Chestnut Filly Showdown

As the paintings I'm working on at the moment are all commissions, all you're going to get for now are photos. But really cute photos! At least I think so!

Yesterday was noteworthy, in my opinion. For the first time, I put Gracie and Peaker together. Peaker is Clever's "first born" - a chestnut filly (now two). Gracie is Twine's "first born" - another chestnut filly! Gracie is a yearling now. They both have very gregarious personalities, and have from day one. And well, perhaps it's been a little indulged by me. There is a stigma in the horse world attached to chestnut fillies, but that's not going to hold either of these girls back!


After the first few minutes of silliness - inevitable when introducing horses to each other - the girls were fast friends. They are far too cute. Not that I'm biased or anything!


A new arrival on Tuesday was Sunny, a Paint gelding that has been employed as pony at the track. He gets the winter off too, though his new job will be as babysitter for the two weanling boys. He'll have help soon though - because Rupert (aka Medz) is coming back once the season is done. I expect the two elder chestnuts will keep the youngsters in line!

"What have I gotten myself into?" ~ Sunny

"Love Story," Commissioned Portrait

I've been quiet of late because I'm hard at work on commissions at the moment. I usually don't post commissions as works in progress - you won't see them here until they are complete and have been approved by the client. Sometimes that's because they are gifts, and sometimes it's just because there is often fine-tuning at the end once the client has seen the almost completed portrait, and I'd rather wait until those details have been worked through.

Above is one of my latest pieces, an 8 x 10 pencil portrait of a retired jumper mare named Love Story. The photo we ended up going with for this one was actually supplied by Diane McFarlane, a photographer who commissioned me to do the drawing for her friend. I did get to meet this beautiful mare, however, and really enjoyed that time!

I'll post an oil portrait I've also recently completed next time. Now, it's back to the easel, where I have two more oil commissions on the go. For now, my other works in progress are on hold!

Update for the Royal, 2009!

I know it's been a long time between posts. I supposed my last one explains part of it. Add to that the cold that finally got me, a week and a half ago! I'm hoping it's on its way out now!

Friday was the reception for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair's Fine Art Showcase, where I learned my drawing, "Adjustments" received second place. With that comes an invitation to submit a design for the 2011 Royal poster. Growing up I used to always see the Royal posters and think about what I would do for it...so I guess now I need to sit down and think about it again!


Sunday I was back down to do an oil painting demo for the showcase. I'd roughly started the piece at home - a 14 x 18 oil on Raphael Linen Panel - and had the shapes of the horses roughtly blocked in. I accomplished what I wanted at the demo - well, besides the obvious of showing folks a little bit of how an oil painting can be worked up! I got some basic colour laid in, very muted, and now I'll enjoy developing the piece from here to make it a finished painting.

Lots of catching up to do now, from my NaNo word count, to the works in progress, to some details related to the barn and horses. I'll try not to leave it quite as long this time!

And Here We Go Again!

I'm late! I'm late! (Peaker)

Some of you might remember a year ago, on October 31, I was heading into what promised to be a very busy November. Not only had I decided to do a painting a day, and accompany each with a blog post, I signed up to participate in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, endeavouring to write 50,000 words of a novel. I managed to do all of it, somehow. It's looking like this November isn't going to be a whole lot more relaxing!

I wasn't really planning to do NaNo again this year, until my best friend and long-time writing buddy Sheri challenged me. I'd done the same to her last year but ended up going solo, but far be it from me to turn down a challenge, apparently, so I started throwing around ideas. When I hit one that inspired me, I was in. My working title for this new project is "Passive Transfer" and well, it's inspired by that seemingly endless breeding season we had this year. Yes, that means it's centered around horses. Surprise!

I won't be tackling a painting or blog post a day at the same time, this year. I have enough art commitments to fill that void, three of which start on Thursday, November 5th. First is the 140 Hours of Fame Art Auction, with my painting "Fresh Snow." Next is day one of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, at which my drawing "Adjustments" will be part of the Fine Art Showcase. And finally, Thursday night is the opening for the November exhibit at the AM Gallery in Milton, where I will show some originals and giclées. Add to that a few commissions in various stages...should keep me hopping

But, apparently, that's not enough for me. I'm also moving dear Miss Monster to a barn with an indoor arena, so that I will have absolutely no excuses to start riding again. It's the same place I kept her three years ago. Hopefully we'll start making strides towards something productive in that department! I'll take her over there tomorrow, and probably plan to ride on Tuesday. Monday I'll take my work down to the Royal, and Tuesday the work goes to the AM Gallery.

