I'll Draw... Wait No

Drawing turned into...

Life has a way of getting in the way.  I really need a better routine.  This year I started doing yoga/ta'i chi every day and meditating afterward, which has been awesome once I do it, but I get up and lie in bed going "Ugh... I don't wanna get up cause then I have to exercise...."   and waste a bunch of time.   Darn you, Facebook.  Plan B is get up and plan my day, journal about ideas I have or stuff I wanna do, and get myself fired up, THEN exercise.  And stay the heck away from my smart phone and tablet, cause they eat my day before it starts.  *sigh*   Please tell me I'm not the only one.

So once I got through that stuff, and breakfast, I went to the studio.  I thought I'd do some warm-up drawing, but you know what, I really don't like drawing.  I scribbled a little, said "the heck with this, I want to paint" and sketched a painting on this little canvas (5x7).  It's a little Arab mare that belongs to the same friend who owns the donkeys I drew a few weeks ago.  What can I say, I'm partial to Arabs.  One of these days I really need to get around to painting my adorable little Arab, Storm.   Pony break!

Storm, running up the hill to see me

*snuggle snuggle snuggle carrot*               Okay, back on topic.

Anyway, after I sketched that one I worked on the Tufty painting and got that huuuge dress and the pony and a little bit of skin (crap!  Just noticed I missed her feet...) roughed in. 

I'm gonna have to break up all that blue.  Hmm.

Today's work on Tufty

More Tufty videos for you tomorrow, and a little more detail on the painting.  Have a beautiful Tuesday, and stay warm!

Poniesdevon Rufty Tufty

Sketched in on the canvas

 Buoyed by the awesome experience I had this morning with dropping off the painting for Georgie's mom, I headed back to the studio today to start painting another beloved critter... this is Poniesdevon Rufty Tufty ("Tufty"), whose owner Philippa has spent bunches of time working with.  He's awesome!

Background roughed in

And, he's on Facebook and Youtube if you'd like to follow the antics of him, his cohort pony Blue, Arab friend Satin (whom I'd love to paint, too!), and his mom Philippa.  Check him out... naughty ponies make me laugh so much!  :) 

The Rainbow Bridge

Georgie - A commission.  For a custom portrait of your pet/horse, click the photo

Yay, I got Ms. Georgie done in time for the anniversary of her crossing.  I really enjoyed painting her, when I finally got my butt in gear and made myself do get into the studio and paint.  Hopefully I can keep the momentum going this week (and forever, but I know that's not realistic.

  Honestly, it's really too gorgeous a day to be inside.  It's 50 something degrees and look at that sky... after the cold spell we've had, what I'd really like to do is go play with my horses, but I really don't have time today.  Figures, the same thing happened the last warm day we had, and the weather man says cold again tomorrow.  Ah well, spring soon.  Maybe some plein air painting in my future.

 

So instead, I got out my pencils and did a rough sketch  (very rough... sketching is not my thing, something I'd like to change...) of superpony Poniesdevon Rufty Tufty ("Tufty") and his rider/trainer Philippa Davies, whose adventures you can follow on Facebook (click his name).  Not only does he rear on command, but he's learning capriole and other cool stuff.  I'll share  more as I work on his painting.  Here's the sketch:

I'm hoping to make this as magical as I think it has the potential to be.. we'll see how it goes!  The background in the photo is a beach.  Really a gorgeous photo, I'm so lucky that my Kate's Horse Edits contest winners had such awesome stuff to work with!

The BEST news is that maybe I have my mojo back, or at least my work ethic.  I'm hoping that I can get into the studio at least =almost= every day this week, even if I do nothing more than a henna design or a few scribbly sketches for practice.  Or a little altar painting. 

Revisiting Old Friends

I started this painting a month or two ago as the first in a series of alphabet paintings I was doing with Crystal Cook.  She did "Apple."  I did "Apple-oosa."  Ha.

