Ride, Ride, Ride!

Viburnum in Bloom

I spoke with my mentor about the still life setup I showed you in my last blog post, and he agreed that it was too ambitious for the small size of the painting (8x10 inches). So, I’m just going to use some pieces of fruit instead and that little blue pitcher. Tomorrow I’ll set up the new still life and concoct the medium mixture he wants me to use, if I can get the top off of the turpentine, that is. Don't you just hate those child proof caps?

I managed to get in some much-needed weeding this week, too. Yesterday I unearthed a baby brown snake which was only about 6 inches long. I haven’t seen a snake in a very long time, so this was kind of exciting in a good way. Snakes don’t bother me, but bugs are another matter.

My viburnum is blooming now for the first time ever! I’ve had it for about ten years, and it just hasn’t done much until now. It’s very pretty with the large clusters of white flowers.

We’re dealing with the invasion of the caterpillars again this year, and they can be really nasty! I cleaned a nest out of our flowering crab apple tree, and they promptly built another. I took that one down and seem to have gotten all the caterpillars that were in the tree this time. So far, they haven’t built another nest.

Over around the barn it’s much worse although the trees haven’t been denuded as much as they were last year. When I brought Scottie in from the turnout on Thursday, there were hundreds of caterpillars of all sizes marching along the boards of the fence and along the electric fence wire seeking out another feeding tree. Fortunately, they haven’t been much of a problem on our trail rides, and we just flick them off when they occasionally land on us. As long as they don’t bite or sting, I can handle them.

We went on another trail ride Thursday night, and I rode in the arena yesterday afternoon. I’m really going to make an effort to ride more often this year which will be good for both Scottie and I. A weekly sketching session of live horses will be excellent practice for me, too.

Before riding yesterday, I took some photos at the barn. The horses were out on pasture for the first of two sessions per day, and they were busy stuffing their faces as fast as they could. Normally when you go out amongst the horses, you’re mobbed by at least two if not more, but yesterday they were much more interested in grass than in a human in their midst.

I got some pretty good photos, too; even some to use for paintings.

This week will be busy because my kids are coming home for the Memorial Day weekend, and I need to do some serious house cleaning and meal planning. But I don’t want to miss riding or delay that still life any longer. It’s going to be a very hot week, so I’ll put off any gardening until it cools off.

That’s all for now. I hope to have some art to show you next time.

Tea Anyone?

“Morning Tea” setup for still life

No sooner did we get Scottie’s leg problem under control than he showed up with a swollen eye last week! Panic time and another call to the vet (after hours, of course). Fortunately, cold compresses and some bute took away much of the swellling, and he was then able to open his eye. Neither Shelley nor I could see any damage to the cornea, the eye wasn’t weeping, he wasn’t shaking his head or rubbing it, so we decided that either he was stung by something or he poked the eye lid with a twig. Now he is fine and another bullet has been dodged.

On the art front, I attended a gala gathering of artist members of Parkside Arts Council on Saturday night. We were invited to bring along some art, but the space was not conducive to good viewing. Hermit that I am, I didn’t know very many people at the gathering. But, I managed to chat with a few people for an hour before they all moved off and I became my usual wall flower self. Since the smoke from the fire was bothering me by then, I packed up and left. Hopefully, a few people saw my art and now know who I am and what I can do.

One thing I learned is to be careful where you take your art. The venue was an old ski lodge with an open pit type fire place. Since the lodge is really quite small, smoke filled the room, and I’m still airing out my portfolios and hoping the smokey smell will eventually fade from my artwork. Clothes I can wash, but not artwork!

I’ve been struggling to set up my still life for over a week now and have an arrangement that is promising. But now I’m second guessing myself and wondering if I bit off more than I can chew for this simple exercise. It might be time to consult with my mentor and see what he thinks.

Good! Another excuse to put off doing the  painting! I’ve included a photo of the setup above.

Back at the barn, three of us gals went on a glorious trail ride last night. It was even better than the last one since we were able to do some trotting and cantering  and ended up with a big gallop up the long hill to the barn. Scottie was winded but recovered fast, and there was very little heat in his injured tendon after the ride. We poulticed his legs anyway and turned him out.

