This Painting is Galloping Away

This is Black Mare in Summer, one of my personal favorite canvases. Based on a snapshot I took of my horse, it's made of layers of oil paint and wax, and measures 40" h x 30" w.

And I'm putting it in the Live Art Auction at Schmidt Artists Lofts on April 25th.

This may surprise those of you who read my recent post critical of charity benefit art auctions. I'm so burned out on those that I almost deleted the email about this auction without even reading it. 

Glad I didn't. This auction is put on by a group of people who want to support and promote the artists while providing a fun time for everyone.

How rare is such an event?

I have never seen one like it before. I have been asked to give countless times. This is the first time I have ever been given an opportunity to sell my work in an auction.

So here I am, sending one of my own very favorite paintings to this auction. Retail, this is a twelve-hundred-dollar canvas. My reserve on it at auction is just four hundred fifty. It could go for that; that's the gamble I'm taking. If you love it, and you want it, here's your chance.

Dumpster Pony gets a New Home

I went to take my recycling out and noticed something odd in the big Dumpster. On close inspection, I found that this poor fellow was clean, dry, soft, and in perfectly good repair. He'd simply been tossed out.

My inner five-year-old was aghast. I could surely find someone who would love him, so I took him in, snapped a couple photos, and plunked him onto my Facebook page, where (to my surprise) he got more interest and comments than almost anything else I've ever posted. One friend re-named him the Velveteen Pony and another begged me to send him to her for her little granddaughters.

So Velveteen Pony will have a new life in Florida, after I draw his portrait. And I will continue dumpster-plucking without shame, because some things just shouldn't be landfill fodder.

Girls (and Goofy Geldings) Just Wanna Have Fun

"Whatchya Got?", 10 x 8" watercolor on Ye Olde French Printmaking Papier. I had this great photo of this horse, one of the smartest horses I've ever met and also one of the funniest characters. I'd grin every time I looked at the photo and finally I couldn't resist taking some time out of Serious Art Making to create this little piece. It was so much fun to do this ... I've already found a second Goofy Gelding to paint.

It's available at $125 for the original, and you can get prints and greeting cards here.

~Sophisticated~ Fine Art Photography

... or not. :-D 

When I've just finished a piece, I want to get it out there on the web NOW. If it's after dark, forget it, the answer is: Wait for morning. If there's sunlight, great; now the art must be well-lit without getting full of glare. Today, ^ this is how I solved that problem.

Purple Pony for Friday!

Today I have a drawing I did as a study for Bug Bite, in one of my classes. I was demonstrating how to use watercolor to create quick areas of light and shadow. Yesterday, I found the unfinished drawing and added pen, deeper washes of blue and purple, and some white acrylic for highlights. The result charmed me, so here it is. Purple Pony is 6" high x 7.5" wide, so it'll fit a smaller space and could be float-mounted in a 9 x 12" frame.

Available for $20 at my Etsy shop.

Isengard

Sixth in my Horse Crazy Series of 12" square canvases. Isengard is a Friesian cross and this painting is based on a photo of him galloping in the afternoon sunlight.

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. 

Horse Art News

Bug Bite, above, and Rocking Horse, below. Designed as companions to each other; the originals are both 22 x 28" oil on canvas.  They're currently with my favorite Twin Cities art consultant and may become available in December or possibly sooner by request.

If I still have them on hand, they'll be part of my display at the Horse Crazy Shopping Boutique on Dec. 7th; meanwhile, prints of these and a lot more of my horses are on Fine Art America's Equine Art page.

Yes, More Horse Paintings

Bug Bite, 22 x 28" oil on canvas. Available, $500

In reality, she was scratching her leg after I put salve on it for the bizarre scrape she gave herself in some mysterious way. Nobody ever could figure it out, but if you know horses you know that's like saying they have four feet; the equine talent for "how the hell did that even happen" injuries is boundless.

But back to the picture. This kind of thing is why I so often take my camera into the pasture. Usually I get nothing worth using, but sometimes there's a moment when I can catch something a little beyond "pretty horse" and more like their characters. Those are the photos I use for art.

This painting is available until Monday the 14th, when I'll take it to an interior designer who may or may not purchase it for her client. I can't predict that outcome, so if you love it, snap it up (remember, artists do layaway). As usual, I've also made prints available on Fine Art America -- a fun site I recommend checking out; there's a lot of fantastic art there.

Northbound and Southbound

These were designed and painted as a pair, both 20 x 16". They're a little different -- drawn in various pencils on basswood panels, then coated in translucent wax medium and painted with a wax medium/oil paint mixture. The grain of the wood is one of the things that made me buy the panels in the first place, so I left some areas with only the translucent wax coating, allowing that natural texture to contribute to the paintings.