Only I was never totally satisfied with it.  I thought the little munchkin needed more detail and that the background needed something.  Think so?

Actually comparing the two the few little changes I made seem to make all the difference.  I gave his eyes a little more expression, darkened shadows, defined muzzle and ears, brightened whites.  Not a lot of time, but a lot of difference, in my opinion.

Then, I wanted to take the swirly background I envisioned one step further and give him a henna impasto background... in case this is your first visit here, I thicken paint and put it in the same kind of cellophane cone I use to apply henna body art, then pipe it onto the canvas basically like cake frosting.

The result is this kind of nifty texture.  I was worried that texturing the background would make the subject not stand out but I think it really has the opposite effect.  Opinions welcome on that, though.

A is for Apple-oosa!   6x6 oil on canvas - click to purchase

And here he is, all done (except I forgot to sign him, oops!  I fixed that.)  This little guy is 6x6 oil on canvas, and for sale in my Etsy shop.  Just click the picture or the link to take you there.

The Dancer's Hand

I FINALLY got this one done.   I'm not sure what the big deal was but her right hand has been unfinished for months.

I'll be taking this one to the fair this weekend for the Cultural Arts exhibition.  

This is 24x20" on canvas, mostly knife painted in oils.

Then, I wanted to see if I could work on something more long-term and still get a little watercolor ACEO done for my 30 paintings in 30 days.  Short answer:  yes.  I have tried to paint a white horse in watercolor before pretty unsuccessfully and frustratingly; I'm a little happier with this one.

Impulse

6x6 Acrylic on panel, $40 --  Click to purchase

I wasn't entirely happy with this, mainly because the brown horse and purple background seemed to blend into one another from a distance.  So I darkened his face, added some detail to his mane and some highlights and shadows.  Much better, I think.  This is a new technique I think I will be playing with some more.

A is For....

This morning I logged on Facebook and my friend and art inspiration Crystal Cook had started a new painting challenge... one painting for each letter of the alphabet.  Go check out the one she did today :)

Since this isn't a painting-a-day challenge I decided to join in and play along.  Honestly, part of my decision was because the other one I'm working on can be B is for barrel racer.

This is A is for Apple-loosa.  Found this adorable image of an Appy baby. It was a tough decision because I'm partial to Arabs (and Andalusians) but I've never painted an Appy before and I thought it would be fun.  And this little guy was too cute to resist.  So, he's roughed in here, I should finish him in a day or two (it's 6 x 6 inches), then I can finish the one of Mahala and Grits. 

I don't know this lil foal but don't worry, I have an Appy story that I'll tell this weekend.  I doubt I'll get to paint tomorrow since the farrier is coming out to trim my horses' feet, which means I'll get to ride soon! :D :D :D

I haven't decided whether I want to include my horsey journey blog with this one, or make a different one on the site that's dedicated to my horses.  What do you think?

It's In The Details

Why do weekends get away from me so badly?

This guy is finally done. I was hoping to finish him Friday but I finally snuck in some painting time today.

Funny thing is, Russ's aunt has a horse she adores named Doc that she can't ride anymore and offered him to me. He's a quarter horse and that was all I knew. Well, they sent me pictures this past week and oddly enough, he looks quite a bit like this fellow. I'm excited to go out there and meet him some time soon.

And, just a sketch for the painting I'm working on next, which will be called "True Grits". There's a really cool story that goes with this one, which I will tell in the course of painting it, so stay tuned!

Settling In.... Right.

There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling.  It's why you were born.  And how you become most truly alive."  -- Oprah Winfrey

"Hello Friend", 11 x 14 oil on canvas, almost finished! :D

I'd say he's come a long way since two days ago, wouldn't you?  In case you missed him two days ago, this is what he looked like when I roughed him in.  (poor muley-nose..)

