painting: horses at the stream

speckles and drops 30″x40″

Oh, can I tell you how difficult this one was? Like pulling teeth. I got the horses painted, and then stalled. And stalled. So it sat on my easel for six months. Maybe longer. Mocking me every time I sat down to paint. I wasn’t sure I could carry off the water, and had put so much time into it that I didn’t want to wreck it by trying. Sometimes it just has to be the right day, though. It won’t work one day, and then on another it’s no effort at all.

I think I finished it on the right day. 30″x40″ oil on canvas. Available in my Etsy shop. I painted from a reference photo shared by Gary Odell.

painting: horse glance

ethereal evening light 11″X14″

What a gorgeous horse, it was hard to go wrong painting her–which is to say, there’s no wrong way to paint such a perfect moment. I painted from a reference photo graciously shared by Rita Gallaway at Majestic Spanish Horses. I may paint this horse again in another color-way. Actually, I’d originally imagined her painted HUGE–do you want to see this one painted dramatically large? Let me know in the comments. 11″x14″ oil on cradled wood board, available in my Etsy shop. Thanks for looking.

painting: mama horse and foal

A couple days last week I concentrated on being a little more expressionistic. Use the unexpected color. Try to paint looser. Loose is difficult for me, so I have to make a point of trying all the tricks and crossing my fingers. 11″x14″ oil on cradled wood board, available in my Etsy shop. 🙂 I painted from a reference photo kindly shared by Karen Jane Peppe.

painting: a highland cow, and a bunting (bird)

solitary coo 9″x12″

There’s an understated magnificence to Highland cows. They don’t know how very gorgeous they are–they just are. I painted from a reference photo shared by Les Liddle.9″x12″ oil on cradled wood board, Available in my Etsy shop. 🙂

painted bunting 8″x10″

I love these birds, they are so colorful. I have yet to see one, but I know they at least pass through where I live, if are not permanent. One day I’ll have my camera in hand at just the right moment, but for now, I painted from a reference photo shared by Roy Heron. 8″x10″ oil on cradled wood board. Available in my Etsy shop. Thanks for looking.

paintings: a hare, and a squirrel

cheeky 8″x8″

What a wonderfully engaging moment–I couldn’t resist painting him. I painted from a reference photo shared by Les Liddle. 8″x8″ oil on cradled wood board. Available in my Etsy shop.

Sidney 6″x12″

I thought showing a partial face makes him a little bit more playful, plus really shows off that long ear. I painted from a reference photo shared on a Facebook group of reference photos for artists. 6″x12″ oil on cradled wood board. Available in my Etsy shop.

painting: daisy & bee

daisy & bee 10″x10″

Painting anything with a preponderance of the color white has always been my bane. How to make what is essentially an empty color, full of color? It’s a challenge. Too much color, and there won’t be enough white left to know what should have been. So I try my hand at it now and then, to see what I can do. I think this daisy has just enough touches of color that it doesn’t lose its daisy-essence. I’m enjoying painting bee wings, too, their translucence ephemeral, allowing a glimpse of the colors beneath. I painted from a reference photo generously shared by Kim Underwood.

10″x10″ oil on cradled wood board. Available in my Etsy shop. 🙂

painting: horse at the stream

harvest time 12″x12″

The colors are particularly vivid, the yellows contrasting against the dark purple. I think it looks like an autumn scene, though it could be any time of year. The golden light perhaps speaks to a dusty, long hot day. I used a reference photo shared by Gary Odell. 

12″x12″ oil on canvas. Available in my Etsy shop. 🙂