Christmas Ornament-Arab Mare and foal

Here's a new ornament....

Hand Painted Round Wooden Ornament
Has burgundy background with a very dark green and gold accents. Shows a grey arab with her foal and is dated and signed. Measures 1 1/2 in. x 4-1/2 in. with brass screw eye hanger and decorative ribbon (not shown)


$30.00 Cdn plus shipping ~SOLD~
Interested? Email animalartist@justagallery.com

Christmas Giveaway #2 Winner!

Thanks so much for all the visits everyone...

The winner was drawn...Congratulations to Ines Giers!
Please email me (animalartist@justagallery.com) with your address and we'll get the Cheeky Pony ornament out to you

Next ornament giveaway will be posted on Monday 9th with the winner being announced on the 12th...stay tuned!

Christmas Giveaway #2

Here is my next Ornament Giveaway....

A cheeky little pony helps "adjust" the bow on his Christmas Wreath. This is a one-of-a-kind, hand painted small cylinder wooden ornament. Signed and dated. Measures approx 2 1/2" high.

To be entered in the draw folks, all you have to do is link this page's post on your blog, or comment below and your name is in.
Winner will be announced Wednesday evening at 6:00

Good Luck!

Christmas Ornament - Blue-eyed Paint

Here's another ornament, this time its equine!

Hand Painted Cylinder Wooden Ornament
Has moss green background showing a blue-eyed paint (or pinto) and is dated. Measures 1 1/2  in. x 4-1/2 in. with brass screw eye hanger and decorative ribbon (not shown)

This can be personalized with a name on dated side of ornament. Signed by me, the artist

$30.00 Cdn plus shipping
Interested? Email animalartist@justagallery.com

Christmas Ornament-Golden Retriever

For all you Golden Lovers out there!

Hand Painted Oval Wooden Ornament
Has dark green background, a beautiful golden portrait and is dated. Measures 2 in. x 4-1/2 in.  with brass screw eye hanger and decorative ribbon (not shown)

This can be personalized with a name on dated side of ornament. Signed by me, the artist :-)

$30.00 Cdn plus shipping   ~SOLD~

Interested? Email  animalartist@justagallery.com

Christmas Giveaway #1 Winner!

The winner was drawn...Congratulations to Kelly Lehman!

"Kitty" will be out to you this week.

I will have a few more giveaways coming up over the next few weeks, so everyone stay tuned

Christmas Giveaway Draw

To give you a taste of what is to come, here is my first Christmas Giveaway...additional ornaments will be posted for purchase this weekend.

This hand painted miniature wooden ornament is someone's for the taking...how? Easy! Between now and 6:00pm tomorrow night do one of the following:

1.) "like" my page
or
2.) comment on this page about this giveaway post
or
3.) comment on my blog

We'll draw a name tomorrow and Kitty will be on its way to a new home next week!

Ornament with penny to show size

Bottom of ornament with garland and signature

Back of ornament showing date

Working Hard...

While finishing up doggie commissions, I started to try and make sense of my messy studio...

One thing that I have piles of are Christmas ornaments: glass, porcelain, wooden etc. and have promised myself every year that I was going to paint some. Well, as space is getting to be a premium around here, this year looks like THE year.

Look out for cat, horse and dog ornaments to be coming your way and some giveaways here and there as well!
Here is a sneak peek for things to come.....

Pumpkin Patch Pinto

When I break from my commissions, I have been turning to my Painted Pony figurines...they have been keeping me company in the studio but its time to put the finishing touches on some designs and find them a new home.

First up is Pumpkin Patch Pinto! This fun pony is festooned with orange and white pumpkins, completed with 2 additional ground pumpkins. Finished with a number of glossy coatings.

This is an ORIGINAL one-of-a-kind custom painted pony, signed by myself, shipped in its original box.

 $125 CAD plus shipping.   Update: SOLD

Happy Gobble Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians! Hope your dinners were as good as mine!!

I've been intermittently working on commissions and something very "pumpkin-ee"... more in a few days, stay tuned!

Foal Study

Foal Study
4" x 6" Watercolor on rag paper
$45.00 (shipping included)

Here is a little foal study that I did this week. Available for $50.00 which includes postage. Email me if you are interested... animalartist@justagallery.com
To check additional available work, please visit my Daily Paintworks gallery by clicking through the icon at right --Thanks for looking!

Who Goes There?

"Who Goes There?"
6" x 4.25" Watercolor on D'Arches WC Board

I had to put this little painting aside for a bit...I kept on messing up my horses' faces!

Took it out this weekend and I think I'm calling this done! :-)

Hope you like it!

Hunter Challenge Gift Certificates

I was up at the Caledon Equestrian Horse Park last week dropping off some Gift Certificates for the OHJA Ultimate Hunter Challenge.
 
Congratulations to the 2013 Champions:

UHC 4/5 Year Old
Cordiano, owned by Nikita Walker, shown by Scott McKay

UHC 6/7 Year Old
Champagne, owned by Leigh Stewart, shown by Ryan Roy

Looking forward to getting together and starting portraits of these two lovely hunters!

