New Work in Progress painting Trotting horse in Grassy Field

Recently I've discovered a new painting surface board to try, the Ampersand brand Aquabord. This product is a clayboard that's textured for watercolors, and can be displayed without glass in the frame. I actually haven't painted on it yet, so I'm starting with the small size (5"x7") to get a feel for how it's going to be to paint on.

For these small paintings, I wanted to keep the composition pretty simple, after all this is a first try on the Aquabord. Two ideas came to mind, a horse in a field and a horse jumping a creek/ditch in a southwest landscape. Off I go to the reference pic library on WetCanvas (where artists can use volunteered pics with permission for painting references). There are hundreds of pics to go through but it wasn't long until I found the first reference pic, a beautiful composition of a trotting horse in a golden grassy field in front of woods.

When I start a painting I like to do a little homework first. One of the first things I do is work out a tonal sketch in pencils. Keeping things simple, my mantra, I work out the darks, lights and medium tones in the composition with 2B, 4B and 8B pencils. All I do for this is just print out the pic on my printer and trace the outline on sketch paper. Sketch size is 7"x7" approx. I did not want the fenceline in the painting so I left it out.

Once that is done, I'm then ready to do a simple color sketch, which helps me to see what colors to start the first color layer with. This way I can get a "sneak peek" when the painting will go and how to start the tweaking process. The color palette I used was treeline: Indigo, May green, Olive green (derwent brand), pea green (cretacolor), dark pthalo green (faber castell), tree trunks are in sepia (derwent): horse in french grey (prismacolor)(I left the horse in neutral color on purpose): grassy field and shadows: ivory (cretacolor), burnt umber, blue grey,burnt sienna, primrose yellow, gold, deep cadmium, middle chrome and flesh pink (derwent).

By doing the pencil and color sketch, I start to get a feel for the painting outcome and a helpful guideline. Now the next step I will do the architecting of the painting; freehand transposing the sketch to the actual painting size and setting up a composition grid to make sure the painting objects are balanced. This way I can be sure to create a visual "flow" across the painting. So that will be the subject for the next blog posting.

New Project, Hiking/Trail Riding Journals

With the Unicorn painting finished, and listed on both Etsy and Artfire (and Twittered!), time for my latest functional art project. Small, hand held size hiking or trail riding journals. These journals will be embellished with natural stones or silver on the leather lacing and then a miniature painting on the cover. I think these will be very unique.

My theme is wildlife and landscapes of the southwest. I plan on using stones that are natural to the landscape depicted for the journal decoration. For example, one journal cover will feature the feral mustangs of Nevada, and I will be using natural (as possible) Nevada mined turquoise and silver beads. Reason being, Nevada is well known for it's illustrious turquoise mines and of course the abundant silver mines. I will also make two additional journals, plans are for an Elk looking over the Grand Canyon (copper and silver beads) and a Buffalo (bison) in Yellowstone (still deciding on stones; need to do some more research).

So I have the theme selected, still need to get more reference material together for the miniature paintings. I have cut all the paper out and am ready to start binding the journals. I'm thinking I will bind and bead each journal first, and then get started on each matching painting. My time is now directed on this new project; I'm excited to see how these will turn out in time! I'll keep on with updates every week!

New Painting, Black Unicorn Bust

After the lake painting I was ready for another horse subject. Here is my latest completed project, called "Northern Unicorn". Done in watercolor pencils, 136# watercolor cold press paper, size is 9" x 12". I worked on this painting for weeks, I had a stretch where I was either too tired, out of town, or uninspired to do any progress with it, which accounts for the length of time to get it finished. I'm just not one of these artists that does a painting a day! However, it feels good to call this painting finished.

I had the idea for this painting a while back. Sometime last year, I was looking through reference photos on WetCanvas Reference Library. When I saw this photo of a Friesian horse, a unicorn immediately popped into my head! So I filed it away, bookmarked it for another time! Sometimes a story unfolds in my mind when I see certain photos, and this black, strong, powerful, beautiful horse head somehow made me think of a unicorn in a Celtic forest, forging an adventure in a mystic land.

I worked on some other projects first for a while and then I got to thinking about my unicorn again. And so now it was his turn to come to life from my thoughts to paper. First I gathered some reference prints, close up of that mane and a pic of highlighted light sources:

From here I made a full size sketch using 6b drawing pencil, trying to get the perspective right and practicing my freehand sketching.

