FOR RHONDA

Meet Rhonda. She is a friend and my riding trainer - positive, no-nonsense, down-to-earth.  She has kept me on the straight-and-narrow path of good horsemanship  with three horses.  I am lucky she loves my artwork, and does what she can to support and promote my art. I did this painting of her about 5 years ago. We were standing under some trees, chatting after a lesson,  so there was beautiful, filtered light coming though.

This is a portrait of one of Rhonda's dogs - Carmella.

A study I did of Carmella.

Another portrait of Carmella.

Batman - a dog belonging to one of Rhonda's friends.

I was just going to post what I've been working on lately, but came across all these  works to do with Rhonda, and felt the need to express my gratitude [having just finished a tough lesson].  I am very grateful to have her as a friend!

Thank you so much for visiting!

Yes, I'm a Proud Auntie ... or ... a Portrait in Progress

My nephew, my model. I half expect my niece and nephew to run when they see me coming with a camera.

Drawing

Glaze of quin. burnt orange in the darkest shadows ...

... followed by a neutral grey of aureolin, pink and cobalt blue. I also started the eyes and lips.

Began the hair with two grey-browns - one with aureolin, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue, the darker with orange, violet and indanthrone. My tray on the right has the colors ]cobalt blue and alizarin crimson]I used to build up the face colors.

Added the blue to the shadow areas in a thin glaze and softened with a damp brush. I did the same with crimson for his cheeks, nose, chin and forehead.

Started to look human at this point :)

Once I finished his eyes and brows, I thought the portrait looked quite good [though not exactly like Julian].

This morning, I did a very thin wet wash with quin. violet and a bit of orange to warm it up. So far, so good ... I hope to get the black on there later today.

It was such a pleasure to paint something just because I felt like it [not a commission, not something for a class demo]. Also, it gave me some ideas on how to go about painting the dog portrait. I enjoyed playing with this portrait more than I done in months!!

Thank you for dropping by!!

Trying Something Different ...

I painted this last wet-in-wet wash on His Lordship's head this morning, and put it aside to dry. It kept catching my eye ... in a very good way. I think it looks very striking. Let's hope I maintain this feel and look!

This was the first wash - very loose and wet, using quin. burnt orange and a dark violet mixture. 

When dry, I painted a more controlled glaze over the shadows of his face and topline, just indicating the mane.

I also went to a different reference photo.

While working on Voodoo, I also started a study of my niece. Again, I tried to paint in a more impressionistic manner.

Reference photo
It's a beautiful photo, but the quality is not great - wishing I could enlarge it to focus on her face.

I love the old pond in back, and right now am quite taken with the look of the willows. Painting subject soon???

And of course, I always travel with my invaluable photographer's assistant! She is looking quite like a wild dog in this photo.

I think all that brooding this past winter is bearing some fruit. This past week I have been trying to think ... see ... paint with more feeling and intuition, rather than rendering a close copy of a photo. I love the look of the latest version of Voodoo, and hope I can keep that look through to completion. The study of my niece is more difficult for me, but we'll see what happens. Painting this way needs more energy and concentration on my part, so I am going to start something lighter in subject matter - fun, goofy and loose.I would like to thank all of you for following this blog, and encouraging me with your notes! And a big "thank you" to Linda Roth - your letters of late have encouraged me to move outside the box.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

I wish you all a wonderful Easter weekend

There Is No "Easy Way" ... or ... Round 2 with the Portrait

I started this portrait again this morning.

I apologize for the color quality. The oranges - quin. sienna - are not coming through well at all.

This technique, essentially dry-brushing, is very time-consuming, but there is nothing like it to get clean colors, and depth in a very delicate subject. I am far from finished, probably several days or weeks of work, but I really like how it is coming along. The dry-brushing allows you to better maintain the clarity of the sensitive colors. I am glazing with pure colors - started with a thin wash of yellow ocher over everything, and am now using permanent rose, alizarin crimson, quin. sienna, quin. burnt orange and cobalt blue. I read about this technique several years ago. If you would like to see some work by a master of dry-brushing, I highly recommend you google Ottorino de Lucchi - brilliant!

And besides painting, His Imperial Highness is doing well in his training.  I must say, the same goes for training horses as for creating a painting. There are short cuts, but they just do not come to fruition in the end. With horses, "tricks" and short-cuts will take you to a point in the process where the horse is ill, lame, or just completely unwilling to work with you any more. It's sad. I am pleased to see Bruno willingly come in off the field in the morning when he sees me come out, dressed for riding.

Here's Scruffy, almost totally blind, but game to be out there -  playing, walking, and being a barn helper. 

And then there's Maggie - what a character! That's her best friend, Flossy, behind her.

Thank you dropping in to the Farm! Your comments are always welcome. 

Not Jules, but Interesting ...

Overall, I believe it was a good experiment. My focus was on the samurai scalp-lock, and that certainly is the focus in the painting. When I saw that it was going to look nothing like Jules, I felt free to do all sorts of nasty, un-watercolor-painter-like things to it. I would like to do more of him, but definitely will get some decent reference photos, and, if I'm lucky, he'll even sit still for 1/2 an hour so I can do some drawing. 

This was the reference - over-exposed, and he chose to stand under a trellis which cast strange shadows.

