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

Holiday Greetings!

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, all my followers should be head over heels in love with me right now!!

Working two "regular" jobs has been eating away at all my spare time and my art studio is hollow and lonely...it did see some life in the past month for a few Christmas-y projects, so I will be posting those after presents have been opened on the 25th.

In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year!!

P.S. And let's all look forward to dealing with people like the first 288 involved in this Tim Horton's Christmas "pay-it-forward" event
And as for the guy that stopped it all by NOT paying for the next person's order of 3 coffees (even though his own 4 coffees were paid for by the previous customer, well, let's hope karma is a bitch :-)

Top 20 Finalist!

Great news! One of my Painted Pony submissions, PAINT FOR A DAY, made it into the top 20 finalists. Now it is up to public voting to pick the winners. Please surf on over to the voting page and check out all the wonderful ponies... of course I would LOVE to have you vote for my pony :-D

 Note: Unfortunately, TOPP was unable to print the little stories behind each pony. To recap my "Paint for a Day" story, please check my previous post

APHA and the Trail of Painted Ponies II

Here is my other entry into this competition: "Paint Jubilee"

This little pony is celebrating the milestone achieved by the American Paint Horse Association-50 YEARS!

I have tried to impart the "Jubilee" feeling by using a Western look with the old-style banners and bunting decorations, plus the wonderful type face that used to adorn their posters...and of course, red, white and blue, with some gold thrown in for the 50th!

I can just see this handsome fellow strutting down Main St., to the cheers of his on lookers!! :-)

APHA and The Trail of Painted Ponies

There is a new competition out at the Trail of Painted Ponies. The APHA has joined in this event and together they are looking for pony designs that represent both associations.
I have a few that I may enter, and here is the one that I personally like the best....

 

The title is "Paint for a Day"
Hopefully the title and image is strong enough to carry across the idea, but just in case its not quite there...

This little pony is a lovely BAY, but its young owner has an idea that she could be even prettier if she was a paint! But how to do that? With paint of course! So out comes the bucket of white paint and brush plus a little diagram to follow and here we go: a number of well placed "spots" and voila!

I think this design works on a couple of levels:
- the bay "pony" is very quarter horse looking, in demeanor and body type, which represents the early merger of the Paint Quarter Horse Association with the AHPA.
- the handprint is reminiscent of the paints' long history with the Native American and its part in the growth of the Western Frontier
- the interaction of the youngster and her very patient mount, gives recognition to the extensive support and programs the AHPA offers for youths
- the title was taken from an AjPHA Horse show which is an open, all breed event, including all youngsters, no matter what they ride, in a fun and friendly competitive outing.
- the white paint...well, it turns our lovely bay into the ultimate "Painted Pony"!!

The voting is now open. Click HERE to vote (I hope its for Paint for a Day!! :-D )

The winner of this competition will be by online voting, so please check back next week when I will be posting the link for votes. I would LOVE your support!!!