Hey, there's plenty of time! We get a whole extra hour tonigh to kick things of, as Daylight Savings ends!

Recall!

While this doesn't take away from my feelings about the painting I posted yesterday, I found out today that in fact, that is not the work accepted for the Royal Showcase! So, hope you enjoyed the story, and the painting, but don't go looking for Promises Promises if you make it to the Royal this year! I won't get into the reasons for this...suffice to say it involved communication issues!

The piece that will be down at the Royal Fine Art Showcase is Adjustments, a pencil drawing, pictured above. I'll admit it fits the criteria for the show to a 'T.' The important part is, I will still have work there!

There is more Royal-related news to follow...but I'm going to keep you waiting for that.

The Royal Fine Art Showcase, 2009!

I was quietly and somewhat nervously waiting to hear the results of the jurying for this show last week. I have long thought there needed to be such a show at the Royal - kind of *the* equestrian and agricultural event, at least in this part of the world. There have been a few different attempts in the past, and I've taken part in those I've known about, and they've always been successful to a certain extent, but there's been no continuity. Apparently this is the second year in a row for this new one. I hadn't heard about it last year, for some reason, so when I received the information this year, I was excited!

We were only allowed to enter one piece for consideration. Given the criteria provided, I wasn't sure what to enter, so I just went with what is probably my most popular new painting at the moment. You've seen it before, here. This is Promises, Promises, an 18 x 24 oil on canvas.

The Fine Art Showcase will be on display in Hall C of the Direct Energy Building for the duration of Toronto's Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, which runs November 5-15, 2009. There is an awards ceremony on November 13 at 2:30pm. It's my understanding that the painting made it into the top ten, though the rank hasn't been disclosed. I need to wait until the 13th to find that out!

It struck me after learning of the painting's acceptance how the significance of this piece has changed considerably since it was first shown. I know the average viewer is not going to know what lies behind this image. On the surface, it's a cute painting of a couple of pasture mates playing halter tag, a game that has probably been going on in horse-dom for as long as horses have been wearing halters. Now, when I look at this, I'm reminded of what goes through my mind those times I've had a seriously ill horse. The balance between power and fragility that I've mentioned, and the seeming inevitability that each time you get through one of those ordeals with a 'win' so to speak - the horse pulls through, and goes on to live a healthy life - somewhere there is someone else who has lost a friend. The horse on the right is Jay, who made it through emergency colic surgery almost two years ago, and now is living a happy retirement thanks to a placement through LongRun. On the left is, of course, Gladys, the fated one. And so it goes.

This time, we had to deal with the harsh reality of how quickly tragedy can strike. But a few weeks later, I followed the story of another mare - at the same stage of pregnancy as Gladys - who amazed the surgeons, defied the odds and came through the other side. I know I'll keep following her recovery, and pray that she continues to do well, and next spring produces a healthy baby. Maybe we tell ourselves things as we try to make sense, but in a way, for me, this kind of restores the balance.

School Days!

Today I took a drive to Pine Valley Training Centre to pay a visit to our boy Billy. The weather has kindly warmed up for us, and the trees are brilliant right now - and you can't much beat the landscape up in King, so it meant for a pleasant drive. Billy even came right over to the fence to say hi when I got there - and I even remembered to take him his favourite treats, so we were both happy!


Billy obviously likes having a job to do, because he's being a star. Soon he'll get a holiday for a few months before starting back up in the new year. Needless to say, I snapped a few pics while I was there. He looks like he's going through another growth spurt, so he's a little all over the place right now!


Pine Valley is operated by Paul and Gemini Caine - apparently a website is in the works! I also got to meet Gemini's pony, the very handsome James. :-) Doesn't this look like a face that needs to be painted?