Stallions continue...

This has been a large 24x36 commission for a Gypsy/Drum Horse farm in Pennsylvania depicting 4 of their prized stallions.

I continued work on Slainte(far right) and Guinness(right). Need to add the lights to his bottom legs and feet feathers. Tonka, the black horse has begun to get work done on him. His eye is in place along with his mane and highlights have been started. Needing a break before I continue on him. Hope to have him complete tomorrow leaving Cobalt to be worked on last. This has been a long time in progress and it feels good to see it coming to life...

Mermaid & Barn Swallows

I continue here not to share my art but rather the reasons I love living where I do. They all give me such joy-the birds, critters, my own crew of rescues and of course my deepest love, the girls Cherokee and Lena. I have to admit they do all keep me away from my easel more then I care to admit. But we only live this life we were given once and I dont want to miss a thing my wee corner of the earth has blessed me with....I do still get to my paints for short bursts every day, well, almost everyday. Along with the Gypsy commish, I have also been working on an 8x10 Mermaid(my first with a Merman!) painting depicting a ballet amongst the ruins of Atlantis...this is a progress of where it is at...hope you can see where it is going...:)

Well as promised yesturday, I just snapped some pictures of our Barn Swallows. They have definetely set up residence in the barn and let us again shut them in last night. One has taken to sitting in the nest, while the other perches himself on the pile of boards we have located on a shelf above the main door. Im calling that one a 'him' but it could be the other way around..not sure with this bird who actually is the guardian of the nest. Just being stereotypical in my thinking I guess...lol Think I will go do a bit of research on these extremely handsome bird..:) The first image of the nest, her tail is slightly visible on the left front corner. As I was taking pics, she turned around and this time her tail was visible in the front right..:) He was out flying around for a while and returned..

Progress with Gypsies

This is a long time coming and not as far as I would like but progress is progress. Ive added the white tone to Slainte(horse on far right) and also to Cobalt(far left). More blue white tone needs to be added to the whites before I continue to give them definition.. I also worked on the background tree...tomorrow the whites will be completed

Gypsies are starting to appear!

Did NOT get as far as I wanted to today...just got too bogged down with too much stuff. But never the less they are starting to appear and with that I am happy..:) Here I have blocked in the darker midtone on their black areas. When applying detail now I will have the option to go darker and lighter around it to create muscle and depth. Havent decided yet if Im going to detail it first or go onto their eyes tomorrow..will have to see what the day brings with it tomorrow

The lawn tractor broke and we are waiting for the new seal to arrive. One came in the other day and guess what?, they ordered the wrong one, sooo part of my day today was using the push mower to cut a couple of acres. So forgive my late blog and my lack of participation today...

Anyway here is the painting, hope you enjoy seeing its beginning..:)

thanks all and have a Great Wednesday night(whats left of it anyway)

Nighty, night!

Gypsy Vanner & Drum Stallions

This is a large 24x36" commission(priliminary photo to work from above) for a Gypsy& Drum Farm in Pennsylvania. First I went thru a few dozen photos of the individual stallions to get the best positions to make them appear as if they would standing together in the final composition keeping their'hands' in mind for their placement. Next I decided on the lighting and wind direction since their manes, feathers and tails are going to be a very important feature of the painting. I need them to be blowing to really accentuate each individual horse without taking away or seriously covering up their neighbors.

I started painting the actual background on the canvas and then took it into photoshop(took a picture of it and saved it) to apply the horses to figure out how they would go. This is the composition I came up with and drew in the estimation for their manes etc in photoshop before bringing it to canvas.

This is the actual painted background started. I need to add more leaves to the tree in the background still..Im not worrying about creating the tree to precise realism as it is only being done as a suggestion and to create a grounding for the horses..There will be another bush/tree to the left of Cobalt(the white horse) which will be more in focus and contain more detail..

Today I started drawing the 4 horses onto the canvas. It may be a bit hard to see the pencil lines..hope you can see it...

This is the two horses on the right, Guiness the Drum and Slainte the Gypsy. Hardest to pick out Slainte in these...

And this is the two horses on the left, the white one Cobalt on the end and the small black Tonka between him and Guinness. The hands difference between these two is incredible. Tonka is a mere 13.3 and Guinness a very large 17.1. When I originally placed little Tonka on the end, his wee size was too accentuated.

Well this is a start. Now off to get something small done for ebay today as my mermaid ends this evening. Need something to replace her...Been doing mainly mermaids & dolphins for ebay these past few months. Gotta do what sells there right? Ive missed doing the realism and the horses especially so this commission is a really nice treat...:)

Happy Tuesday all!!

And thanks for your interest!

Caron

Now THIS is spring!

Todays Photo of the Day features our girl Stars. I was heading out the front door the otherday and noticed her perched up on one of the beams that crosses our GreatRoom peering down on me. Think she had a "Im mighter then thou" thought running thru her head?

Today DH & I spent the wee hours this morning cleaning up the horse 'apples' and trimming branches in the girls pasture prior to letting them out. Miss Lena of course went straight to the hay! That gal does love her food!

We are digging the top soil mound that was deposited last year at the base of the pond we had put in down below. Over the early spring, DH had smoothed out the clay base that remained around it and we have layered old manure and hay on top of it. Today we are now starting to get that mound broken down and spread on top of the manure/straw mixture so we can hopefully soon grass it. Why are we not using a loader? Well the land is extremely hilly and no loader will get down there..:(

In the mean time I did get to work a bit on this new OSWOA (4x6) painting of a fairy. Still has a ways to go but she is started.....

Hope to get some time later today to work on her some more.

Happy Spring Saturday everyone and dont forget your sunscreen!

"Gentle Friend" From the Mermaid Series

"Gentle Friends"

About this Painting
Up on the beach just as the sun was about to set, this mermaid gets surprised by one of her seal friends as he snuck up behind and brushed his soft whiskers on her back...
From the "Mermaid" Series

http://http//tiny.cc/5DKge