Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Art Show Entries "Rodents" on EBSQart.com

When I saw the title and subject of this artshow, I just had to enter my two and only two rodent paintings!  LOL!  These are from a few years back now, but, they have been waiting for the right show...and here it is!  Visit the link to see the show...voting starts Oct. 1! 

RODENTS ART SHOW

These are my two entries for those who don't want to click the link;
"Western Treasures III - The Cache" 20x24 oil on linen


"Western Treasures 5 - Narrow Escape!" 16x20 oil on linen


(sorry this pic is so small, I'm missing my larger file.  Close-up images can be seen on the show listing.)

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Sketchbook - Zebra

This zebra was another resident of the Grand Prairie Wildlife Park that I photographed in the late 80s.  I don't know which zebra species this is. 

Sketchbook - Longhorn

This big longhorn steer was a resident of the long-gone, Grand Prairie Wildlife Park.  I photographed him from my car while driving through the park back in the late 1980s. 

Sketchbook - Geese from life

I went to the local park to try and get some practice sketching from life.  I managed to sketch these three geese, but, they didn't stick around long.  We get a nice selection of domestic and wild ducks and geese at this lakeside park including mallards, grey geese, harlequins, canadas, and several others species I don't know.  These are the ones that aren't afraid to be close to people.  Other wildlife seen at a distance includes various egrets, red-tailed hawks, vultures and beavers, turtles, and nutrias.  It's a nice place to sketch when it's not too crowded with people! 

Saturday, September 26, 2009

New Work - "Misty Dream"

This is a little oil ACEO of a unicorn in a misty forest.
This is about life-sized...

...and a close-up...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

New Work - "Palomino Morgan

This is a 4"x6" oil on birch. 


New Work - "Hallowhinny"

This is a new ACEO for Halloween!  "Hallowhinny' is a demonically possessed horse skelly determined to scare all the kiddies at Trick or Treat into dropping thier nights plunder so that he, Hallowhinny, will have ALL the treats to himself! 



Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Reworking - Dad & Cockleburr


There have been many paintings that have languished in my closet unfinished, because I just could not make them work. Some I just lost interest in, perhaps because some thing about them bothered me that I just could not see at that time. One such piece, a recent portrait of my dad, had an obnoxious background of cherry red to dark red in swirls and patches...what was I thinking! I was mostly pleased with how my dad and his horse Cockleburr turned out, but, just short of actually finishing this painting, I set it aside, unable to complete it.





This is after I had started changing the background. The actual color was much more red than this photo shows!

The background was actually the reason I did the painting. Yes, I wanted to do a portrait of my dad...I had been thinking of doing this one of him with his horse for a couple years, in fact, but, the main reason I finally started the painting was to explore a series of equine portraiture utilizing bright jewel-tone backgrounds. I thought this would be a good opportunity to do dad's painting and stay within the parameters of this series. I'd already done a few other horse paintings using bright blues, greens, and violets for the backgrounds that came out pretty nice...I just needed a good red next! So I did my dad in red. Hmmm. O.K. It took me a few months to just let it stew, still unfinished. I finally decided, that series parameters or not, that red background just had to go!

So, I decided it would have to be a full landscape background instead. I chose to use a scene from the area near to where we lived when we had our horses back in the early '70s; the Tularosa Basin between Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, and Tularosa, New Mexico. My dad was in the military then and we kept our horses at the base riding stable. We often rode out into the desert north of the base, and, later after dad retired, we lived in Tularosa to the northeast. This scene in the portrait places him in that general area north of Holloman AFB and shows Tularosa as a line of trees at the base of the mountain, Sierra Blanca on the far right side of the painting. Today, this same area is filled with pistacheo groves, so, this scene in my painting is actually a view into the past, circa 1972!




Creating is an ongoing process of learning to see so that we as artists can correct any errors and make our art perfect, or at least, as perfect as we can! Unfortunately, it takes time and practice to learn this and we don't always see those errors until the artwork has long been finished. I'm still not entirely happy with this painting of my Dad. It has come a long way from my first 'vision' of it, but, too much time has passed since beginning this portrait and all I see now are its faults. I feel the background is much better, but, now the overall painting is not quite there...again! There is much about this that I still like, enough not to trash it, or, attempt a major repainting. Therefore, as it sometime goes, this is one more painting that I may have to call done. Time to go on to the next project.


This is the final version.  Not a good photo as there is a lot of glare on the lower left.  I find it hard to get good images of larger paintings.  Here are some close-ups. 





Sketchbook - Centaurs - The Entertainer

This one is in my Centaurs & Dragons Sketchbook and is about 4x6".  This bold fellow makes a living as a traveling muscian and dancer.  With wild hair, bells, and bouncing fring, he bobs and weaves in rythm to a lively tune on his pipes! 


New Work - "Sweet Dreams"



   Dreaming sweet dreams with her favorite dollies; fluffy and baby-soft, this baby centaur fell asleep right where she played in the home garden.   This new centaur painting  oil on 6x8" hardboard panel. 



Wednesday, September 9, 2009

WIP - 16x20 Centaur 'Braiding' Painting

I will be starting this new centaur oil painting soon. This one is inspired from this sketch from my centaur sketchbook and will be done in oils at 16x20.

I'm still working out the drawing and plan to explore a horizontal format so I can space out the figures a bit more. This vertical format sketch on tracing paper is my first idea, but, it is just a start. More to come later as I plan to photograph and comment on the progress of this work in progress.

Friday, September 4, 2009

New Work - Hop Scotch

Here is another centaur child at play! This is an ACEO oil on multimedia art board. I have several centaur paintings in the works right now, so, more to come!

New Work - Playing With Mom

I just finished this aceo today and listed it on ebay. This little appaloosa is having a grand game just playing with mom. This is an oil ACEO on multimedia artboard.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

New Work - "Stud Talk"

Just finished this new mustang painting of three stallions having a disagreement! This is also my currant Featured Art. This original oil painting is 6"x8" on a handmade hardboard panel. For close-up photos or to purchase just click on the title or the photo!

"Stallion Talk" 6x8 inches oil on panel

Halloween Art - Ikabod's Horror

One more from my dusty 'Finished Art' box of last years unsold Halloween Art! This one has also become a yearly tradition for me with this one being number 3 in the 'Headless' series. This is an original oil ACEO on black multimedia artboard.

"Ikabods Horror" 2.5x3.5 inches

Halloween Art - "Horse with a Jack-o-lantern Hat - Terror!"

I dug this out of my 'Finished Art' box where it has been languishing since last Oct. I do have new Halloween art planned, but, knowing my propensity for procrastination, the new Halloween art may not be ready until next Halloween! This is an oil ACEO on black multimedia artboard.

"Horse with a Jack-o-lantern Hat - Terror!" O.K. Don't ask...just accept that stranger things do happen! I don't recall my original inspiration for this series, but, this is the 3rd in the series of Halloween art featuring Spooky with his unusual choice in headgear...and, this years version is on the easle!