Finished Belgian Oil Painting

detail "Meet The Green Team" oil on canvas

 To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I finished an oil painting today with the working title, “Meet The Green Team”. You may remember this painting from previous blog posts. It’s been around so long that it’s almost an oldey moldey.

I’m totally elated to finish this painting for several reasons. It’s been “under construction” for almost seven years! I needed to finish it to send to a show next month. And, someone is interested in buying it! She lives in the same state where the painting will be going to the show which should allow her to buy it at the show if she can make it there.

This painting also represents a milestone of sorts for me besides being the first major work of art that I’ve completed in several years. I really challenged myself with this painting by making some significant changes from the reference photograph. As you can see in the reference below, one of the horses is a bay and both horses are sweaty  having just finished participating in a horse pull. I wanted to paint a team of Belgians so decided to change the bay to a sorrel and elminate the sweat from the horses. I didn’t care for the rusty trailer so decided to change that, too. One of the reasons it took so long to finish this one is that I ran into problems because I didn’t have good references for what I wanted the horses and trailer to look like. It took a lot of revising to get it to its finished state.

reference for painting

Finished painting, 12x16 oil on canvas

Next on the schedule will be finishing the taxes so they can go to the accountant, and then it is back to painting again. “The girls” are waiting to be finished: “Glory” and “Girls Play”.

Horse Paintings Progress Report - Deep In The Uglies

Mute Swans in winter

“Ugly” doesn’t really apply to the above photo, but I thought you might like to see what we’ve been enjoying in our beach this winter. For the first time ever, my husband installed a bubbler in the water last December in an effort to keep the ice from shifting our dock. The neighbors did the same thing, and the result  has been a nice large open space of water. It didn’t take the ducks and swans long to find this open water, and they come every day to feed in our shallow beach area. I took this photo on a rare sunny day when the swans were here.

This graceful pair of swans had five cygnets at one time last summer, but by fall only one was left. Now they are alone again and will no doubt have more babies this coming summer. Their presence is a reminder that Spring WILL come eventually!

Tribute To Glory first layer of color

Meanwhile, I put the first layer of color on the Glory painting, and it is now officially in the Ugly stage when one wonders if the painting will  EVER be pretty. But, this is only the beginning and, rest assured, it will improve. I hope. So far I’m not sure I like the green background so will play with that in Photoshop to see if I like something else better.

Girls Play Too background color layer

I decided to do the background for Girls Play Too first, and this is my first attempt. It’s also in the Ugly stage and will need much more work. Look closely and you’ll see that I painted over the horse in a few spots in order to get the background smooth. After taking the picture, I cleaned the green off the horse. At this early stage, that isn’t a problem, but later on I’ll have to be more careful because some colors stain whatever you paint them over and leave a slight color tint behind no matter how much you rub or soak the area.

That’s it for today. I’ve now made the executive decision to not try to finish these paintings for the show as I had originally planned. There are just too many interruptions in my days to be able to paint long hours or even to paint every day. I also have to finish the taxes yet and get them to the accountant pronto. So, I’ll be finishing the Belgian painting and will send that with one or two older works.  Sometimes I get overly ambitious and bite off more than I can chew, and this is one of those times. I never seem to learn. Sigh. 

BUT, on the positive side, I have two new paintings well under way that I am eager to finish. And that is a very good thing!

Starting Over - Polo Painting

"Girls Play Too" Polo painting on Belgian Linen

 It never pays to be in too much of a hurry.

Here is my second painting that I hope to have done in time for the invitational show. I had to start it over because the first time I didn’t give enough attention to placement of the horse and rider on the canvas, and they ended up too high.  I was able to scrub off the line drawing with Gamsol and salvage the canvas which is a good thing because it’s Belgian linen.

The second time around, I took more time moving the drawing around on the canvas and even using matboard corners to check how the painting will look when it’s framed with the rabbet overlap hiding the edges of the canvas. I’m much happier with it now and think I got the placement just right. 

It never pays to be in too much of a hurry.

I used the same underpainting mixture on this painting as I did for the Glory painting  but applied the paint much more thinly which is more my usual method. The underpainting will now dry for a few days before I begin the color layer.

I’m using a photograph I tood two years ago at the Horse Shows By The Bay demonstration polo match. Most of  the players were Michigan State University students using a borrowed string of polo ponies. I’ve loved polo ever since my parents took me to a match the summer we lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when I was about eleven. This was only the second match I’ve seen and I thoroughly enjoyed it and took a ton of photos. More paintings will come from them.

