Understanding Art Confidence

When I decided to pursue creating an art career at this stage in my life, I've found that I relied on my passion and excitement for creating a piece. Well, soon I realized those feelings don't necessarily result in a piece that all comes together automatically! And then, I became very disappointed with myself, and heading down that useless road of doubting my talent and choice. However, I do have a bit of a stubborn streak and like to think of myself as practical and sensible so I "hunkered" down and took a realistic look at my technique and understanding of color theory, composition, light and dark values, etc.... and allowed myself to be ok with what I felt was an honest assessment (where my naturally strong points and weak points were). From that point on, I sought projects that would always challenge me on some aspect so I could gain that all important confidence in painting a finished piece!

This painting is from a series I call Prancing Horse. The painting is entitled Prancing Horse Faux Black. It's called faux black because I did not use any black paint in the painting. When studying on my favorite artists self-help website, I came across a discussion about painting blacks without using black paint. I thought, ok, I can do this. And my black prancing horse came to be. The black is a combination of blue + red+ green, in various hues and layers. After playing around with this color combinations and seeing how mixing in the water brings it to life, I'm hooked! Now I understand when other artists say they never use black straight from the tube (or pencil in my case!) This is one of my favorite paintings so far, simply because I was so fascinated with the color mixing discovery! I think the color came out so much more vibrant than a straight painted black. And, as an added benefit, my confidence was boosted!

Prancing Horse Faux Black is a small format painting, the size is 4.25" x 5.75", on 90 lb watercolor paper. The mat is hand cut and formed by me from some wonderful handmade paper I bought from Under The Sun ( http://stores.ebay.com/Handmade-Paper-Store), a faux brown leather with a white linen surface. This painting is available for purchase. http://www.hosslass.etsy.com/

Thanks for visiting!

Hanging Out the Shingle

This is Sisco, my partner in all equine endeavors! He's the third of my lifetime horses so far. My first horse I got when I was 16, and we shared adventures for the next 25 years. My second horse partner, who taught me through the school of hard knocks, how to truly discover the ART of listening and understanding horses, was with me for ten years. Both of these horses have passed over the rainbow bridge in recent years. So, now it's just Sisco and I, and we are in our third year of being together.

These horses over the years have provided so many days of inspiration for my future art ideas and expressions. So have so many other horses I have encountered over the past almost 30 years I've been a "horse person". Seems like I needed all this experience first so I can now hang my shingle out as a horse artist!

When I was younger, I showed a talent for art, painting and drawing, horses, horses and more horses. I didn't develop that talent as I entered college and went into another direction in life. Now, after a few decades, I felt drawn back to drawing and painting. I think it's a mid life crisis, LOL! Whatever it is, I love having this activity as part of my life again!

Around two years ago, I started searching out art sites and began to re-educate myself about drawing and painting and began the creative process. And while my art production maybe a bit slow, I'm now feeling that I'm getting my rhythm now and have begun to build a portfolio to share. And now, here is this blog, another way to share my art creations!

Next blog time, the art sharing begins!!!