Fur In The Paint

Stealing Apples
Having just finished a marathon of art fairs my kitchen counter is brimming with apples. As has become my habit I have returned each weekend with a armload of stolen apples for my horse.

Well . . . technically they aren’t stolen. (I think) I mean if hotels put them out for people to eat for breakfast, they are there for the taking right? In my defense I often look for the bruised and least appetizing fruit. I figure most folks wouldn’t eat it anyway and so it would just get thrown. And thus, the rationalization for my taking apples is complete.

Just so you know my life of crime will eventually end. Last year we planted a Honey Crisp apple tree. (Honey Crisps are my favorite apples. I will spend more per pound on those babies than I will beef.) In a few years (providing we continue to keep the deer and rabbits at bay) we (Chicory and myself) will be enjoying the “fruits” of our (Mike and my) labor.

How the crime spree began
When Chicory was very young and I had just gotten him, I was trying to give him all sorts of treats, (because I was raised that food equals love) but other than grain, Chicory refused whatever goodies I offered.

If your curious why I don’t eat the pilfered apples myself. Well, I am a fruit snob.

The hotels we stay at only put out the cheapest of apples and being a diabetic means whatever sugars I put into my body, have to be worth the spike in my blood sugar levels. So I eat only really good fruit.

In fact, the first time I gave him some apple, he spit it out, waggled his tongue around to make sure absolutely no bits might yet be stuck in his teeth and gave me a very distinct “are you trying to poison me!” look. I pretended not to notice and took another bite of the apple while using my best high school drama class acting abilities, I made it clear that this apple was the best thing ever.

He watched closely for a few moments and then kinda snuffled at me hinting that I should share. I gave him another chunk, and he promptly spit it out looking confused. I continued eating and eventually he’d get too curious and start nosing about again.

As I offered another bite, I warned him it was his last chance. He pushed it around my palm, then picked it up ever so delicately. As he chewed, he bobbed hid head vigorously (You could see the wheels turning) and then swallowed. After a few moments he snuffled for more.

And thus began his love affair with apples. At this point he drools like a Pavlovian dog when he thinks he’s gonna get some. And yes, I do buy him apples now and again. But mostly I get wind-fall apples from neighbors trees. Even after all these years, it’s pretty much the only treat food he’ll eat besides a grain ration. Well that and an occasional granola bar. But really all a granola bar is, is just a grain ration in stick form.

Raven painting
The gallery is still blessedly busy so I’ve no time to begin the Raven over. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day. I’ll post something when I get something done.

The latest issue of Apples ‘n Oats is out in all it’s glossy horse magazine goodness. In this issue, I write about Chicory and the creation of the new Soul painting.

Oddly enough, a good part of my story came from blog posts. I’ve included an excerpt from my article. (pretty much the only part that hasn’t already been in a blog post.)

If you want to read the whole thing you’ll have to run out and pick up a copy or better still, visit the website and subscribe. (or wait and eventually it will get posted to my website.)

Knee Deep and Belly High
At the moment Chicory is a deeply contented horse. With the unusually high amount of rainfall we’ve had this spring and summer, his pasture is quite literally belly high. It was also freshly seeded last fall so the grasses are particularly tall and lush.

I take great pleasure in watching him so deeply absorbed in his snacking. If he sees me watching he will pause, bob his head slightly and nicker. He then waits to see if I am planning on bringing him in for something. When he sees that I am not, he continues on. Nibble, chew, step. Nibble, chew, step.

Soul
Watercolor Pencil on Suede Board
13 1/4 x 19 1/4

The above photo is a little more saturated than in real life. Somewhere between Photoshop and the blog it changes a little.

Okay I know that I had said that this painting was done before. But I was never completely happy with it so I kept picking away at it when i had a minute or got bored. But then my deadline for the Apples N’ Oats article is just around the corner and since this was my latest horse painting I figured I had better actually finish it if I were to be writing about it.

And so here it is. A rather dramatic difference from my last final completed shot. Way more hair in the forelock and much different color. I am fairly at peace with it at this point. It is always hard for me to say “Okay. . . NOW it’s done.” The tweaking stage can go on for an eternity. Well until it gets committed to print. That’s when I am truly done.

The article is also just at the tweaking stage. I cheated a little and used a blog post for part of it. So I’ll wrap both the article and the painting up and then move on finishing the Red Buffalo.

Well I finally got my Fat Boy out on pasture. I’ve spent over 3 weeks waiting for the grass to age and getting his gut adjusted and today was the day.

I left my camera behind, because of last years lacking performance. Follow along as I take you back about 1 year. There I was, camera in hand, anxiously anticipating his full blown glee, with much galloping and bucking. Only to be disappointed as he sedately munched his way around without so much as a squeal of joy.

So of course this year with no camera to document it, he performed a perfect re-enactment of a wild mustang roundup. Complete with a full tilt gallop and ending with a charge accompanied by much snorting and tossing of his wind blown hair. (heavy sigh)

The above photo was a bit later and a good example of what I got last year.

The latest painting
As it is Sunday I came in to work on my latest cow painting. Make that start my latest cow painting. Turns out the fixative was not sufficient. It helped but still was inadequate. So I retraced my drawing over onto an older sheet of handmade paper. Alas I haven’t gotten very far with it and frankly I think I may have bitten off a little more than is humanly possible, since I leave for my first art fair of the season in a few short days. When I make some progress on it, I’ll post what I’ve done.

