Fur In The Paint

Here is the latest on my foal. The suede photographed more golden than it is in reality but the foal is pretty true to color.

My reference photo is many years old (like around 10) and was taken at the Black Hills WiId Horse Sanctuary. I’ve had it in my to-do pile pretty much ever since.

Sometimes it takes just the right combination of medium and substrate to make me say, Hey, that’s just the right photo for this application.” And apparently suede matboard was just such a trigger.

I am working on a 17×21″ piece of Tru Grit (that’s the name of the color) suede matboard made by Bainbridge. The image itself will be somewhere around a 14×18.”

I chose this particular mat for two reasons.

Number 1. It is a neutral that I can work both light and dark on, with relative ease.

Number 2. It was the first chunk of neutral colored suede that I ran into from my stock pile that was about the size I was looking for. Had I chosen a color, I would have looked for something slightly more golden

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I decided I wanted to make the foal a little more cute (like baby horses aren’t cute enough.) So I made her a blood bay in color, lengthened her stripe and ended it with a bit of a pink nose. I’ll also have a least one white sock.

So that’s what I got so far. Next post will be a step by step from the neck area covering colors used and layers.

. . . and mane . . . and forelock. . . .

Okay so it’s hard to see in this photo, but trust me they’re there. I usually pull a few burrs everyday because he gets large round bales of oat stubble for nibbling on, kicking around and taking long naps in the sun on. And since we’re organic most bales have a few burrs in them.

But this last bale was packed with both burrs and worst still burdock. I nearly had a fit when I came out and seen his mane sticking out in every direction like it had been teased into some punk fashion. (Burrs tend to make a rats nest of his mane) Photo below after some major de-burring.

The best horse ever
Fortunately my horse is eternally patient while I pull his hair out a few strands at a time with each burr. And while I’m perpetrating these minor acts of torture, he stands at liberty and nuzzles my back, legs or shoes. I spent well over an hour with him last night and felt so calm and content that only the darkness and cold of night made me stop.

I am a firm believer that animals (much like people) come into our lives for a reason. They may not be the animal that you wanted but they are the animal that you needed.

Chicory is exactly the horse I wanted and needed. I am almost always relaxed and centered after spending time with my big boy.

BTW I brought the camera along so I could take some photos. It has been many (many) years since I’ve done Chicory’s portrait and that is my plan for the piece on suede. Nope, still haven’t started it yet. Hopefully will get it begun by Sunday

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Here’s the latest on Colton’s first eye surgery. He is having one eye operated on, at a time.

Once again the commentary is in Karla Sieberts’ own words. Karla is the president of IERAL (the Iowa Equine Rescue & Awareness League.) and she has been the driving force in helping Colton regain his sight.

Colton is at AEC and traveled well yesterday, despite the horrible winds/weather. Colton loaded on the trailer like a charm, and is a VERY GOOD BOY! He is now settling it at AEC, he will be there for approx. 30 days, with med’s being administered 4 times a day. He is located in the Stallion barn if any one is interested in seeing him.

I can not explain, how thrilled I am on Colton’s behavior. He is such a well mannered boy, who has probably never seen the light of day. Let’s hope that he will regain some sight in the first eye in the next few weeks, and his disposition remains as he is today, calm and very quick to learn!

Links to the other Colton posts.
Purchase Colton prints
Colton Update pre-surgery
IERAL Fundraiser
About IERAL
Meet Colton

Or more appropriately: Some of the other horses of IERAL.

I thought I’d show you a few of the other horses at IERAL (Iowa Equine Rescue and Awareness League) that I had the option to paint for the fund raiser which is to be held this Saturday, October 25th. You can visit IERAL website for more details. or to see who is available for adoption, or make a donation at any time.

Thoroughbreds have such great faces and contours. Also I was liking the idea of a grouping. They were a little bony, though it was not so obvious to see in this photo. I really liked these guys. They were a very close second choice. If Colton hadn’t won me over with his sweetness, it probably would have been them on the print.

This is Bo. He is Colton’s father. You can see the family resemblance. Bo is another really pretty horse.

I have a soft spot for arabs. They were the first breed I fell in love with. Of course the Black Stallion helped that along quite a bit. For most of my childhood Arabians were my dream horse. How I went from petite and lovely, to Roman nosed and rotund, I’ve no idea.

How cute is he. This was Colton’s pasture mate when I was out taking picture. He was kinda stand offish but he and Colton got on well enough.