Instead of sketching today I decided to play with some watercolor.  Last night I was contemplating a few gifts for birthdays and whatnot coming up, and I had a strong urge to play with watercolor.  So yeah, despite my recent profession that I have decided THIS (painting horses, in oil) is what I want to do, I can't resist dabbling.  Ever.  Nor am I sure I want to.  So I figured maybe dabbling, or sketching, or playing, might be a good way to warm up.   So, voila:  dabble.  It's not done, I'm going to henna the heck out of it.  With paint/ink, not actual henna.

So, once warmed up, I got back to the painting I'm working on, starting with his neck.  You know what I love about painting this way?  I'll enlarge my reference pic, zoom in on it, focus on right-brained patterns while (hopefully) shutting down the left brain, and time loses meaning, and then, I take a bathroom break and look at it from across the room, and my left brain goes, "Oh hey!  That's a horse.  Not bad, either."

Painting horses is good for me.  It feels like coming home.  It feels like I've stepped into the flow.

So, this handsome guy (I'm thinking he looks like a Quarter Horse, what do you think?) is almost done.  Some detail to muzzle, mane and eye, and probably a few background touchups, make his skimpy forelock match his make better, and we're there.  Huzzah!

I love painting equine profiles, but I think what I'd really love to paint is the relationship between people and horses, especially highlighting natural horsemanship.  If you're a horse lover and you've got some photos you wouldn't mind me using as reference, I'd love to hear from you.  I've already contacted some great people I follow on Facebook who have graciously agreed to let me paint them and their horses, so that's where this journey is taking me next. 

As Pat Parelli says, Keep it natural.  Love to you and your four-leggeds.

What a Day

My refrigerator broke and I'm sure I'll lose most of the food in it. My cat is stuck in the crawl space under the house.

How do I de-stress?

Paint. But just a little.

I have no idea how to paint a white horse in watercolor. We'll see how this guy turns out.

For now I'm off to bed hoping tomorrow is a fresh start.

Full Gallop

My son Brandon, who as of this fall will be a fine art major, had a painting date today. It's so nice to have another artist to look at what you're doing when it stops making sense to you.

Anyway I had painted the background for this black stallion a few days ago and thought I'd finish him today.

I'm amazed at how different the light is in the first one, from a few days ago, and today.  I really need to get some good consistent lighting in my studio.

While I was working on this Bran did a nifty one-point perspective drawing.

This boy is for sale.  He's done in a textured knife-painting impasto technique on 11 x 14 gessoboard (Masonite type) panel.

I went and visited my own horses yesterday, now that I'm feeling a bit better from the cough that has plagued me for the last three months.  My girl Storm (Arabian) put on a show for me.  She went down to get a drink of water and then raced back up tossing her head, and ran directly to me, skidding to a stop.  I even got a picture, which I may need to paint -- it's not often I manage to get a decent picture of either of my girls running.  Abbey the chunky monkey doesn't run unless absolutely necessary, but Storm enjoys it. :)

New Challenges

I kicked around a few different ideas as to what to do with my art now that the 30/30 Challenge is over.  I thought I wanted to narrow my focus a bit (from completely unfocused to... something, lol).  I find that I don't want to restrict myself to one media... I'm enjoying dabbling in oil here, watercolor there, and a little of this and that in between.

What I DID decide is that I want to focus a bit on my drawing and sketching skills, so I was going to do some of that.

But then my friend Janin who did the 30/30 Challenge with me decided to host this One Billion Rising painting challenge, and, well, I am too intrigued to ignore it.  Here's what she has to say about it:

Thoughts and love have the power to bring about change.  For 14 days, beginning February 1, 2013, I invite every artist who comes across this challenge to make one piece of art per day leading up to V day.  It can be drawing, painting, photography, sculpture-- or any medium you wish-- to create a daily piece of beauty that celebrates femininity, women and dancing, as a way to increase awareness, empower women and girls to break the cycle of violence, demonstrate our global solidarity, and positively shift the world energy.

