I have grown tired of Facebook, and the silly games over there –  meaning more the way that Facebook manipulates what we see, than the things people post.  It was fun, once upon a time.  It wasn't really so long ago we all "discovered" Facebook, was it?  Really, I'm not going to complain too much about the death of the public pages - we used to call them "fan" pages, didn't we?  I don't think it should come as a surprise to anyone that "free" wouldn't be forever. The thing is, it seems one would have to devote significant time, in addition to money, to make it worthwhile.  I don't have enough of either at the moment.  One day, maybe.  For now, well, I always liked blogging.  Perhaps this Facebook conundrum will inspire me to figure out a more consistent blogging schedule.

Leo and Gracie, hanging out with the Big Kids.

All is quiet on the horse front.  I go from taking care of the eight I have at home right now, to dashing over to the barn where I board Gracie and Leo.  Both are in consistent work now.  Leo has a part-boarder which is definitely a help.  I'm really happy with the progress both are making.  I had my doubts about trying to ride Gracie in the winter, as cold is not her friend (or maybe it is, and she's just exuberant about showing her affection!), but for the most part, she's been better than expected!

Donks in progress - Neddy and Jack.

I have been devoting my art time to working on commissions, and finally committing myself to practicing drawing humans.  Yes, you read that right.  I'm not brave enough to show off any of my sketches yet, but it's going okay.  Must. Improve! 

This winter has been much kinder than last, even if the past week has brought back memories of how endless it was last year.  I've noticed a couple of horses losing some hair this week - spring must be just around the corner, right? 

Happy (Rather Belated) New Year, everyone!

"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!"

Comes and Goes....

I'm sure it could be applied to me, but I was thinking that of Winter this year. We get a few days of unseasonably nice weather, then a few days of unseasonably not-so-nice weather (rain in January, not really a fan, sorry!), then a few days of deep freeze. I don't think I can remember a winter where the ponies have had to deal with bad footing in the paddocks for this long, poor things!

Gracie is heading into her final week of hand walking, yay! She has been remarkably good, though I've been doing my best to keep her happy. She has a pen outside next to Monster's paddock so that she isn't stuck in the barn, the deal being, as long as she's *good* she can be there. You'd think she understood that, because, for the most part, she's complied. I have to admit I quite enjoy our walks (other than those deviations from 'good' where she demonstrates her athleticism, not the best experience when one is on the end of a shank) and I'm hoping to continue them in some form even once she moves on to small paddock turnout.


I have been making painfully slow progress in the studio on a small painting I started last fall, and making plans for new ones to start. My working title for this one is "Guardian Angels," featuring one of Woodbine's amazing pony and outrider teams. Love how the pony is resting so quietly, but in the blink of an eye he can be off to catch a runaway or a loose horse.

My title today can't help to bring to mind one of my favourite Dan Fogelberg songs, if you'd like a musical interlude!

A Reminder of the Good Thing About Winter

Ah, February. It's the month people start to get really fed up with winter, and look to a groundhog for hope. Around here we didn't get any real snow until last week, so I don't feel too hard done by. There are good things about snow when you have horses - it covers up the ugly brown paddocks, and the horses always look clean! Add to that, I always have fun taking photos. So this will be a short post, with pics!


I'm still waiting for foals - I think Twine is waiting for Hummer to catch up. Yesterday Gracie joined Peaker and Maria on the 'limo' up to Pine Valley to start training again, and Leo, Spider and Billy shipped from Pine Valley to Woodbine. A cold week to start in at the track, so I'm feeling sorry for my friends in there! Galloping horses in this weather burns your lungs!

Day Five: Billy Blues

Today's model is Billy, who has made an appearance a few times on this blog! Billy has grown quite a bit since the last time I painted him, as a weanling. He's a yearling now, so it's probably not time best time to ask me if he's actually grown *up*! Yearling...Thoroughbred...colt...it's really all about fighting that growing up, I think!

This little painting is 5 x 7 oil on masonite, once again with the limited palette. He can have such a sweet eye, Billy, and hopefully I captured it here.

Seeing as I wrote a bonus post yesterday (c'mon...wild turkeys???) I'll keep this short. It was a glorious spring day today, but apparently winter is coming back tomorrow. I, for one, will be in denial about that for as long as I possibly can!

Thanks for checking in! See you tomorrow! And yes, you can check my Etsy store for Billy here if you'd like him to come live with you. Well...for the painting...I don't think I could offer free shipping on the colt! Not to mention what his owners might say!

Six Months Till Saratoga!

It's not really that unusal for me to be thinking of Saratoga this time of year. Let's face it, anything that distracts from the Canadian winter is a good thing. I think this time last year I was working on another painting taken from photos I shot on this same trip. Today I sat (and alternatingly stood) in front of Medaglia D'Oro again.

First thing I have to say about this painting is, I'm loving the Artfix linen. I've had my struggles with this surface in the past, but I think adhering it to masonite is making a big difference for me. I'll certainly be preparing more of these linen panels. It was so simple, now I'm wondering why it took me so long to try. I really didn't expect it to work as well, and as easily, as it did. This one is just 8 x 10, so I'll have to look at trying some larger panels.


Today I started with the horse, working up some of the shape with Burnt Umber a bit so he was reasonably established before I started blocking in some colour. I started loosely with the background, blocked in the groom, and then worked up the horse a bit further. I stopped where you see it in the second progress image. While I probably could have worked on it a little more, I was just feeling like I'd like to let it dry a bit before continuing. Because the horse is a little further along than some of the other elements, I'd like to bring some of the rest of it up to speed and that will go a lot better when things are dry.

The weather hinted kindly of spring today - though rain is predicted for tomorrow. It's almost March - the end to winter is in sight!

Saturday Foal Fix

Okay, I had another post mostly written, but then I took some new pics of the baby and well, I got a bit distracted! We don't ever get tired of foal pics, do we?


The little man now has a barn name - it's Leo. I think it suits him. I put him and Twine out into the slightly larger side paddock today, so that was a new experience. He investigated, then ran around a bit, then played, then jumped mom's hay pile...then he munched hay for a while, and what little sun we had disappeared. At that point he was reminded he's not really big on this Canadian winter thing, and thinks he should be an inside horse. Is he going to be one of *those* Thoroughbreds? Good thing he wasn't born a month ago when it was *really* cold!


I had a crazy day yesterday and didn't end up getting any painting in, but I did do a littel sketch of the colt. So here is some token artwork amid all these photos! This was done with water soluble pencil, just playing around a bit. Drawing and painting babies is such fun!

Progress!

Well, yesterday we got hit with quite a nasty storm. The horses came in early, and I got some good work done on a couple of paintings. I'm calling Gate Crashers done -- I just need to sign it -- and I made some serious progress on Edenwold.


I guess I forgot to mention sizes -- Gate Crashers is 8 x 10, and Edenwold is 16 x 20. Now it's time to get back to that commission, and to resolve my issues with the Haflinger. Today was a write off thanks to recovering from said storm, so I'm not sure I'll get to that tonight. I'll be lucky if I can stay awake till it's time to water off! Well, March lived up to its reputation, I guess -- in like a lion for sure.