IERAL had several other horses up for adoption as well. But these (and of course Colton) were the horses I photographed the most.

Tomorrows post: When Good Dogs, Go Bad (It’s not what you think.)

I haven’t posted in a few days, mostly because nothing too interesting has gone on. I’ve made “a little” progress on my giraffe, but my usual influx of customers and allotment of gallery jobs is keeping me busy. Since today is Sunday I was hoping to finish the painting today.

On the other hand, I had my art group over yesterday and so I am a day behind on framing and getting my orders out. I think I may just work this afternoon like any other day, (except with fewer hours and a whole lot more PS2 playing.)

It was great getting together with my art group again. We are all women with rather complicated lives, so this was only our second meeting this year. I brought my camera to take a photo and forgot to actually take the picture. (Picture me whacking head on wall. Heavy sigh) Perhaps next time.

Of course I did remember to photograph the horses in fog this morning. (typical mona behavior) Top photo is Chicory and the one below is my neighbors. Now isn’t this a photo just begging to be painted or what? You know, I think I just might.

The seasons, they are a changin’
This is my favorite time of year. I like bundling up in warm clothes and walking in the crisp air, enjoying the changing colors. I particularly love the wonderful aroma of burning leaves, (though not so much the raking of them.)

The past few mornings have been very foggy. I’ve had to scrape off a thick layer of frost (if I didn’t know better, I would have said it was ice) from my windshield. I’m pretty sure this is nature’s not so subtle hint, that winter is just around the corner.

So to celebrate the glory that is Fall, we are cooking our first turkey of the year. To be accompanied by homegrown potatos, corn, beans and tomato cucumber salad. I know the turkey is just about done when all the barn cats are sitting outside on the window sills of the house, looking in.

Colton
16 1/2″ x 22″
Watercolor Pencil Painting on Arches 140# Hot Press

So here he is all finished. I waited to post him until I sent an image to Karla Siebert of IERAL. He is a little more portrait-y than I would have liked. But it is a pretty enough painting that it will hopefully make them some money. I chose to do a background very similar to Catch’s portrait because of the time constraints. (Meaning I had no time to start again if I buggered it up.)

Progression of the painting,

The early stages with only the nose completed.

Head and neck are complete and shoulder is started.

Body is completed.

The mane is added.

The early stages of the background. Many changes yet to come before the painting is declared finished.

Finished image (same as the top most pic.) He is slightly tilted in this photo because I didn’t get it quite square in the camera lens. However, he is also leaning forward in the painting as that is how he stood much of the time while I was there. I imagine since he is blind, he does this when he’s curious about something.

Filling the well.
Well I enjoyed my horse filled weekend entirely. I spent a lovely morning at Noble Friesians just ambling around the pastures and enjoying the gorgeous weather. The horses were fantastic and after a cursory snuffle, they found me completely unremarkable (and treat free) so they promptly went back to grazing.

This works well for me because it is notoriously hard to get a good photo of a horse that is in my face and slurbering on my camera. I was hoping for some cavorting (to be clear, I was hoping for some cavorting from the horses, I haven’t “cavorted” in decades) but mostly I got grazing shots, (still an excellent way to spend a morning.) I shot over a dozen rolls of film and will share some pics if I get anything worth looking at.

Rachael, the barn manager let me wander at will among them, which is certainly a testament to the breed that you could let a complete stranger in their pasture and have no worries.

I do love Friesians. To bad they are way out of my price range. These horses are worth anywhere from $35,000 to $150,000 depending on which mare you’re looking at. That’s a lot of $$$ grazing in the backyard. Many thanks to Rachael for showing me around and letting me photograph these stunning horses.

Dances With Horses.
After the friesians and a nice visit with Carol Eilers, editor of Apples ‘N Oats magazine, I returned to Waterloo, IA to attend the Dances With Horses event being held as a fund-raiser for ASPIRE which a non-profit therapeutic riding program for individuals with disabilities. In addition to some headlining acts like the Andalusian stallion, Acierto and his owner Laura Amandis (shown here with the rearing Acierto) they had a few acts including the kids themselves. (bottom photo) Again a totally delightful way to spend the evening.

I was surprised to realize I had seen Laura and Acierto at Kentucky Horse Park earlier this year. I think I was so in love with Alborozo that I wasn’t so very impressed with Acierto then. Also, he was not as cooperative in the intense heat of Kentucky as he was at the “Dances” event. Their’s really is an impressive act and demonstrates the bond they have between them.

