My Biggest Sale Ever!

SOLD! "Breezing By" 

I’m going to make this a quick one today since I’m working on taxes and hope to have them finished and off to the accountant by tomorrow. 

I had an unexpected surprise earlier this month with the sale of two of my artworks to a single collector in Oregon. This sale was particularly gratifying and surprising because I haven’t done much advertising or marketing for the past two years and haven’t been able to keep my website updated since getting a new computer and all new software last summer. Consequently, I haven’t sold much of anything in the past two years. Not to mention the fact that I haven’t been painting much. It is also the largest sale of artwork that I've had to date!

“Breezing By” and “Kentucky Dreamer” are the two that sold, and they are two of my favorites, so I’m happy that they have a new home in Oregon where they reside with artworks by other equine artists. It was also nice to have a litte conversation with the new collector since my experience in the past has been that  buyers sometimes don’t communicate with the artist at all except for the basics of “how much?” and “how do I pay you?”. 

SOLD! "Kentucky Dreamer"

We’ve been having unseasonably, record-breaking high temperatures here in northwest Michigan this past week, and my horse has been suffering because of temps in the 80's. He grew a very long, thick coat this winter in spite of being blanketed much of the time, so yesterday I took pity on him and clipped him. He got a high trace clip which should keep him from getting over heated while we wait for him to shed out. I also  clipped the long hairs along the jawline and shortened his mane by about 3-4 inches. I’m posting here the before and after photos I took yesterday. 

Scottie Before Clipping

Scottie After Clipping

He looks pretty scruffy at the moment because 1) I’m not skilled in clipping horses, 2) my clipper blades were getting dull and 3) Scottie ran out of patience for the whole procedure. I had intended to do just a gross job at first to be sure I got all the way around him and then go back and tidy up, but the blades and Scottie’s patience ran out before I had a chance to. So, I’ll finish up tomorrow or whenever I figure out how to change blades. 

The pot belly is partially because he still has some long hair on his belly. 

I took a few photos out in the pasture yesterday also and managed to get some shots of the mini who lives next door, so that was a real bonus of my trip to the barn. There's definitely a painting or two amongst them. 

And now, back to those pesky taxes. 

The Winter That Almost Wasn't

Winter Sunset 2012

Is it too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year? Perhaps Happy St. Patrick’s Day would be more appropriate. 

I’ve been quite busy since last posting in the Fall but didn’t want any more time to pass before returning to the blogosphere. So, here goes a short one. 

I spent quite a bit of time going through our Christmas decorations in December now that they are all conveniently accessible in the attic. As a result, we had more decorations around the house, and it did look nice if I do say so. Another big project I accomplished was organizing all of my Christmas village pieces and inventorying them. They are now also conveniently packed away for easy access. I did a major setup this year, and it also looked pretty smashing. We all really enjoyed it. Next year I will work on giving it a more appropriate background, but it was still lovely as it was. I’ve shared two views of it for you to enjoy, too. 

Christmas Village 2011

Christmas Village 2011 Note all the horses

We’ve had some spectacular sunsets in the past few months, and I’m sharing one of those, too. 

As for this winter, it was almost The Winter That Wasn’t. Until this past weekend when we got walloped by Mother Nature here in northern Michigan with a very wet snow that took down many power lines. We lost power for two and a half days but managed to survive thanks to our generator and wood stove. The generator gave out Sunday morning, so we went without power for 24 hours but thankfully all the contents of the freezer and frig survived. There are many people who still have no power, so we are very thankful not to be among them. 

After the big March storm, a wintery fairyland

I haven’t taken any photos at the barn lately because it’s usually getting dark by the time I get there. We have all been riding fairly regularly, and Scottie is doing well on his new supplements. That makes me very happy and relieved. Him, too, I’m sure. 

Since I’ve been working on taxes and so forth, no artwork has gotten done, but I hope that will change next week. I’ve signed up for a fundamentals of painting class at the arts council gallery in Bellaire and am very much looking forward to it. The instructor is a man who was classically trained in Florence, Italy years ago, so he will have much knowledge to impart. 

I’ve also signed up for a beginners class in acrylics and hope they get enough students to hold it. It’s been many years since I worked in that medium, and I have no memory of how to handle it. 

That’s it for today. I will try to get back on a weekly schedule of posting but must put priority on those pesky taxes for now.