February 18 - My Horse as a Muse

Backlighting is such fun, especially when I can quickly lay in a painting and know what values to use, and how to energize that flat surface to create something that engages the viewer. Here is a quick study of my mare Raindance, lit form the right side as the sun heads toward the horizon. The light on her tail and mane captivated my senses, and the blue of the sky reflected from her back was the icing on the cake, so to speak. Out came the brushes, and this 12 x 16 oil came together. She's a good mare, and a complete tax deduction because of her selfless service as a model for my paintings! She has other duties, however, including taking me to places where I can gather more material for future paintings, good mare that she is.
This one is called "Evening in the Dry Lot". It will be in the digital online show of the Equine Art Guild as part of the "Artist's Muse" exhibit opening soon. I'll post a link when that show is up.

December 19 - Painting Another with Similar Subject

I'm not sure if it was a senior moment, a mischievous cat, a moving box problem, or just general disorganization, but I lost a painting. I lost one that had sold, and I distinctly remember removing it from the shelves, and saying to myself, "This needs a varnish before I ship it out." Then it somehow ran away--went missing--for lack of a better explanation. I have turned the studio inside out, and it isn't here. Perhaps it went a-missing in a shipping box to some lucky person who received an extra. Maybe it slipped down behind the bookcases. Or perhaps I toted it outside to get a shovel and set it up on a shelf in the tool shed. Yeah, that's possible around here, too. Who knows, but it is gone. So what to do? Well, ethically I need to provide the buyer a painting, but cannot duplicate the same thing in the same size, because that compromises the originality for the second or subsequent one. Many artists have done paintings of similar imagery, and have called them a series, or painted them different sizes. Since the buyer loved the scene, it was the choice to make a larger painting and hope for a gracious positive reply to my email revealing the foibles of having so much going on, and having drunk a large glass of senior stupid.
So out came the brushes, and I painted the second image, which I attach for your perusal. This is an 8 x 10 acrylic, and is called "Pasture Light #2". Back to the portrait tomorrow.

December 11 - Snow Country, 12 x 24 Oil

"Snow Country" Today's painting is a major change for an earlier daily painting. You can see the earlier version of this 10 x 20 inch oil on the dailypaintings.com web site, under the date of June 30 of this year. When I first painted it, the temperature outside was 90 degrees! Tonight I bring it to a different finished state, and change it tremendously--from summer to winter! Why do artists go after work they've done and change it so drastically? One reason is growth of the artist's knowledge. We learn something new, and we want to practice the new knowledge because we see what we didn't know manifest in our earlier work. Another reason is a deep dissatisfaction with the work as it stood before, and a great desire to take on the challenge to see if it is possible to produce an evolution of sorts. And then there's just my reason--having run out of small canvases, I'm painting over bigger ones! (The order is in, they'll be here any day now.)

It is fun to change the colors so drastically, and enjoy the finished result. Oh, I could work more on it if I was of a mind to, but for now, this one still remains in a new finished state! $375

December 9 - Not quite finished, but getting there, Commissioned Portrait

"Sara on Her Way" I've started to put in the details, but have decided that I'm going to go back in and fix some things that don't sit right with me, so please hang on to your comments until after tomorrow. This has gone on for more days than I wanted, just because I'm sorting out a lot of "stuff" outside the studio. Tomorrow promises some much needed rain (it is beginning right now as I type this, close to midnight) and I will be able to get studio time dedicated in a large swath during the day tomorrow.

I've heard from the originator who has kindly provided me with a head study without helmet so I can bring a more relaxed pose on the rider.

Although not finished yet, I have made some good progress on it, with the embelliishment of the larger areas of color to make them more interesting.

December 8 - The Horse and Rider Commission (and Art Lesson) Continues...

"Lesson on Sara" Wow, what a change! I've spent the time painting the background and wokring more on the anatomy of the mare at this point, bringing and reinforcing where I want your eye to go (the head of the horse). The rider is secondary to the message of this work, so I will downplay all but her jacket/covering.

Again, at this point I am not overly concerned with the exact outline of the horse, but rather am taking care of the "rest of the story"--the background, the values and the forward motion. Most of you know I don't do those special details until the entire canvas is covered--well, here it is almost 97% covered. Now I can "kick back" and start picking out the details, making corrections, embellishing the larger shapes. Will you be patient until tomorrow? And yes, this painting is still in the "uglies".

December 7 - Commission and Lesson Continues

"Lesson on Sara" Now this is going about as expected, but I haven't had a lot of time to put in on it. So what you see today is not as major a change as might be, however there are important things going on that need to be explored/explained. Yesterday I focused on the position of the horse, and today, I filled in the horse and rider with the major color notes and major value to set them apart (on the darker side) from the middle ground of the background. Here's where the head takes over what is visually there: choosing to keep the horse and rider backlit, and then make the rest of the painting in the middle value range, I can assure that the subject will "pop" when I add the highlights and backlit warms on the final pass. Horse = dark, background area = middle values, leg wraps and shirt and shine on the horse = highest value notes. Ka-POW.
As I work through this stage, I am correcting the horse and rider as I fill in these areas. Rest assured that they will undergo even more "tweaking" as I search for the correct pose and action.

I am planning the background with a few light brush marks as well, note that none of the to-be-dark trees will be directly behind the horse's head. We want that to be the major area of focus, so having similar values in that area would negate that goal.