No Rest....

I do actually need to post some painting news, but sometimes the horses just steal the show. ;-) Both Sheldon and Stevie were apparently out celebrating St. Paddy's Day yesterday, and in need of a catch-up snooze this morning. Freddie, on the other hand, was quite insistent that there be NO napping on such a beautiful day! He set to work on Stevie....


...and once he accomplished that task, recruited Stevie to help him with Sheldon. Sheldon thought perhaps if he played dead, they would leave him alone.


No such luck....but better watch it Freddie, Sheldon is grumpy when you interrupt his beauty sleep! ;-)

Happy New Year! (four days in!)

Well, we welcomed in the New Year in our typical fashion around here - as January 1 is also the official birthday of all Thoroughbreds in this hemisphere, my New Year's Eve ritual is to be out at the barn at midnight to wish everyone a happy birthday, and to feed carrots to those who will eat them. ;-) My three little boys are now yearlings, and not so little! I'm quite happy with all of them; they're growing up nicely and are even rather well-behaved! I had to laugh at the photo above of Sheldon - he looks as if he did a bit too much partying!


I had hoped to complete one last painting in 2011, but it ended up being the first one finished in 2012. This 11 x 14 oil on Raphael linen panel is of Jubie and her filly, Polly (who is now two, and in training....how time flies!). I'm also happy to report that the painting is sold, which is a wonderful way to start off the new year on the studio side of things. Here's to a great 2012 for everyone.

They're All Growing Up!

It's been kind of a significant week here at the farm. Last Tuesday Gracie went from the training centre into Woodbine - there have been plenty of days in the last year and a half I didn't think that would ever happen. There are no guarantees she'll make it to the races, but this is a big step. I went in to visit her this morning. She's just going to the sand ring right now, and working through things like tire marks and puddles, because you know, those things are scary! When the water comes out of a hose, however, it's all good, as long as she gets a drink first.


Gracie's arrival means there are three homebreds at the track now. She's next to her old buddy Billy. Next to Billy is Medz, aka Rupert, and then we have Maria, and Peaker (the oldest homebred). It was pretty cool to see them all.


Friday, the two yearlings left for the training centre. They won't start the next stage of their education till September, but it was a big step in that direction. They both looked so handsome in their shiny new halters with nameplates...which they promptly checked out.


Jubie's little girl is a mere two months old now, though she trains herself every day, tearing around. A year from now it will be her I load on the trailer. She is growing up so fast - I can't believe how big she is already! By then, we will have welcomed a new crop of babies to keep the dream alive. Maybe one of them will make it big!

The Duel

Things have been busy over at my Thirty Horses, Thirty Days blog, so if you want to see what I've been painting, take a peek over there! We've been blessed with some beautiful spring weather of late, and I've pulled out the fly masks for the horses. For the first time this year, I put them on the yearlings. Two yearling colts, to be exact. Then I started the stopwatch. How long before they got them off?

At first I thought they were going to disappoint me - I mean, make me proud with their maturity - as they grazed quietly, unaffected. Well, Leo walked around for the first bit like he'd never worn one before, with his head stuck high in the air - not the strangest reaction I've seen to a mask, but I thought if either of the two boys had a complaint like that, it would be Spider. It's Spider's mother, Clever, who put on the funniest fly mask-related performance I've ever seen, as she cantered around with her nose up, tossing her head periodically. Clever can be a little dramatic.


It was about 11:30am, then, when the match finally took place. Leo's mask is a new one, and it's pretty secure, so it was no surprise that in their little sparring session, he got the velcro of Spider's undone. It wasn't long before he had it over Spider's ear...


The Winnah!!! Leo shows off his prize.


And then, good friend that he is, he shares with his buddy.


That didn't last too long - the mask ended up in the dust, and Spider thought it was a time to work on Leo's, without success. Darn that new Velcro!


I have another of the new masks, which I'm going to try on Spider tomorrow - see how they make out with that. Just another day on the farm....

School Days!

Today I took a drive to Pine Valley Training Centre to pay a visit to our boy Billy. The weather has kindly warmed up for us, and the trees are brilliant right now - and you can't much beat the landscape up in King, so it meant for a pleasant drive. Billy even came right over to the fence to say hi when I got there - and I even remembered to take him his favourite treats, so we were both happy!


Billy obviously likes having a job to do, because he's being a star. Soon he'll get a holiday for a few months before starting back up in the new year. Needless to say, I snapped a few pics while I was there. He looks like he's going through another growth spurt, so he's a little all over the place right now!


Pine Valley is operated by Paul and Gemini Caine - apparently a website is in the works! I also got to meet Gemini's pony, the very handsome James. :-) Doesn't this look like a face that needs to be painted?

Happy Birthday, Babies...

While the rest of the world was saying 'Happy New Year' at midnight last night, I was out at the barn wishing all my crazy TBs a Happy Birthday. It's hard to believe the babies are officially yearlings now. Gracie celebrated in style with a show of her athleticism, and if I can borrow some Ben Folds lyrics again, "Who's got the looks, who's got the brains, who's got everything?"...that's our girl Gracie! As she was the one with the moves out there today, I'm letting her have the spotlight.


I'm getting even closer on the WIP I've been posting here of late - close enough that after last night's work I decided I needed to put it away for a day or so to gain some fresh perspective. Sometimes after working closely on a painting, we artists convince ourselves it is a disaster, and stepping back for a bit lets us see maybe it's not as bad as we'd feared. I'm hoping that's what happens with this painting!

Tonight I worked on my other potential Art Show at the Dog Show entry. I remember the same thing happened last year. I struggled with the first painting, but the second came easily and ended up being the stronger of the two pieces. I'm liking this one a lot better. There are good reasons for that, not the least of which this one is just more 'me.' I'm not going to share this one yet, so you'll just have to wait! In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the Gracie Show!

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!

Chestnuts Only, Please!

Last night I finally got around to popping over to a nearby Thoroughbred breeding farm I used to work at to take some photos. This time of year they've started turning out at night, and I just love the light in the early evening. Most of the mares and babies are back from Kentucky now, and sales prep is in full swing, with the first bunch leaving earlier this week for Fasig-Tipton Kentucky.

I took a few hundred photos (what else is new?) so just a small selection here. Honestly, there are more than chestnuts on this farm! Maybe I'm just feeling a little chestnut horse-deprived after taking Jay over to start back training on Wednesday. I still have Gracie and Peaker here, of course, but Jay has enough personality for half a dozen horses, so his absence leaves a big hole! The bunch in the first photo are some of this year's colts. Half of the group came over right away when they saw me, but these four stayed up on the hill grazing until I was about to move on to the next pasture. At that point, in true Thoroughbred fashion, these four came tearing across to see what was going on.


On the way to the fillies' paddock, I took a few pics of the yearling colts. This boy is out of a mare called Heavenly Tears (aka Millie), and Heavenly Tears is a half sister to Monster's dad, Tejabo. So this handsome goof is a relative of my silly mare!


I can't keep up with who's who on the farm anymore - I still know some of the mares, but can't keep up with all the fashionable stallions these foals are by! My retention just isn't that good! I need to take notes!

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.