Partway through the ride, I was thinking about how lush the vegetation was and that it was like riding through a primordial forest. I even wondered if we might meet a dinosaur (hey, I'm an artist; we have lively imaginations!). Not long after that we were going along a two track when the sound of a rattle trap vehicle approaching at high speed reached us. Quickly, we moved the horses off the road into the trees and waited for the beat up old pickup truck to pass us by. Fortunately, he slowed down, and only Elle, the novice trail horse, was at all concerned.

That was certainly a rude return to reality!

When I left the barn, there was a glorious sunset of orange, peach, gold and lavender which I enjoyed in bits between the trees all the way home, wondering how I could possibly capture such beauty in paint.

A Funny Thing Happened on My Way Through The Forum

 Before shedding out    

 After shedding out

I’ve been going through the forum of an artists group that I belong to, copying the most informative posts, and it’s been quite educational but very time-consuming. I read far more than I need to, remembering past discussions and the great comaraderie and friendships that we have developed over years of association.

One of the things we did regularly was share our artwork and ask for help. Time after time I noticed that artists didn’t always agree on what needed to be changed or added. What bothered one artist might not bother another at all. What some artists didn’t notice others did. I suppose that’s because we all have different training, different life experiences and are in different “places” in our lives on any given day. We are all unique, and even though there are pretty much well established basics of good fine art, our interpretations may be different and our visions unique to our life experiences and personalities.

And that explains why ten artists can paint the same image and come up with ten different and unique interpretations of that image. You can find excellent examples of this on the art pARTy blog. Every month a photo is shared and artists paint the same image however they want. Take a look through several months of pARTy images and you’ll see what I mean.

The other wonderful thing about this forum is that so many artists have been willing to share what they’ve learned even though we are all in a niche market and technically are competing with one another. That is not the case in many art groups. On the other hand, as evidenced by the pARTy paintings, no two of us paint exactly alike. And fortunately, what appeals to one collector may not to another collector, so we all manage to “rehome” our artwork children.

The gems of information I’m getting from the forum will be compiled into a reference work for the membership. You can only gain so much from reading how-to art books. Practical information and the experiences of working artists can be even more valuable, especially when sharing our experiences with materials and techniques; what works and what doesn’t. It saves a lot of trial and error.

Tux (retired TB dressage horse)

Speaking of what works, I made a huge discovery this week on the riding front which promises to make my riding experiences much more pleasant and fruitful. I discovered the full seat breech! In all my twenty some years of riding, I’ve never spent the extra money to buy a pair. The moment I plopped into the saddle on Tuesday I had a real Eureka! experience. I stayed put in the saddle and didn’t have to constantly adjust my seat to stay in balance. Instantly, I regretted not investing in these wonders 21 years ago when I went back to riding.

On Thursday night we went for a very pleasant trail ride. The leaves are now mostly out on the trees, so our ride looked more like my photos from the last blog post. Trillium carpeted the forest floor with white and pink flowers, and since we’ve had rain, everything was lush and green. It was chilly but we all bundled up, and the horses didn’t get all sweaty.

Yesterday was Spring Vet day at the barn. I was really happy to get a second opinion on Scottie’s lameness issues and a few other things. As we suspected, he tore a ligament in that front leg, but it’s pretty much healed now. He isn’t lame in that leg now but is off a little in the other foreleg, probably as a result of favoring the injured leg. The vet prescribed lots of riding, including our hilly trail rides, to prevent the injury site from healing stiff. Lots of riding and bending will also help the arthritis spot in his neck.

I was happy to hear the vet say that Scottie has excellent range of motion for a 25 year old horse, and his joints are in good shape. Scottie will be happy to learn that we are to do stretches before AND after riding now. That means more cookies for him!

The Peanut Gallery: Mikey, Ellie, Jack, JW and Cory

A Most Excellent Day

Last Fall's Trail Ride
Yesterday morning I met with my new art mentor/instructor, and we got right into learning new things. He reviewed with me how the Renaissance Masters began their paintings, showed me examples of drawings in some old books he has and also showed me some of his own paintings. He paints not only large but HUGE! Floor to ceiling sized paintings. One is a copy of a Velasquez which he did during his student days in Florence, and he urged me to do copies of my own if I wanted to.

