Winter Scotch - Finishing The Horse

I'm not a fan of getting older, but my body has other ideas. Since the beginning of the year, I've been exercising regularly which is something I haven't done for a long time. One day I do leg exercises and the next I do shoulder and neck exercises. These were all prescribed by the physical therapist for various injuries and the arthritis I have in my neck and shoulders. Unfortunately, this week I suffered a setback when my shoulders and neck pretty much seized up, and I could barely lift hand to mouth to feed myself. (that might be a good thing if it weren't so painful!) Lifting my saddle around to clean it was just too painful to even contemplate, so it still sits in the laundry room in pieces as does the bridle.

Clearly, a change in strategy is in order.

My horse is advancing in years also and has been lame in the hind end for over a month now. He had his second chiropractic adjustment on Friday and will soon be going on a joint supplement. I ordered a quarter sheet from Dover last week which I hope will help him to warm up safely when we ride which I should be doing more often, for his benefit and mine. He's now wearing his winter blanket since we've had so much sub and near zero weather of late, and I'm sure he appreciates that immensely, even though he gets it dirty by taking his morning roll in the arena after his breakfast grain. He'll be 24 on April 15.

Several years ago I decided that when Scottie can no longer be ridden, I will quit riding. At this point, I'm not sure which of us will give out first!

Yesterday, I was recovered enough to work on this painting again and managed to pretty much finish the horse last night. Although he could use some adjustments, I'm so happy with how he turned out that I'm debating whether or not to just finish up the background and call the painting finished. The horse looks just like Scottie, and this painting will remain in my collection no matter what.

It's time to start thinking of what to work on next.

Winter Scotch - The Horse

In today's painting session I tackled the horse and almost finished him.

You know how horses look like plush toys in winter with their long coats, especially when the fur stands on end on a cold day? Well, that's the look I'm aiming for with this horse. One problem I encountered was that in the reference the horse is dirty from rolling in the indoor arena, so that confuses his form, making it hard to tell what is highlight on the coat and what is dirt. So, I had to go with what I know.

There isn't much left to do on this painting, but I may not be able to paint tomorrow. That's frustrating. But, my saddle and bridle need cleaning before I go riding in the afternoon.

Winter Scotch - A Little Progress

I confess to getting side tracked from the studio over the weekend by setting up a business page on Facebook. From all that I hear, Facebook is the new place to be, even for businesses, and now I have my own presence there. Please take a look and maybe even become a "fan" to receive news every time the page is updated.

Today it was back to work on this one. I repainted the sky and then put in the distant hills and trees. The sky looks much better now that it is evened out, and it has more depth. The hills took some doing to get them just right. I wiped them off a couple of times before coming up with a design that works and discovered that less is more when it comes to the over all composition. Those faraway trees were done with a 10/0 brush and great care, and I'm pretty happy with them. I like painting trees.

It's amazing what a few touches can do. The landscape really came to life today, and now I'm ready to paint the horse and give him some life, too.