They're priced at $300 each/$575 for the pair, and prints are available here at my Fine Art America page.

My Kingdom for a Horse

Flying Duchess, 20 x 20" oil on canvas, available, $500. Fine reproduction prints start at $17 on paper, $42 on canvas.

This is a painting I'd been meaning to create for months -- and I finally did it because I had committed to a show and I had a deadline.

The show is called My Kingdom for a Horse, and opens Saturday, 10/5, from 4 to 9 pm at the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery.  I'm one of 18 artists who was invited to exhibit, and it's been a real honor to be chosen.

The heat isn't off, though! Because now I'm getting ready, and still making art, for Saint Paul Art Crawl -- which begins Friday at 6.  I'm a guest artist at J.A. Geiger Studio where a lot of fun events will be going on for Josephine Geiger's 10th Anniversary celebration.

The notion of deadlines as bad things, as stress and restriction and everything art should avoid, is in my experience all wrong. I seek them out, because they cause me to become productive and creative in new ways. The pressure overcomes the other fears that go along with the creative process; when there's a deadline, perfectionism has to step out of the way.

The Big Mare, Finished

This was, more than anything else, an exercise in knowing when to hit the brakes. I love color and contrast so much ...

One of my college professors taught us about Martini Syndrome, which is what happens when you're painting and you do a little bit of something and it. Looks. Amazing. And so you figure, if a little is that good, you need a LOT MORE. And then it turns out, no, you really, really didn't. 

Art on the Easel ... and on the Floor.

This is a pretty large canvas, 40" h x 30" w.  Based on a snapshot of my Twilight looking rather elegant, short-legged Percheron that she is.  These three shots show the progression from first stages of sketching and very thin washes of solvent/oil paint, to working out some of the "background" composition.

Above, what the painting looks like as I type this post. I've got a good sense of solid form and some depth happening, and from here on out the challenge will be to finish the piece without overworking and killing it. I like the looseness and want to keep that.

Meanwhile, on the floor beside the easel, I've got a composition laid out for a salvage piece in black and white. I have to paint some of these elements, assemble them all, and then create other pieces to add. This is feeling more and more like part of the Crows series, so expect there to be black birds involved.

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".

"Wait, Come Back!" (Portrait of Blue)

 

 

Blue is a mostly-Arabian gelding who's one of the herd where my mare lives. He's a bright, sensible fellow with one of the most endearing quirks I've ever seen: When he wants his person to stick around, play with him or just hang out and pay attention to him, this is how he asks. The turned head and the one front foot picked up daintily.

It's so characteristic that I was asked to use it for a portrait, so we got some snapshots and this is the result.  I couldn't be happier; I love adding something so unusual -- and so charming -- to my portfolio.

Watercolor Pony Sketch

A Streak of Paint, 10 x 8" watercolor and pencils on cotton rag paper

This darling pony mare belongs to a friend of mine and is currently without a name. She's half Arabian, half Pinto pony, and yes, she really does have that tiny muzzle, those huge eyes, all that impossible fairy-tale-illustration stuff you might thing I exaggerated.

Her owner took the photo I used for this sketch. The art required about 30 minutes total; that's because today was a good day, and the profile view is pretty simple (well, it is is you're me and you've been drawing horses since you were ten).

Pony's owner has spoken for this piece, but if you'd like one similar to it, come see me at Saint Paul Art Crawl and bring your photos with you. I'll be sketching animals on site.

Late to the Pony Party, #30, Lad the Appaloosa

I think it was his softness that actually gave me so much difficulty with Lad. I mean, I did have to correct for lens distortion that had stretched out his nose in the source image, but still -- everything about him was so soft around the edges that it was really challenging to find and define the structures of his head.

Of course, the thick pink halter he was wearing in the pictures didn't help either. :-D I chose to remove that, guessing it was a hand-me-down from an older sister or something.

The softness is what I love about this horse, though. It's so clear how kind and sweet he is.

Easter

With my family all over 1,000 miles away, I'm not doing anything official for Easter. I'm going to the barn, even though last night's session was a mess: an over-emotional, fearful horse and myself feeling less than competent to help her. I probably screwed up. But if I want to be better today, I have to be okay with that, and okay with the chance that I'll screw up again.

Acceptance and forgiveness are what it takes to try anything again, I think -- no matter what faith we have or don't have. Strangely, most of us will forgive other people's blunders, while we hold grudges against ourselves for every woulda, coulda, shoulda. But those scorecards against myself have never done me any good, only kept me paralyzed and stuck.

Which is why, when I found this graffiti on a Minneapolis mail slot, I took a photo. I need the reminder sometimes.

Happy Easter, everyone.