Horse, Flowers, Owl -- Days 5 though 9

 

 Cocoa in Motion, about 3.5 x 8", for Day 5. Day 6 I chose to create something less tangible -- a new game with my own horse; Day 7, I went walking and came home with Stolen Lilacs, below.

Day 8 was probably technically Day 9, and is titled Sleepless in the Kitchen. A portrait of my little owl kitchen timer, done at *mumble* last night while I was entirely too awake.  This and the Lilacs are in the same small book, about 6.5 x 6".

Fear is Unrelated to Ability

So I signed on to do the 30 Days of Creativity Challenge.  What you're seeing here are days 1 through 4.

 You'd think, for someone who makes art for a living, pledging to create something every day for 30 days straight would be a breeze. And you'd be mistaken. But, you say, amateurs and students have to fight with distractions, self-doubts, and fears! We struggle with the feeling that all the other times we got it right, were flukes somehow, and this time it's going to suck. 

 

 ...and that is basically what I go through almost every time I pick up a brush or even try to decide what I'm going to do next. 

 

Promising to create daily means I have to do something even (especially) when I do not wanna. And the "don't wanna" almost always turns out to be fear. Sometimes I'm just tired, but mostly, nah, fear.

So far this is what I have. Four small things, each of which was an uphill battle just to get started. Keko, the horse at top, was moving around; I'd never drawn a bird's nest, let alone in watercolor, and it was so complex and subtle; my inner censor screamed at me for the black horse silhouette because "isn't this cheesy" and all kinds of accusations; the pond edge was a complicated jumble of rocks and grass and how on earth would I make that look okay?

 Almost everything I do is that way. If you're learning any kind of creative endeavor and you think that you must not be very good or have much potential, because you still find it scary to try, just know that nope, your ability and your fear are unrelated. 

Jane, Not Plain, is Pony the 29th (I think)

Forgive me; I am from Florida and counting stuff is hard for us.

Not Plain Jane, 10 x 10" mixed media on cotton rag paper. I had a gorgeous couple of photos to work from for this, and the main thing I altered was, I turned winter to summer in order to better contrast and show off her rich red coat.

I have to do a recount (ha) of the Ponies, because some schedule shuffling and my recent travels have left me unsure whether my numbers are off. I know there's at least one more and possibly two.

In other news, I am planning a weekend workshop this summer (after Shedding Season ends) so those who are curious can learn how this is done. There are so many artists who ride, and riders who make art, I think we could really have some fun.

Here's the Mystery Horse!

Bold Brigadier, watercolor, pencils and pastel with touches of white acrylic, on cotton rag paper. I used a deeper tan instead of my usual Rives BFK, because I felt this horse would look best on a slightly darker ground -- the better to make that beautiful blaze stand out. He may be the only one for whom I chose to leave the backdrop blank.  Oh, and there is a lot of violet, blue, brown/red, and even touches of green in the big black stallion. 

 

Center photo above, the portrait in progress. This was with the first layers of carbon pencil and watercolor. Last, my reference photo. Brigadier is no longer with us, sadly, and while I loved his sweet expression here, the photo ... you really can't see a lot of detail, and if you look at his ears you'll notice the camera distortion that made one of them much too large. I corrected that right away. The other thing I altered, you can't even tell: I made his neck thicker and more arched than it actually is in the photo. 

Yes, I know it looks exactly the same. But in order to get it to look exactly the same, I had to change it. I think it was another perspective/distortion problem, but when I drew it accurately to the photo it looked far too skinny. This kind of thing is pretty common when translating photos into art; the thing that looks fine in a photo can look very wrong as a drawing or painting. So artists learn not to let the photo be a tyrant, and to trust ourselves instead. 

Hutton, Pony the 28th

Portrait of Hutton, mixed pencils, pastels and watercolor, 10 x 10". 

Hutton took me back to being 12 years old and copying horses out of Arabian Horse World magazine. It was strange and wonderful and made me feel like a kid. Props to Hutton's person for sending me a great source photo with afternoon sunlight on his face. The light/shadow effects this creates go a long way toward an excellent portrait. 

First stages of the drawing, above, and below is my kitchen-table work station at the house in Fort Myers (for those just joining me, I'm visiting family for two weeks, and also working).

What you see in the first stage is a terra-cotta colored Pitt Pastel pencil -- light in tone and easy to erase. This means that my process, the whole thing where I have to adjust and correct and readjust and correct again, can disappear once I've got the drawing accurate. The grey of the muzzle and black on the eye are carbon pencil, my second step on this portrait.

