Horse Crazy Series #2 and 3

These are both of Darla, an adorable Gypsy Vanner mare. I had two fantastic photos, couldn't choose, and painted them both ... which means my series of seven is expanding a bit. :-D

Horse Crazy series #1: Spotted Saddle Horse

I'm playing a bit fast and loose with these, and having a LOT of fun. Canvases are all 12" square.

My reference photo is below; I may or may not go back and tweak that long nose or the star he has. Meanwhile, I'm on to the next one, a lovely Gypsy Vanner mare named Darla.

Horse Crazy Series, Set to Begin

You are looking at seven canvases, all 12" square, all wired to hang and with their surfaces prepped for oil paint.

Over the next three weeks, these will become seven horses, done fast and loose to capture their sense of movement and life.

I'll post each one as the series progresses. If you have photos of your own horse that you think would work for this, email them to me or link me to them online and I'll have a look. Do keep in mind that the paintings will be bold, loose, and fun -- and may look nothing like your particular horse. If I use your photo, you'll have first dibs on the painting, but no obligation to purchase it; I simply enjoy seeing other people's horses and getting to use photos I'd never see otherwise. 

The finished works will be for sale at the Horse Crazy Market on December 7th, at a price range of $99 to $149. 

Fox in the Henhouse!

This fun poster is now available at my Fine Art America page.  I love it a lot and may order one for myself, since I'm selling all the originals at the Art of the Holidays Sale over at Minnetonka Center for the Arts.

FAA has a lot of Chicken Art and I expect to add more over the coming months.

The Crowned Corvids, Continued

The Jackdaw, Triumphant. Fourth in the Crowned Corvids series, which I am enjoying more and more as I get bolder with my designs.

The Jackdaw is a European species we don't have in North America, and is considered a variety of crow. There are stories about these birds, going all the way back to Aesop, who told a tale in which the Jackdaw wanted to be King, so he picked up a lot of fallen peacock feathers and paraded around in them, lording it over the other Jackdaws and then trying the trick among the peacocks themselves. It didn't end well, with the poor fool Jackdaw outcast from both the peacocks' society and his own.

A much later tale from the 1800s has him stealing a jeweled ring from a Catholic cardinal, and being caught out by the Cardinal's curses. Again, in the end, he was humiliated and brought down.

These stories made me think about the idea of "too big for your britches" -- of people having an intrinsic "place" from which we mustn't try to rise. I know that there's more to it than that; it's simply that I think the "don't pretend to be what you're not" stories can be a good thing or a bad one, because who's to say what you are, or could be? How many people have wasted their potential because "people like me don't [become wealthy, go to college, write books, whatever]"?

So I gave my Jackdaw a souvenir of his adventures with the peacocks, worn with pride; and in my tale, he got to keep that small treasure he found, because God has a sense of humor and the Cardinal was rich enough. It's possible in my world to both be who you really are, and be better than you were.

Shameless promotion time: If you like these little fellows, you can find prints, greeting cards, and even cell phone cases at my FineArtAmerica page. They're a fun site known for excellent quality and service.