Well almost.
I’m down to the tweaking stage anyway.

Soul
Water soluble pencil on Suede Board
13″ x 19 1/2″

“It is not so much about whether horses have a soul, as it is that horses are soul.”

I’m still playing with the forelock but I’m getting close. The problem with Chicory is he is a different color at any given moment. He is officially (as in registered as) a red dun. His mane is made up of every color hair imaginable but overall will look black or chestnut or occasionally sorrel depending on the lighting. As a result my painting’s forelock has undergone all of those color transformations as well. I am not quite settled in my color yet.

The other big change from the last work in progress shot was I took an inch off the top of the painting. His eyes were just a little too close to center. I like the balance I got from cropping it.

Even though I am running out of time before my first art event of the season, (like in 2 weeks) I’m looking forward to starting something new. Probably an oil pastel and possibly something that goes “moo.”

It is another rainy Sunday, so I am spending it in the gallery. I am hoping to finish up Chicory’s portrait, Soul today. I don’t think it will happen, but I should get really quite close.

This photo is from my starting point today, meaning today’s progress will be shown tomorrow or shortly thereafter. He was getting a little orange looking so I burnished in some pewter color.

At the moment I am putting in the forelock (not shown here) which is resembling a bad toupee. It is an act of courage to cover up all the forehead that I spent so much time on. I imagine if I had planned out in advance where the forelock would fall I would avoid this. On the other hand, by working in this way, it lets me run hair over the finished head and helps prevent that cut and paste look that can happen so easily when working in sections.

Here is the progress so far. His face looks a little wonky as I have yet to fully sort out the highlights and shadows (especially on the left.) I have to put in the neck area before those decisions are made. Also I think his marking being off center throws it all a bit. We’ll see how it ends up in a day or so. (That’s my overly optimistic estimation of how long until I can complete this piece.)

I was unable to post yesterday due to thunderstorms rolling through the area. This has been pretty much a daily occurrence now for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately all this rain and lightening is also slowing the progress of getting my pasture fence completed. Nothing says death wish more than walking through an open grassy expanse where the tallest object is me carrying an armload of metal poles in a thunderstorm.

Okay, I am such a sci-fi geek that I couldn’t resist.

I got a little anxious to work in some darker values so I slipped over to the shadow side of his face today. Though I currently have only the base coat in on this side, I am looking forward to the richer colors of the dark side.

I am chin deep in framing, I have my first art event in a couple of weeks and have yet to check my inventories and prepare for it. The gallery is in serious need of a complete cleaning. And I blissfully ignored it all today and just worked on my horse painting. Ahhhhh.

So here it is after a few more hours on Sunday afternoon. I know it doesn’t really look like a lot of progress has been made, but bear in mind this is just about life sized.

I am looking forward to starting the right side. It will be the shadow side so I can play with some richer colors and also add contrast.

The grapevines of wrath
My morning was spent pulling well established (like over 10 year old ) grape vines out of incredibly old (like 70 year old) barbed wire fence. It will be a miracle if I don’t get Tetnus. These things are like trees, except the are all twisty and gnarly and grown into the fence. The fence and the vines have officially become one.

I tried to convince my husband that the smart thing to do would be to drop in new posts a few feet from the old fence line. He didn’t agree. So we spent the morning, hack saw in hand, cutting and pulling and occasionally swearing.

All the while Chicory was watching, head held high, stone statue still. Except every few minutes he would spin around, squeal and buck. Then take off in a gallop around his paddock. Only to charge the fence and do a rolling stop any reining champion would be proud of. Upon which he would resume his statue pose while giving me the eye. All of this equine drama was his way of saying “let me the heck out there with you guys!”

I took a break and came in to the gallery today to work on my Soul portrait. But rest assured I have a full evening of viney entertainment ahead of me.

By the way, we use an electrified rope for Chicory’s pasture fence that is run well inside of the barbed wire. But if we didn’t remove the grapes, they would short out the fence.

Soul Chicory’s Portrait
watercolor pencil on suede
15×20

Yeah Okay, so it’s not much to look at yet. This is the very early stages with only the base coloring in.

Spring is here with so much going on (like putting in new fence line for Chicory’s pasture) I have to be even more diligent in setting aside some creative time. (Not to mention blogging time.)

InkTense
The other bit of news is while at my recent trip to Wet Paint (the best art supply store in the area) I picked up a few water soluble ink pencils made by Derwent called Inktense. They are touted as being like watercolor pencils except better, in that they have a more intense color.And that after the color has been wetted and then allowed to dry, it becomes permanent. So, in theory you can layer on more colors without things becoming muddy.

So far I like them. SInce I’ve only played with them on the suede however, I can’t really say if they are superior to the watercolor pencils but I’ll let you know when I find out.

Oh and why do I think Wet Paint is the best art supply store in the area? Because it has open stock (the ability to just buy an individual item without committing to a whole set) on just about everything. Because I was able to buy open stock, I tried out Faber Castell WC pencils (and then bought the set) and all my oil pastels sets were first tried out as a few sticks of color bought as open stock from Wet Paint.