I left with a homework assignment of creating a still life in the underpainting stage and a hunk of beeswax which he gave me. I’m to study the still lifes of Cezanne and Constable’s landscapes. Firstly, I have to find some white birch to make into panels.

Later in the day, I headed for the barn and ended up going on a nice trail ride with riding buddies, Ann and Shelley since Shelley had seen Scottie running around in the turnout just fine. We were out for a little over an hour, going up hill and down dale, and Scottie did very well with no hint of a limp. Coming up the big hill on the way back we had to stop a couple of times to let the horses rest, and Scottie was visibly tired but still not limping when we got back to the barn.

Scottie seemed to enjoy the ride as much as I did. Whenever we came to a two track offshoot he would stop and look up it and head for it as if to say, “I wonder where this goes”. He likes to be last on the way out, and no matter how many times you get him to catch up with the others, he always manages to dawdle enough to end up behind again. But, as soon as we turn for home, his pace quickens and he heads for the lead. At that point he can even out pace the almost seventeen hand Mellissa (aka The Tank).

The other thing Scottie likes to do on trail rides is eat leaves. He’s very persistent and bullish about this. Well, last night there were no leaves on the branches yet, so he ate twigs instead. Silly horse!

We had to come back by way of the long up hill because one of the neighbors now has chickens which are frequently in the road, and our horses are not chicken proofed yet. Shelley once told a hilarious story of how the horses reacted when a flock of wild turkeys wandered into the paddock one day. Pandemonium ensued. Apparently the horses thought they might be wolves in turkey suits.

On the other hand, these chickens are an opportunity for a photo shoot! I hear chicken paintings are quite popular.

I am so relieved that I can ride again and that my horse isn’t in danger of being permanently lame! I’m also looking forward to lots of trail rides this year. After my health crisis of last Fall, I’m not feeling nervous about trail riding any more. Not even Bryan’s Squirrel Trail Adventure Rides!

Appointment With Destiny

“Freehand Horse Sketch”

Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn’t it? It may not be earth shattering to the world at large, but it’s pretty dramatic in my little world. I now have the first appointment to meet with my new mentor, and I can’t wait to see where this will take me, artistically!

One of the things that’s been holding me back from art is the feeling that when I do get back into it seriously my art just won’t be the same as it was. I may not have created much in the past few years, but much has been going on in my brain which is bound to show up on the canvas or paper. The other thing is knowing that I don’t want to do what I WAS doing, but I don’t know what I DO want to do. And, I don’t know how to get there. Does that make any sense?

I DO know that realism will remain my focus, but I’d like to make design a much more conscious part of the process (otherwise known as composition). I KNOW that is one of my weaknesses. An awareness of design is probably the biggest thing I gained during those art school days in commercial art. It applies just as much to fine art painting as it does to good graphic design.

On the one hand is an admiration for the Classical Masters and their time-consuming methods of laying on multiple layers of paint to achieve a very luminous surface. On the other hand, I like creating something in a few hours and having something new to hang on the studio walls and to show to the world on a weekly basis, like those one hour paintings I did a month or so ago.

I love the clear, bright colors of the Impressionists but would like to learn to use more subtlety in selection of a palette. And I definitely don’t like dark, brooding sorts of paintings.

My new mentor was trained in the classical manner in Florence, but he also came of age during the time when abstract expressionism, pop art and op art were at the forefront of the art scene. My hope is that, with all of his varied experiences, he can help me explore and find my individual artistic voice while at the same time teaching me all those technical things about art that would take me years to learn on my own, if I ever did.

Probably most importantly I’m hoping to gain enough self confidence to be able to risk failure and enough discipline to get me into the studio on a regular, if not daily, basis.

Wish me luck!

Last Gasp of Winter

“Forsythia”

Even though it’s snowing today, I thought I’d show you one of our forsythia bushes that is blooming right now. It’s about the only new image there is to share.

The saga of the lame horse continues. As I write, I’m awaiting a call from the vet for an appointment to have Scottie looked at again and some xrays taken. He’s no longer visibly limping at the walk, but the swelling behind the cannon bone is still there. Shelley is thinking he pulled a suspensory ligament, and I’m inclined to agree.

