The Emu

I am living on what is called an environmental farm, in the southwest end of the Fraser Valley. There are dozens and dozens of fairly exotic animals and birds here - cranes, pheasants, peacocks, and eagle [no longer able to survive in the wild], four emus, chickens, pigs, a donkey, two mouflon sheep, two sheep with three recent lambs, and a Nigerian [Nubian?] miniature goat. When I moved here a couple of months ago, the emus in particular fascinated me. They are taller than me when stretching their necks, and have some very distinctive behaviours and sounds. So of course I had to draw and paint one.

 One of the emus in their very large field. 

My drawing

For some reason, I wanted to start with a bright phthalo. blue spatter and spray.

The eye done, and some light washes ...

A wet-in-wet wash over the head and neck ...

And some added texture and darkening. I could have gone darker, but wanted the focus to be the eye. 
The size is about 17 x 20 cm. and if you have a thing for exotic birds, the painting is available. Please just leave me a note.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

 

 Not much painting yet, but a fair bit of sketching ...

It's not a very finished drawing, but I like the pose.

Clifford, a decidedly cheeky pony living at a rescue in Washington state. The woman who runs the refuge is a saint for all the animals. I like to help how I can. I will paint Clifford, and send it to her. Hopefully, [as she has done before] she can raffle the image to get some funds for supplies.

One of the emus here at the environmental farm ... waiting to be painted.

A few cute chicks, waiting for a paint brush, too.

A nearby farm. I've had the drawing for years, and now I feel I am finally able to approach it with a better sense of values, shapes ... composition in general.

Hmmmm ... we shall see. My idea is to paint this in all seasons. Must work on different backgrounds and light source to get the best effect.


This should keep me busy for a while! I'm also going to work on a proposal for the land/animal manager here to have some small classes here, drawing and painting the many subjects available here - animals, old buildings and farm implements, scenery ...  ONWARD!!!

Decidedly a grumpy day ...

 Decidedly a grumpy day

                                              My new home on an ecological farm ...

Exotic pheasants

Exotic pheasants [of the female persuasion]

About 40 - 50 chickens, plus 2 guinea hens

 

Two mouflon

Four emus

Two sheep, possibly more, and some goats, soon

Lola on the left, Speckles on the right

SO ... what the hell am I doing on an eco farm? I've been here since mid-December. I decided to have a largish tiny home built, and find a spot in the countryside to park it. My reasons [and feelings] are the exorbitant price of any kind of housing in British Columbia. I want to be in a rural setting; I believe, 

like so many, that we have gone much too far off track from our connections with ourselves and Nature.I'll leave it at that for now. I'm sure I'll have more to say with more clarity later.

And it's a grumpy day. It started bucketing rain as I was feeding all the animals - a chore I do about twice a week. One of the pigs came at me, looking like he wanted a piece of me - literally. The donkey kicked me. Granted, he was aiming for the miniature Nubian goat, and it wasn't a hard kick. And the sandhill crane came after me; sometimes she's fine, other times she's quite nasty - a bit scary considering the length of her beak.

I'm writing this to re-connect with myself and everyone else. The "plague" and its sequelae have left me feeling rather wobbly. I am hoping that getting back to what I loved doing will ground me. And I also hope you all find something interesting, amusing, helpful ... whatever. Entertaining, at the very least. Bye for now ...

SWEETIE - A MARE'S PROGRESS [watercolour painting of horse step by step]

Meet Sweetie. We were together for almost 20 years. As you can see from the photo, she could be very sweet and gentle; she could also be quite the opposite. She was a "lead mare", which in horse terms means she is the boss. I have always loved this photo of the two of us, and finally tried to paint it. As you can see from all the colours in her coat, this was no easy project!

Initial drawing

First wet in wet washes - quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone straight up or in various mixtures.

Above 2 photos - deepening colours, using w/w and dry brush techniques

Starting to look a bit like a horse here

A LOT of glazing to create a sense of volume and depth to her head and neck

I decided to put in her back and rump and a bit of her chest.

Deepening the colour intensity of her coat

I debated whether to put in any background, but finally decided  to put in something soft and nebulous, using the same colours I used in Sweetie's coat. Glad I put in the background!

I am posting two photos of the finished painting which show the difference lighting makes to a painting. Neither one is exactly as it is.

Sweetie
10.5 x 14 in./ 27 x 36 cm.

I have been trying to paint or draw for at least an hour every day lately. But with all this incredible weirdness going on in all of our lives, I must admit it gets quite overwhelming. The only times I feel I can escape is when I am outside, either out walking with the dogs, or spending time out in the barn with Bruno. I find a sense of solace, strength and comfort being with my horse.

I thank you for visiting, and wish you wellness, safety, and some peace of mind in these turbulent times.

BLACK ROCK SANDS - step by step watercolour of landscape

Black Rock Sands, Wales
Transparent watercolour on archival paper
36 x 29.5 cm.
14 x 11.5 in.
Available for purchase

My value sketch

Masked lines of foam under rocks at right.  Painted blue sky first wet-in-wet with cobalt and phthalo. blue. Sand and rocks started w/w with quin. burnt orange, quin. pink and cobalt blue.

Clouds done w/w with mix of aureolin, quin. pink and cobalt blue. Initial washes on rocks using mixture of orange, violet and indanthrone.

Mostly done, but still looked somewhat bland ...

... so I deepened clouds, darkened rocks' shadows and did a w/w application of indanthrone, violet and orange. I think it adds some lovely depth to the work.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the painting evolve, and thank you for dropping by!

TUCO - A PORTRAIT'S PROGRESS

Tuco - 14 x 11.5 in.
I'd like to try mounting the paper on a cradled frame, and varnishing it. But I'll wait to see what Tuco's owner thinks.

Graphite drawing

I masked some of his face where I anticipated screaming along with some bright red paint.

Mask removed, and I started some wet-in-wet washes.

Some wet on dry was done where the shadows and colours were deepest.

More w/w

Here, I was starting to get some expression on his face, and adding some some of the softer, lighter colours.

I was almost done with the face. I added his collar, and some shadows around it. In the final stage, at the top of the post, I added more soft shadow to suggest his neck and chest. Somehow, he looked like a floating head without it.

The colours I used were scarlet lake for the red slash; for the darker hues, I used mixtures of quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone; for the softer shadows I worked with combinations of quin. pink, aureolin and cobalt blue.

If you have any questions, or would like to enquire about commissioning a portrait, please feel free to write me at studioatthefarm7@gmail.com

Thank you so much for dropping by!