And I am all about that.

So I am going to use this month to explore femininity, and what it means to me to be a woman, and what it means to be a woman in the world in 2013.  Dancing interests me too..

So I started looking for ideas for paintings of women.  I flipped through my reference photos.

But I found this one, and it was perfect.  This is a Fresian mare and foal engaging in mutual grooming... which is the most friendly and intimate thing two horses do together.  This is about a mom teaching her offspring to relate to the world.  How to love.  I loved the photo... the little filly can barely reach mama's withers and her nose is all wrinkled up with trying :)

And for me this is the function of femininity.  This is our first and truest responsibility in how we relate to the world.  Giving of yourself, loving your children, showing them what it is to love and be loved.  I think that if we can do a better job of that across the world, then the violence against women that One Billion Rising is all about, will naturally be lessened.

If you're an artist, and especially if you've just finished your 30/30 challenge and are wondering what to do next, check out Wise Ramblings (Janin's Blog) and also the One Billion Rising website.

Surprise, Surprise

To my complete shock, I CAN do an oil painting in a day. This took me around an hour and a half. It's the other painting meant to be for the Creative Every Day theme for January, "Dark".

Painting in basically greyscale was interesting, too. It let me focus completely on value. I may experiment with more scenes in black and white to explore this further. I've also considered doing a full under painting in b&w with transparent colors layered over it.

(Wow, this is REALLY dark on my monitor.  I hope you can see the subtle dark tones on yours.)

Flaxen-Haired Girl

They say it takes 30 days for a habit to become ingrained.  I've been painting every day for about that long now, and I feel pretty good because this morning my day-job (medical transcription) boss called and asked could I get a file done STAT, so, I didn't get to do my morning journal-meditate-paint routine.  Still, I got the work done and went to the studio.  It's cool that it's becoming part of my day.

I thought I'd do some little ACEO sized paintings, playing with my new watercolor skills.  It didn't exactly work out that way.  The ACEO "watercolor" paper SUCKS for watercolors.  Literally.  It sucks up the paint instantly which means you can't work with the wet to blend much at all. 

I persevered anyway and came up with this cartoony-looking pony that is absolutely unlike anything I've ever done before (I am not that great with a line, so I tend to erase a lot when drawing).  Still, I'm kind of intrigued by the little thing.  It's definitely not perfect but I think, with better paper and practice, I could get the hang of this.  I'd be way better off cutting up the 5 x 7 Stratford 140 lb paper I was working with yesterday than trying to work with these awful little cards.  Maybe they'll be good for something else.  Markers?  I dunno.  Colored pencil maybel

For my next trick I tried a little blue and gold macaw ACEO.  I paint horses better than most things because I have been obsessed with them since I could recognize one in a picture and when I was a kid that was pretty much all I drew.  Birds, I haven't drawn or painted so much, but I do love birds.  I have a little Senegal parrot I intend to try to paint from life at some point. 

For a long time I was a veterinary technician at a clinic that saw small animals and exotics, so I got to work with birds a LOT.  Holding them for a veterinary exam is a challenge sometimes! -- especially macaws like this one, which are a lot of bird to handle and when they aren't happy they are ear-splittingly vocal.  Anyway, I had fun with this one, because they are such cool birds that I've spent time admiring them in detail... the little black mask of feather tufts on their faces, their wrinkly skin around their beaks, and their glorious, glorious feathers.  I have never owned a big, big macaw but my first parrot (not counting little cockatiels, parakeets and lovebirds) was a "mini" macaw (a Hahn's macaw) named Simon.  One of these days I want to paint one of these beautiful birds in vibrant oils, too.

Comfort Zone

This is what I'm definitely comfortable painting - horses (especially in profile), traditional layered oil technique, small-ish canvas (this one is really small, 3x3). This one has been in the works for ages, finally put the finishing touches and final shading on it.

Now to push the envelope a bit.