Scottie is thoroughly enjoying all this extra attention. He was so glad to see me on Tuesday that he gave me big wet kisses on the neck and cheek and tried to groom me as I worked on him. He’s very good about standing still while I hold the cold pack on his leg or use the ice cup and he enjoyed the cold pack on his neck after I finished massaging his lump. Going along with all of that has been some thorough grooming and hair removal, and at last we’re making progress. He doesn’t look quite so much like a pudgy Shetland pony anymore.

All this time together without the work of riding sessions has been good for our bonding. I’m ready and anxious to get back to riding, though, and start some trail rides early in the year this year. But first I have to clean the saddle and bridle which are waiting in the laundry/tack room.

On the art front, I’ve talked to my new mentor who has given me his fee for lessons which is very reasonable. That was a big relief. We’ll get together one more time to sort of plan things out, and then the lessons will begin. I can hardly wait!

In the meantime, I’ve also been going to doctor appointments and dealing with yet another computer problem. At this moment I can’t send emails and can’t post much on online forums and am trying to figure out what’s wrong. Sometimes the letters type in reverse order which is very disconcerting. So far everything off line is working. If I owe you an email, be patient with me while I work to resolve this issue.

On Monday I’ll be getting an MRI of my head ( my daughter says it’s about time I got my head examined! Cheeky one that. ) Well, actually it will be four MRI’s that the ear, nose and throat doctor prescribed. I hope they will reveal why I can’t shake these sinus infections, what’s causing the dizziness and head aches and ear aches and why I’m hearing my pulse in my ears 24/7. Not that I’m obsessing or anything, but I would like some answers and preferably some cures.

Oh, all right! You twisted my arm so here’s another photo of my handsome boy. Isn’t he cute?!

Party Painting and Purple Wraps

“Bellator” 9x12 oil on canvas board - photo provided by fellow artist, Linda Shantz

Last weekend I participated in something called The Virtual Party. Artists are provided with a reference photo and required to paint their interpretation of it within a twenty four hour period. It’s amazing how different many of the images can be, all from the same image!

We were given five days to do this. Since I’d been sick and tending to my lame horse, I didn’t decide to give it a try until the last day. After a little over five hours of painting, I managed to produce my version of Bellator, a young warmblood, in his winter blanket. After doing the one hour paintings, this one seemed like a snap to do, and I’m fairly happy with the results, even though it’s not perfect. Maybe I’ll work on it some more some day, but for now it’s drying on the easel.

Meanwhile back at the ranch I was making frequent trips to the barn to check on my horse and to treat his leg. Some slight swelling had appeared in his knee since the vet’s visit and then some swelling of the ligaments behind the cannon bone. We began cold hosing the leg or icing it, and both front legs were wrapped for added support. With the help of bute, he’s gradually come around.

Last weekend my husband came with me to the barn to help. He’s not really a horse person and hadn’t taken much interest in my horse before now. In fact, he hadn’t seen Scottie in a very long time. But they managed to get along quite well anyway. We had Scott in the barn aisle in the cross ties, and a few of the other horses came in to the arena to see what was going on. John was standing at Scottie’s head, patting him and talking to him while I iced his leg. Every time John moved away to pat one of the other horses, Scottie started pawing. I told John that meant he wanted attention, and John would hurry back to him. The pawing stopped immediately. This scenario repeated itself several times and warmed my heart to think that two of the three most important men in my life were making a connection. John was even talking to Scottie the way he does to small children and our cat, and Scottie was eating it up!

On my last visit to the barn, Scott was much better with very little sign of a limp. He had purple wraps on, it was a sunny day and perfect for getting some photos. The first one below is Scottie who had just had a good roll before getting up from his nap. He’s still very shaggy because it’s too early up here to get rid of that winter coat. Snow and cold could return anytime for Winter’s last gasp.

The second photo is of Scott and his best friend, Mikey. I had turned Scott loose in the indoor arena, and he wasn’t quite ready to go back outside into the heat. After greeting Mikey, they engaged in a game of what looked like lip wrestling. Mikey is a Morgan with a lovely arched neck. These two never seem to tire of playing together but are separated for now to keep the lame horses quieter. I love the play of light on Scott in this photo and the way it shows off the arch in Mikey’s neck.

I think it will make a great painting.