Since I really don’t know that much about polo, I went online and looked it up to check that the details would be accurate for tack, the field and the rider’s dress. All of the players had some kind of face guard on their helmets at the match I went to which obscures this rider’s face. I found online that not all polo players use them, so it was eliminated from the painting. I also took some artistic license with other elements of the photo. What you see is kind of rough, but rest assured the final painting will be polished and colorful.

I’m really excited about this new painting and can’t wait to get back to it. Meanwhile, I’ll put some color on the Glory painting which will really bring it more to life. Time is short, and I must hurry along. But, not too fast. I can’t afford any more mistakes that delay progress.

And so it’s back to the studio for me!

"Tribute To Glory" - New Palomino Oil Painting

I’m somewhat of an expert on Things That Can Get In The Way Of Painting. Everything else always seems to be more important, urgent or compelling. Or, I avoid the studio because of that Fear Of Failure thing: wasting time on Facebook or forums or trolling the internet in pursuit of things I don’t really need but must find Right Now.

One of those Things the past three weeks has been a project to go through 40 years worth of business and household records in order to take them to a company that shreds documents for businesses. I suppose it started with the end of the year project to evaluate the past year and prepare for the upcoming year which meant going through last year’s records. It was necessary because we had run out of space for storing records!

Once that project was completed, I felt the need to go through my mother’s papers in an effort to consolidate them all in one box  which could be put away in the crawl space until the day comes when it is safe to discard them. It was quite a chore since some of them were pretty disorganized and scattered in three different places, but now that project is also done.

I’ve become a big believer in Feng Shui, and getting rid of all those old records and getting my mother’s papers consolidated and out of sight has gotten rid of a lot of negative energy in the house and especially the studio, I’ve found. Just for good measure, I took all the piles of unfiled papers off of my studio desk and put them in my son’s room to deal with later. Walking into the studio to see a clean desk has really helped me feel much more positive, hopeful and energized about getting creative again.

And just in time, too, because I have a show coming up in April and needed to get some new art done. The first piece I picked out was a photograph of a palomino mare which was my horse’s best friend when I bought him. She was also a favorite of mine. Like so many  horses, she came to the barn with some history. For some reason we couldn’t fathom, no one liked her at her old home. She  was starved for attention when she arrived, and we were happy to oblige. With kind treatment and care, Glory soon thrived. She could be a little ditsy at times but was otherwise a sweet gentle mare.

Although Glory was a Quarter Horse, she had a bit of a dished face, and this photo of her, which shows it, had always appealed to me. What you see above is the painting to date in the underpainting stage. She looks kind of like a dappled gray in this version but that will change when the color is added.

Glory’s new job was as a broodmare and occasional riding horse. Sadly, she died foaling several years later, and so this painting is my “Tribute To Glory”.

Horse Paintings: One Old and One New

Happy New Year Everyone!

Now that the hubbub of  the holidays has come and gone, I’m more or less settling in for the long winter and hoping to get going in the studio again. The end of the year analysis is over, and my only real goals for this year are to focus on artwork and getting more fit and more healthy. Maybe this year it will actually happen!

This past week I spent time adjusting the image of the oil painting above titled “Remembering Willie”. It’s a small painting of my childhood horse that I plan to use in an ad in Horses In Art magazine. Since I was having problems getting a good print out of it, I finally (after four years!) took the time to read in my Photoshop books about the proper settings for printing to my desktop printer and for working with images destined for commercial print publication.  To my surprise, it only took about a day’s reading and experimenting to grasp what the proper settings needed to be, and the image has now been sent off to the magazine for the Spring issue.

Solving this problem is a big load off my mind, and now I’m sorry I waited four years to take the time to tackle it. There is still much more to be learned about color correction in Photoshop, so I’m going to continue working with the books and the program this winter while I have more time.

Just before New Years, I arrived at the barn for our Christmas party to find my horse standing in the aisle surrounded by  humans with his leg wrapped up. He was lame again, feeling sorry for himself but definitely enjoying all the sympathy. Long story short, this time it turned out to be a hoof abscess and he is now well on his way to soundness. So, I’m hoping to start riding again this coming week. Oddly enough, there were so many horses lame at the same time at the barn that I don’t think anyone has been riding much this month. It will be very good to get back with my barn buddies and get my riding workouts in again.

