A Bird in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush????? ... Works-in-Progress

I liked the sketches, and had good plans ...

... somewhere along the line, I lost it.
Started off with some brown madder.

Darkened the madder with some burnt orange and indanthrone.

Branch was painted with quin. sienna and alizarin crimson.

Then I made the mistake of sponging on cobalt blue and burnt orange. It might be salvageable ...

Bird #2. Again started with brown madder. It's a lovely soft pinkish-brown.

Browns and greys made with brown madder, indanthrone and burnt orange.  For the blacks I used quin. violet rather than the less intense madder.

A bit of burnt orange to brighten him up.

And another so-so background. ARRRGGHHHHH!!!!! 

I like the chickadee, but I'm hoping I think of something spectacular to improve the background.

There's still Bird #3 ...

In class last Saturday, students wanted to work on a simple landscape. So I started this one [again - it works well as a teaching demo].

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this adorable face.  I was on dog-walking duty for one of my neighbors last week. I think she has two or three bull terriers, all rescues.

Bruno is "ride-able" again, in a very limited way. I can only walk him for 20 minutes at most, with no tight circles, nothing fancy, just big and easy movement. But it is SOOO GOOD to be back in the saddle, and he likes the work and attention, too!

Thank you for dropping by!

Oh, How I Wish I Could Ride Today ...

The pond is still frozen, and so is the ground. So no riding yet ... RATS!!!

I started to intensify the rose colors, but needed some background color to judge how much more.

This is background done. Now I can get back and really brighten the rose.

I started putting in the feathers, in a sort of scrumbly manner to suggest  the irregularity of a young bird's feathers.

More feathers, and a branch for him as a perch.

I am still playing with the feathers. I think it needs more darkening in the core area to give more of an impression of his being backlit.

I thank you all so much for your well wishes. I am slowly getting better. I am still pretty weak, and coughing, but improving. I went to work for half a day on Friday, and it was so good to get out of the house! I am dying to get back in the saddle, but I really am too weak, so I suppose it's a good thing the ground is frozen, or I'd probably try to ride anyway. I will at least take Bruno's blankets off, and see if there is still a horse under there, and then maybe groom him a bit.

Thank you again for visiting and writing!

The Evolution of the Chicken

Those are raindrops on the lens. It is so wet, the ducks were swimming on the lower back lawn this morning. Hope you can see them.

It's so dark and gloomy today, the lighting is very poor for photography.
Chicken's colors are actually more intense, and the darks darker.
This is a small [for me] painting - 7 x 8 inches. I would like your opinion. I think she looks good standing alone, with no background. What do you think?

I have also started the fledgling barn swallow again, with a much lighter background  - w/w with quin. burnt orange, quin. siena and cobalt blue.

As always, I love your comments!

Doing It's Thing

I've been trying to think of a way to paint dead hydrangea. This I started with a w/w, go where you will, wash of quin. gold and quin. siena. I must admit, I like the shapes even at this early stage.

Again, all done w/w, painting groups of petals. I am using quin. pink, alizarin crimson, quin. burnt orange, cobalt blue and indanthrone blue. 

I am at this point now, and am quite excited about how it is coming along.
This will be about 6 x 8 inches when finished.

I am also re-doing this chicken, trying to keep her nice and loose.

I needed something else, something loose, to work on with the larger hydrangea painting.  It's quite a controlled painting, and all those greens are a bit much to look at for long. I also wanted to get out of the old comfort zone and into a smaller format.

As always, your comments are so welcome!

Do Blue Cows Make Green Cheese?

I left the ladies here a few weeks ago.

I picked it up again yesterday.  I have toned it down a bit with two thin washes, one of phthalo blue, and the second of cobalt blue. Then I painted a graded wash of quin. burnt orange form lower left towards upper right. I finally worked out a spot pattern for Les Girls, and have done two thin glazes with a black mixture. Looks like I'll need to do more of the black, and figure out what to do with the background.  

Miss Clementine has had some minor touch-ups, and I have made her available on Daily Paintworks.

It is raining like mad, so no riding today. I might take the lad out for a walk on hand later. And I think I'll have to take a boat into Vancouver to visit my sister. Stay dry. It's only two weeks till the days start getting longer again! YAY!!!  

As always, your comments are most welcome.

"PENSEES" - Start to Finish

I started very w/w, with the board at a slant. I don't usually do that, but I really liked how the paint flowed for the beginning of the portrait.

The hair and the post were started w/w.

Thicker color, painted wet on dry for the definition of the hair.

Work on her features and the shadowing.

Almost finished here. This photo was taken outside, and gives a much better idea of the true colors.

Just a bit of fussy detail work around the eyes.

In general, I am quite pleased with this portrait.  If I were to have done anything differently, it would be to do more w/w  of the shadows and pink coloring of the face. To my eye, it looks a bit patchy, especially around the nose. But all in all, I am happy with it. And I am LOVING doing portraits!!!

As always, your comments are most welcome.

PS - If anyone is interested in it, the portrait is 10 3/4 x 8 1/4 in., and for sale.

ANY IDEAS?????

The dogs were not impressed.

The above photos are of my set-up. I had two neighbors drop by. Norma brought her sister, niece and nephew, and their new pup. They asked about training tips for the pup, and mentioned they'd like a portrait when she is full-grown. She is only 9 weeks now ... hmmm.
There was absolutely NO response to the signs I put out on the street.

Stages of collection - increasing response, over time with training, of the horse to the rider's aides. The aides are your seat, legs and hands, basically, and how you balance and use them.

This is a graphic visualization of the weight-shift of a horse, over time with training.

A few people asked for a bit more clarification of "on the bit". I could go on forever about horses. I'll restrain myself. Essentially, the purpose of training is to get the horse to shift its engine, from front-wheel to back-end drive. All the powerful muscles are at the hind end, and through training, we encourage the horse to use and develop these muscles. It is gymnastics/yoga for horses.

As for the "show", it was disappointing. I am running out of sly and cunning plans to get people to notice my art. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

As always, your comments are most welcome.