Here's the next phase. Technically phase three; phase two was the addition of watercolor in the shadows. I used a lot of blue and some violet, since that's what I was seeing in the source photo. Once that was dry, I started putting in highlights. This is a faintly yellow off-white, by the way. You don't know it in the photo, but it isn't the pure white that will be the final highlight color on his coat. By layering like this, I get a strong feeling of solid form.

The shadowed areas in the finished work are done by layering greys, blues, a violet or two, and at least two shades of pink, one lighter/warmer and one darker/cooler. And then I used carbon pencil again for the flea-bitten speckles, and watercolor for the background as the last step. I adjust the background so that it will be darker against light areas of the horse, and lighter where the horse is in shadow. This is a common Artist Trick and if you start looking at a lot of paintings you'll see it over and over.

"Oh, Fudge!" Pony the 27th

Fudge has this beautiful, rich copper coat. Rendering that was a really fun challenge that required  layers of watercolor underneath about seven different colors of NuPastel and pastel pencils. Various reds, browns, a gold tone, and even a couple blues. No, really.

First stage, above, I've got the basics all drawn in, using a terra-cotta colored pastel pencil. These erase easily and are a good color that blends right into the coat color of just about any horse. 

A bit later, I've added watercolor and some shadow areas, which are a combo of watercolor and dark pastel and carbon pencils. The watercolor layers help me establish light/shadow and add a nice depth to the pencil and pastel work.

Above is just before I put the blue/gray/pink shadow line down the middle of Fudge's blaze, to indicate the shape of the nose bone. Generally I put shadows in first and then work over them with the lighter colors, saving the brightest highlights for last. That's how you get a strong sense of solid three-dimensional form in pastel or in oil paints. 

Monty, Pony the 25th

The first thing I really noticed about Monty was those eeeearrrs. Big, broad, wide-set ears. I love them, both from a fun-to-look-at standpoint and because they always seem to come attached to great big lovable characters -- which, by all accounts, is just what Monty is. He might be a huckster, but he's the kind you can't help loving.

Say Hi to Hudson (Pony #22)

Hudson is my return to form after a couple weeks of hacking, coughing, running through way too many tissues, and being generally too worn down to concentrate on making good art. He's a Paint gelding and one of those fabulously good-natured, easy-going types with a very big sense of humor.

Beauty the Knabstrupper, Pony #21

Beauty, about 9 x 11". I used watercolor, pastel pencils, NuPastels, carbon pencil, and white acrylic paint. This kind of coat pattern is so lovely -- and takes a lot of work to capture well. What you see here is the result of layering light and dark  over one another to get the look of real texture rather than blotches of color stuck onto the surface.

Above, the portrait in an earlier stage, when I had just put down washes of watercolor to establish the base color of Beauty's coat. Below is last night, essentially finished but in need of a few touches; look closely and you'll see that it's missing the texture on the mane-braids and some of the coat pattern on the neck, which I added just after taking this shot.

Pony the 18th: Skye, the Curly Mare

I don't know a thing about Skye; I have only a couple photos. What I saw in her, though, was a sweetness and refinement similar to Fiona's, so I chose a very similar treatment for her. The big challenge here was to approximate her coat texture! Skye is a Curly Horse, an unusual breed and one I'd never drawn before.

And now she is the first piece of art I've completed in 2013.

How to Color a Black or White Horse

Today on Ride of the Christmas Ponies, we have #17, Rohan, above, and #16, Rhio, below. Very very different horses, but what they have in common is that, being black and white, they require me to use a lot more colors than they would if they were some variety of brown/red/buckskin/whatever. No, really.

If you've ever tried to paint something that was entirely black or white, you probably realized that just using black or white paint didn't work very well. This is because light bounces all around, all the time, and other colors are always reflected everywhere. Those reflections get most obvious on objects (or animals) whose colors are really neutral in themselves -- black or white. In order to make them feel vibrant and alive, I have to use purples, greens, browns, blues, all kinds of things you'd never expect. 

Honey the Appaloosa, Christmas Pony #15

Sweet as Honey, 10 x 8" mixed media on Rives BFK Tan paper

I enjoyed spending time with this kind-hearted girl, even as I knew that the photo I chose to work from was going to make for a challenging job. Correcting distortion is sometimes pretty simple, sometimes (as in this case) not. I knew it would not be an easy thing but I waaaaannnted that expression, so I went for it.

I love her eyeliner and her general feeling of softness.

Christmas Pony the Fourteenth!

Liza. I don't know a lot about her except that she is a warmblood and has this lovely rich bay color. She struck me as a very complex individual -- sensitive and refined but also really bold. I worked to find a balance in her portrait, between the WHOO HOO VIVID and the precision she seemed to want.