It is important for me to take the time to do activities like these, it keeps me motivated. I think of it as “filling the well” (or “feeding the source” . . . “tweaking the muse”. . .) sort of activities. I come back from stuff like this and just want to set right down at the drafting table and create something. Which is exactly what I’m doing.

No more WIP’s of Colton, though. I will post the finished painting . . just as soon as I finish it, that with any luck will be today or tomorrow. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and mumbling over and over to myself, “I think I can . . I think I can . . .”

Colton
So here is the very beginnings of a painting featuring Colton. I haven’t quite given myself completely to the idea that this will be the IERAL painting. I am not so very much in love with the composition (just a little predictable) However if I get some lovely colors going, it could turn out beautiful.

So as not to jinx myself, I am looking at this as an exercise in getting nice looking whites. I find large amounts of white, as I may have previously mentioned is the hardest color to make believable (in water soluble pencil.) That’s one of the big reasons I like doing pintos and zebras. The other colors provide adequate contrast and creating a good white is much easier.

The only part of this piece that is done is the nose. The yellow cheek is the first color layer only. I do want a nice glow but in the end it will look more gray than it does here.

Since Colton is blind, nearly all the photos I have of him has his held tilted dramatically. (thus I am having some difficulty coming up with a pleasingly unique composition.) The head tilt thing, endearing though it is, is also a little sad. And since they are hoping to have surgical correction for him, it will not be how is he in the future. So I opted to straighten him up a bit.

Show Girls - Oil Pastel 20.25″ x 9.625″

Here is my painting inspired by my last trip to the Britt Draft Horse Show.

I created it when I was participating in a gallery exhibition. I felt kinda uncomfortable about the whole thing as mine was to be of a handfull of representational works. I was going to stick out like a sore thumb among all the abstract and contemporary works. As I have participated in many shows where the representational works tended to fall at the bottom when it came to curators and judges I felt a little . . . ummm . . . snarky about it all.

It amused me to no end while I painted it, as well as while it was hung in the show. Frankly even though it is years later it still amuses to look at it. Plus the title is always worth a chuckle. And for those of you wondering, it sells really well. Especially among the draft horse people.

Sweet Smells.
There are some smells that trigger emotions and memories. You breathe them in deeply and it takes you to another place and time. Say for instance . . . baking bread brings back fond memories of my grandmas warm kitchen. And the other smell that puts me into a bucolic trance . . . horse sweat and fly spray. Nothing quite like it. And yes it does rank right up there with baking bread.

Today I treated myself and attend the Britt Draft Horse Show held in Britt, Iowa. For such a tiny town they put on one heck of a good horse show. I spent the morning milling around the barns. Most horse events find me in the behind the scenes areas. Whether it be shows, competition or races I love to hang out in the staging area. Often missing the actual event in hopes of capturing something special happening in the quiet moments. So thats how I spent my day. Not too many ways I would have rather spent it.

Trends
You may have noticed that nearly all the photos here are of black Percherons. I found this odd. Not so many years ago the horses were far more varied in color and breed. Today there was a few Clydesdales, a few more Belgians and a whole lot of Percherons. Apparently black is now the color of choice for Percherons since that was what they all came in with the exception of a few grays which were so dark they were probably black last year. I love dapple gray and the lighter and whiter the better.

Similarly the Clydesdales were all pretty much the same color. That would be Budweiser Clyde color and marked. No roans or blacks or splashes of white on the belly. Just clones of the famous hitch. I have to say I was slightly disappointed by this.

The other thing I found interesting was some of the horses had shaped hooves. (like on this guy) Very cool look but it makes me wonder of the hoof integrity.

I remember a few years back I was talking with my neighbor (the proud owner of around 30 Percherons) and he was telling me everyone was liking the platter foot. The bigger and splayed out the better. But he felt that the horses had more hoof problems because of this. It all comes down to looks in the end. You gotta follow the trend in order to win the awards. Which in turn allows you to command better prices for your horses.

Critter Fix
At this point I am bit weary. I am sunburned and have a headache from a little too much sun exposure. Plus I feel gritty from all the dust. (for those horse savvy among you, you realize what I’m actually saying is I’m covered in dried-up pulverized horse poo.) My immediate plan is to shower and flop down in front of the air conditioner. I was in need of a critter fix and it was so worth it.