More Progress

Here is some more build up on the little watercolor...more barn work, rooftops and getting to the horses!

New Watercolor Painting

Started a new small watercolor in between working on some commissions...
Here are a few progress shots; working title is "Who Goes There?"

New Commission - Boston Terriers

Here is my latest commission; a present for a very special "mom"!
Dakota and Diesel are two much loved Boston Terriers. They are lovable characters and were very easy to portray. The portrait was done in a mixture of watercolor and colored pencil on watercolor rag board.

Scarlett O'Hara

Scarlett O'Hara
5" x5" Watercolor on rag board

I am happy to report that I have recently signed up as an artist on Daily Paintworks. Here you will be able to purchase my work as pieces become available.
Currently at auction is a 5"x5" watercolor of a lovely chestnut arabian mare...a beautiful girl with a hint of attitude.

What more could she be other than an equine Scarlett O'Hara!

Starting bid is $50.00. Auction is live here until May 18th

Facebook Fancy...

I have recently got my new facebook page up and running and have made a couple of posts...Check it out and don't forget to "like" me! I thank you in advance :-D

Practice...Fun?

Painting, drawing or  any kind of creative endevour for that matter, still involves practice...I came across some of my older practice sheets and thought I'd share them so you can get another glimpse of what we artist (sometimes) do with paint and paper.

I try to play with my surfaces and my colours, make charts to see how paints react and what to expect so when I am creating a painting there are no really awful moments, but I am the first one to admit that I am not the best at this...far from it!  I admit it. I am slightly on the, er, lazy side.... I envy artists who can do this and there are many of them who do it very well, are very disciplined and it does show.

But what I keeps me coming back to those doodle sheets is that sometimes your get really nice little surprises...like this one.....

As you can see, I had a fairly nice little chart going, but kinda got bored....but the best thing is this little ankle and boot. Isn't it sweet! I love how the shape of the sole and the bend in the boot is readable with one stroke of the brush.  I can't usually paint that simple, but there it is: Awesome little surprise.


So I keep at it, with color charts and little vignettes that decorate the corners. But I do admit, Have referred back to these charts a number of times, so I must be doing something right :-)

Then there are some color studies. It is pretty neat when you can look at a composition that was done in different colours. You can understand a bit better how much that color impacts on what one is trying to evoke within a painting. The "push" and "pull" between warm and cool colours. Many artist talk about it and try to explain it, but until you get the lazies out and do some, well, I think that's when you have your "ah ha!" moment.

I hated this one (below) when I was working on it a year or so ago, trying to get different daytime lighting effects, but after looking at it now, I can see how I was part of the way there in making an afternoon lightscape and an early morning one. Not quite 100% but there is something there that I like. And that, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing.

Study for afternoon vs morning light

Now, back to my commission...can't show you yet. It's a present for someone!

Icelandics at the Equine Can-Am

Not much on the easel still means just a little...I recently completed an embellished TOPP Front Runner pony for a very interesting cause...

"The Front Runner"; hand painted mini portrait on base, repainted figurine, signed.

A few months back I received a phone call inquiring about an artwork donation. Now as many artists know, these requests always present a conundrum; there are so many worthy causes, but if we gave away art and framing and shipping to everyone that asked, we'd be more than broke! What to do, what to do!

Well, this one was pretty easy.
The call was from 18 year-old Sydney Horas who, along with fellow equestrianne Victoria Stoncius, were going to represent Canada at the Icelandic Horse World Championships, held in Berlin, Germany this August.

They were requesting donations to auction off at the 2013 Equine Can-Am in order to raise money for travel expenses... yes, they have to raise money.

No help from any bigwigs, Air Canada, Sport Canada OR Equine Canada.
In fact, Equine Canada has never responded to their many requests.
So much for a national organization who's mandate is to "to serve, promote and protect the interests of horses and Canada's equestrian community."
Guess representing your country overseas doesn't count....

Yours Truly painting away!

I was impressed that the girls were so organized and took the initiative to call, so I 're-created' a Trail of Painted Ponies Front Runner figurine, repainting, glazing and embellishing with a small head study on the base.
This is an artist's original, with a very low edition #54/2500, signed by the artist (me!) and in its original box w/ packaging.

If you are a TOPP collector, or thoroughbred enthusiast, check it out! The girls will be at Equine Can-Am in the breeds section with OnIce Horse Farm  showcasing their wonderful Icelandic Horses. Bidding will not only get you a fantastic collectible but help out Sydney and Victoria as well!

Hand painted mini portrait on base

Updates....

Not much going on on the easel for the last while; my blog can attest to that!
With some recent switch ups in my employment status, I am hoping to be painting on a more consistant schedule but in the meantime...

Christmas Commission
This is a portrait and an ornament commission that I did back in December.
This is  Buddy, a much dearly loved and very much missed Maltese.

"Buddy" Watercolor Portrait

Buddy loved to sit inside of bags/boxes (almost cat-like) and I painted him sitting inside an oversized shoulder bag with a special "Buddy" name tag.
And here is his little ceramic ornament:

Buddy-Ceramic ornament