100 Birds Challenge - New Project

OK, I am just not involved in enough projects, so, I added another! Ha! This is a challenge to draw, sketch, or, paint one hundred birds to improve my knowlege of birds and improve my arting skills! Here's a link to the original challenge thread on WetCanvas;

http://wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=563498

I know I will not be as prolific with the birdies so have given myself a long cushy deadline of one year. I do hope to do more than just sketches from photos which is how I am starting out. I will incorporate birds into my regular output of equine art and also plan to paint some bird specific paintings along the way. My main hold-ups for producing finished art for this (and the other projects) is my lack of original reference material. If I work from photographic reference material, I much prefer to use my own, although for these projects, I have been using the images provided from the WetCanvas reference image library. I just don't get out and about much these days to get my own reference materials, so, I am relying, for now, on photos I took years ago at the zoo and parks. They will run out fast, though, so, I am going to have to actually step outside the house sometime to work from life or take new photos! These are just some quickies sketches to start with.

Black Swan

Snow Owl

Sketchbook - Dog project - English Bulldog, Saarloos Wolfhound

I'm doing a little catch-up here as I've been slacking off a bit this past two weeks and had to scramble to get anything done for these projects. These are quickie sketches.

First is the Saarloos Wolfhound

and, English Bulldog

New Work - Red Arabian Stallion

This is from the wetcanvas arabian horse challenge and is painted in oils on a 12"x12" 3/4" thick gallery-wrapped canvas.

New Work - Sahara Gold, Spotted Jack, & Fire Storm

These are three that I just finished up.

"Sahara Gold" is 6x8 on hardboard.

"Spotted Jack" is 5x7 on birch.

"Fire Storm" is 2.5 x 3.5 on multimedia art board.

Breed A Week Project - Cleveland Bay

I finally got back to finish this one. I did start it several weeks ago when the Cleveland Bay was the current breed in the Wet Canvas project...just never finished it and ended up going on to other paintings. I tend to do that...a lot. Whenever something new catches my interest, I may stop what I'm working on to start the new project. As a result, I usually have several paintings in progress or just sitting in a corner waiting to be noticed and finally finished. Today, I tried to round up a few of those and did finish several that have been kicked around on my work table for the past month. This one is a 4x6 of a cleveland bay stallion ready for the showring.

New Work - Stealin' Home

Here is another little girl centaur, a base-stealer sliding for home! This is an ACEO oil painting (2.5" x 3.5")on 3/16" birch panel. Shown life-sized and a close-up of her face.

Click on Title to see listing or click link;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=140319370224

Sketchbook - Frisky Arabian

This sketch is done from a photograph by AinsleyG from Arabian Horse Art Challenge 2 on the WetCanvas Equine Art forum. I decided to try it out in ink - something I have not done in well over a year! It was done without using any pencil to layout the sketch, a bit nerve-wracking since I do like my erasers! Overall I was pleased with how it came out and plan to do some more sketches using ink.

Sketchbook - Mangalarga Marchador

Here is the latest in the Horse Breed a Week project, the Mangalarga Marchador. I'm running behind a bit on these projects so I just did this one sketch for this weeks breed.