Well, thank you for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome.

Finally ... a Moment to Post ...

Continuing with the hydrangea, here I have finished the petals, and done light w/w washes on the stems. Throughout the painting, I am using cobalt and indanthrone blue, quin. burnt orange and quin. violet. It seems to be my favorite color combination. I forgot to mention last time, I am using a different paper - Arches 300 lb. CP. It's quite nice. The washes are not quite as wet and wild, and it takes more force and deliberation when painting.

I did two separate variegated washes of a greyed violet mixture. I did not do one darker wash, all at once, as I was not sure what it would look like. After they dried, I wet again where I decided to place the branches, and drizzled in thin lines of dark violet grey with a fine brush.

Here it is finished.
"Beauty even in Winter"
10.25 x 10.25 inches on 300 lb. Arches cold press rag
$160.00 Cdn.

I have reached this point with my niece. It's good, but it's NOT Paulina. So I will be doing this again in the future.

I also had some time to figure out what to do with this hollyhock. The middle flower was not right. I added more of the violet in the left center area, and now it looks like a proper inverted, not everted, blossom.
White Hollyhocks
11.5 x 7.25 inches on Arches 140 lb. CP
$155.00 unframed

It's been a busy week. Since Tuesday, I have been taking care of a neighbor's menagerie [3 dogs, 2 cats and 2 horses] while she and her husband are at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. Spruce is a huge horse facility outside of Calgary, and annually hosts a large series of show-jumping events. It is an international qualifier - horses and riders from all over the world. I heard that Germany won the team event this year.
The extra animals are pretty good. But one of the horses is a yearling, and as cheeky as all get-out! I think he looks for trouble. He's taken down one area of fencing three times. It's no wonder that he is a bit banged and scraped.
And I had to take one of the chinchillas to the vet on Friday after work. He was not moving around much, though otherwise looked well. Then I noticed him limping. He is the more active of the two, and he must have banged his leg, or strained it somehow. Thankfully it was not broken, and he is gradually moving more again.
Here's hoping the coming week is a bit less busy, and I find more time to paint.

Thank you for dropping by, and your comments are always welcome.

Divertissement

To keep myself from fretting about world events, I am working on four paintings. 

The portrait is of my niece, from a photo taken earlier this summer. I am trying a different technique [for me] - painting with the easel in an almost upright position.

I am making another attempt with hydrangeas. I think the painting is half-way done.

The cocker spaniel is also getting touch-ups. Her owners and I met again last week, and I saw that her coloring is very dark, only her face has touches of white on the chin. And I have started a landscape; so far, it is only streaks of color indicating sky and trees. 

Thank you for dropping by, and your comments are always welcome!

Rolling Along ...

The girls are coming along nicely. The masking is off, and I have placed some shadows on the cows.

The portrait is looking suitably weird. It seems all portraits [paintings, too, I suppose] go through this incredibly strange-looking phase, and I am definitely there!

I've also been busy making posters to take to some of the large boarding barns and riding facilities, advertising my availability to do commissions.

As always, your comments are most welcome.

And if any of you are interested in a painting, please contact me. 

Are We There Yet???

This is pretty much how the color comes through. I was lucky to have sunlight this morning to get a decent photo. I 've reached the stage where I am doing more intense scrutiny rather than painting. [That's one of the reasons I like to work on several at once.]  I think a touch of careful darkening on  the outside of the left eye and just above the curvature of the jaw ...  maybe a bit more work on the pillars ... intensifying the eyes??? And I think I'd better get another sketch on the board to paint!!!

As always, your comments are most welcome!

I Think I'm in Love ... and it's not another horse

I left off here ...

I've lifted some of the color from the robe - it was too warm. And I have deepened the shadows on the left of his face with a w/w wash, and done a bit of detail work around the eyes..

More of a close-up. This is why I am in love. It is the serenity and  impression of quiet inner strength.

Working on the pillars - painting the shadows first.

Then a wash of quin. burnt orange with quin. violet. It looks like it will need more wood color, as well as more shadowing.

I am going to reluctantly put the monk aside for today, and head into Vancouver to deliver the dreaded bridge painting to John, and have a visit with the family.
While you are here, I invite you to visit Gallery at the Farm.

As always, your comments are most welcome. 

It's SO Weird ...

I've worked a bit on the face and robe. I may have gotten carried away with the warms in the robe - have to lift a bit. 

I'm working on subtle nuances of skin color - fascinated by the interplay of warm and cool hues.  The "weird"  is how this painting is almost emerging from the paper. It's another one that is painting itself!

As always, your comments are most welcome!

The Pilgrim's Progress [OK ... Bad Pun]

W/w varied-intensity wash of orange over the background

Some violet and blue

A road map of the head and upper torso, with warm and cool flesh colors

Intensifying flesh colors, and starting robe

It's a play on titles with John Bunyan's late 17th c. novel. I took a course in English lit. - loved it.  I waded through Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Spenser's "A Fairy Queen", among many others.
The monk seems to be coming along well. So far, all has been done wet-in-wet. The real fun will start when I start playing warm and cool colors off each other in the skin tones. Anyway, this is what I am up to this morning while waiting for the glaze of heavy frost to melt from the riding ring. Bruno does not have skates!!!