I’ve picked out reference for a new painting and begun the preliminary preparations so that I can start on it this week. The subject is a palomino mare that was my horse’s best friend when I first bought him. She was a favorite of mine, too. Here’s an ACEO I did a few years ago from the same reference photo, and I was so pleased with how it turned out, I’ve wanted to do a proper painting of Glory ever since.

Also waiting on the studio wall is the Belgian painting that I really MUST get back to and finish.

And that’s all for today.

Accepted! Art in a Juried Show

Winter has arrived in northern Michigan with somewhat of a vengeance. We’ve been under a winter storm warning for three days now, with blowing and drifting snow. After a wonderful Thanksgiving at the family getaway, we closed the place up for the winter and have already battened down all  the hatches at home, ready for whatever winter throws at us.

It’s been quite a while since I last posted so today I’ll just share a few bits and pieces of what’s been going on for me during what turned out to be a very busy month. First I’ll share some exciting news on the art front, and then you can skip the rest if you’re not interested.

Last week I entered two paintings in a juried show at Artcenter Traverse City. The title of the show is  Portraits: People, Pets and Animals. “Winter Scotch” and “Yuri” were the available paintings I chose to take, and I’m happy to report that both have apparently been accepted into the show which opened yesterday and runs through the end of the year. Above you can see “Winter Scotch” as it appears after varnishing. Unfortunately, again the photo doesn’t begin to do the painting justice. Some paintings just don’t photograph well no matter what. I think I need to get a polarizing lens for my camera.

I'm very excited about this acceptance since it's the first time I've entered a juried show in some time, and it will be exciting to see my artwork hanging with some of the best artists in the Traverse City area. 

Since my last post I’ve consulted two more animal communicators and learned more from and about my horse.  I was very displeased with the second animal communicator because she interjected so many personal opinions about various things that I wasn’t sure what my horse actually said and what she added to. The third gal is a local woman recommended by my vet, and she was wonderful to work with. I finally got the final word on the saddle I’ve been using on loan for the past few months and Scottie says it pinches him in the withers so I need to start looking again. Drat!!

I learned one thing that has kind of blown me away about this whole communication thing. You see, there’s a possibility that I will be laid up this winter if I choose to have surgery to rebreak a crooked leg and have a rod or plate inserted to straighten it. Well, I asked the animal communicator if Scottie was aware of this, and he replied that he was and that he is worried about me and worried for himself that he won’t see me this winter.  I had told my barn buddies about it in Scottie’s presence a few weeks ago and he understood what we were saying.

Last night I had another moment with Scottie which confirmed that he can understand what I’m saying to him. I was explaining to him that I was going to wear my helmet because I was riding alone and didn’t want to risk breaking my head if I fell off again and that I might go away forever and cross over the rainbow bridge if I did. Immediately he became very agitated, tossing his head and moving back and forth in the cross ties.  As I continued to talk to him about how we both have to be very careful not to fall so that we won’t get hurt, he calmed down to his usual quiet self.

Well, I’ve gone on long enough for today. With luck, I’ll get to some painting this afternoon and then I’ll have some progress on the Belgian painting to show you.

Happy Holidays everyone!

The Green Team Revisited

I’ll keep this very brief today, but I did want to share with you the fact that I’ve finally gotten back to work on this painting which has been languishing on the studio wall for over a year now.  You may remember this painting of the Belgian draft horses at a horse pull which I started a very long time ago.

Having finished one small painting and started another in the past two weeks, my confidence was restored enough to tackle this one. To be perfectly frank, I’ve been dreading doing the trailer because my references for it are so poor. I’m having to guess about reflections and hope for the best. After two working sessions what you see above is where the  painting is now. I’m not sure about the reflected grass on the lower part of the trailer, but I’ll address that later when the paint is dry. I think a glaze over it with some blue will tone it down and make it more believable.

As I mentioned, I have someone interested in buying the painting, so I really MUST get it finished! In the next session, I'll work on the horses, and that will bring it close to being finished.

Last night at the barn I had kind of a funny moment with my horse, Scottie, that goes back to the talk with the animal communicator. I was saddling him up and tightening the girth. I was debating whether or not to take it up one more notch which seemed kind of tight when Scottie turned around and gave me a disgusted look. I could almost hear him saying, “Now you KNOW  I told you that I don’t like the girth so tight, so why are you doing it again?” I let the buckle out, and he was happy.