Lessons from the Christmas Pony project

First: I am loving this thing and so glad I decided to take the plunge. For those just joining us, here's the link to the Christmas Ponies -- what they are and why I'm doing them.

Me and my "Pony," Twilight, who is kind of large for a pony, but appropriately rounded. 

And since I've never done anything like this before, I am taking notes for myself for next year. Some highlights:

1. Start the project not later than Nov. 1 next year. Christmas animal portrait rush means that not everything will fit on schedule.

2. Remember that when you get inventive and do what each character seems to need? It WORKS.

3. Stock up on coffee. Very good coffee.

4. Did I mention starting early? And coffee? Coffee is vital.

So, yes -- for various reasons involving an unexpected last-minute rush of PLEASE I NEED IT FOR CHRISTMAS and a day job and a blizzard, not to mention my own need to get each portrait Really Really Right, I am behind schedule. That doesn't mean anyone gets bumped off the list. It just means I will be taking submissions next year beginning on Nov. 1 instead of Dec. 1. :-)

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying this so much that I am planning to do other series projects throughout the year. Maybe not one-a-day, since that would leave no time to create other work I need to make, but perhaps a series of ten [insert subject here] every month or two.  Goldfish, birds, trains (now that'd be fun), flowers, I don't even know yet. But I really love how many people have been following this project, talking to me, and having a good time; and I love how productive I am when all that is going on.

If you're enjoying this, then, I hope you'll stay tuned. There'll be more.

Christmas (Dog and) Pony #13

I'm putting the dog sketch up first, so that it will be my "thumbnail" image when I post to Facebook, and thus reduce the risk of ruining the surprise of the horse portrait, which is a gift for someone.

This is Fozzie Bear, the cute fluffy gent with the soulful mismatched eyes. He's just as sweet as he looks here.

       
And the Surprise Pony is Coach, who sadly passed away about a month ago. The portrait is a stealth job, and will be delivered tomorrow before the person who commissioned it has to go out of town for the holiday.

Ponies 11 & 12: Leif and Boone

Santa's Little Helpers. 9 x 12" pastel pencils, watercolor, carbon pencil, pastels, white acrylic.

This is a special commission, since it's outside the standard scope of the Christmas Pony project. I took it because:

1. FJORDS!!! They are so adorable with their stripey horsey mohawks.

2. I wanted an image for my holiday cards for next year, and this was perfect

3. ... I mentioned FJORDS, right?

I worked from a great photo sent to me by one of the owners. I'll link the farm name later, after I clear it with them.

Christmas Pony 10: Flynn!

I went and bought a new pastel color for this horse. The actual name is "English Red" but I think of it as "Feisty Chestnut."

Flynn is known for her can-do attitude and her boldness, which is why she got the energetic rock star treatment in this portrait.

Christmas Pony 9: Daman

Today's Pony is Daman. ... wait, did I say "Pony"? Hah.

Some horses can take a while for me to get a handle on, and he's one of those. I've met this horse more than once, and he's a tricky one, and I couldn't quite get a grip on how to tackle his portrait, until it hit me:

I needed to stop just trying to draw a horse, and go for drawing a rock star. 

Because Daman? Daman is The Horse Your Mother Warned You About. Tall, dark and handsome, charismatic and sexy, a real charmer. If he were a dude, he'd play lead guitar in a very loud band, get all the chicks and break their hearts. He'd ride a Fat Boy with a custom paint job, too fast, and when he got pulled over he'd smile and casually tell the cop where to go.

He's not a bad guy, really. He just knows he's famous.

Christmas Pony Number Eight

Her name is Fiona. I don't know much more about her, but she required a very light and sensitive hand as an artist, so I wonder if that's also how she is to ride. Such a lovely girl. This portrait is watercolor, Pitt Pastel pencils, Wolff's Carbon Pencil, and white acrylic.

Christmas "NO REALLY, I'M A PONY!" Number Seven

Everyone, meet Chi-Chi.

 Chi-Chi lived thirty-plus years and lit up the world of everyone around her that whole time. A bold, kind, impish little girl, she was dearly loved and is still missed daily, all this time after her departure.

I figured, if the Donkey from Shrek could be a Steed for a day, surely Chi-Chi could be a Christmas Pony. She seems to have more than earned the honor.

I left Chi-Chi's portrait slightly rough around the edges, feeling I ought not refine away all the energetic, beautiful chaos I felt was part of her character. Look closely and you'll see some of my sketching lines and stuff I only partially erased. I could have "fixed" all that, but it felt like Cheech didn't want that much restraint, so I let it go.