For my colors I used my favorite combination for a vibrant black which is ultramarine, pathlo green, and crimson red, with additions of burnt umber or indigo as needed. For highlights I used violets and turquoise, some peach or pink. Background is mostly warm greys, light ochre and sanguine orange, with lots of loose water to push the colors around. The horse is painted with a more controlled application of water on the pigments.

I'm happy he's done, I was ready . I plan on getting this painting, along with two others, listed on my Etsy and Artfire stores. I'll enjoy my Northern Unicorn until he gallops to another admirers home!

WIP New Horse Action Painting Finished!

And it's finished! So you can see from the color sketch in the previous blog post I just really didn't add anymore color to the horses and riders. But I decided to add a bit more to the background. I added sepia and more yellows to indicate the dust flying especially on the center sliding horse. I also added more yellow and a cobalt blue "ribbons" behind the center horse to account for the energy of action around the horses and riders. I used the technique of wetting the tip of the pencil and then rolling the wet pencil tip on its side to lay the ribbon of color for both the blue and yellow. I then took a slightly damp brush over certain sections for some slight blending. Here are some closeups:








Compared to the more detailed paintings I normally do, this painting took only half the time to complete. I almost feel "lazy" to call this painting finished!! But I'm happy with it, very good exercise for me artistically. I may do a series of action horse events like this, with cutting horses or jumping horses or something!



Oh, I've titled this painting "Reining Riders Trio of Dreams".


This painting will be available for purchase in my Etsy Shop very soon. Now it's time to make more horse themed Christmas tags for my shop, already sold one set of eight! Yipee!

WIP New Horse Action Painting Continued

I truly did not forget about blogging the WIP, just been busy! But now I'm ready to complete the WIP. Once I had the initial sketches done, I made a few changes to correct proportions, like horses head size, legs and feet size, riders arm positions,etc.. and then used tracing paper to copy and lift the designs to the watercolor paper. Here you can see how I placed the drawings ready to be rubbed on the background.











So now the big decision, COLOR! I've decided this painting is going to be more loose in style and more contemporary in presentation as opposed to my usual realistic style. Every once in a while I like to go "outside the box" for me!! When I paint, I really enjoy painting using lots of complementary colors so that was my starting point. Found my trusty color wheel and went to work. Here is the initial color sketch for horses and riders.

I tried to chose colors that would all complement each other (according to my trusty color wheel) in some way or another. This was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, which color would "fit" with another, I hope I pulled it off though! I used three brands of watercolor pencils, Faber Castell (FC), CretaColor (CC) and Derwent (D). So let's start with the left horse which is in a left spin manuever: horse, blue violet (FC) body, bluish turquoise (FC) mane & tail and receeding areas; rider, naples yellow (D) outline and recessed areas with ochre light (CC) and golden brown (D). For the larger center horse performing a sliding stop, colbalt green (FC) body outline with orange (CC) for eyes and forelock; the rider in madder carmine (CC). For the right side horse in a right handed spin manuever, horse in permanent red light (CC) with magenta (D) for mane & tail and eyes; the rider is in moss green light (CC) and earth green yellowish (FC). Yea, LOTS of color here! Well, this is what I think I want, LOL! So now time for water and painting!

WIP New Horse Action Painting

Ok, I've decided to start a WIP (work in progress) here, testing to see how I handle it schedule wise! An idea came to me about starting an "action" series depicting various horse sports. Somehow, I decided on a reining horse scene. Don't really know why, I enjoy watching reining horses but I was never that interested in actually riding in reining sports. But this is what came to me from Him so I'm doing the smart thing and going with it!



I'm thinking about a loose, more contemporary style, with lots of bold color to create a sense of action, speed and grace. As I'm looking to be original and different in composition I didn't want to depict more sliding reining horse side views that is very common. So I went with a left hand spin horse, a right hand spin horse and in the center a front view sliding stop. Here is a working sketch drawn freehand from references:











And I've started on the background using wet pencils and washes on dry paper, size is about 6" x 10" :


Next I'll "tighten" up the sketches, refine the lines and get them where I want to transfer onto the painted background. Then the color will begin!! Stay tuned....

And the Site builds, Jeweled Bookmark Paintings!

Well I'm making progress for getting art listings in my Etsy shop. This weekend I finished beading the four bookmarks and photographing and listing. Amazing just how much time goes into this process, however it's worth it to me if someone lets me know they enjoy the art! Putting art out for public view is a tricky thing you know, what appeals to the artist and what doesn't is the exact opposite to a viewer or buyer! So I try to create with that in mind.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the creative process with these bookmarks. Not only coming up with the painting subjects, but then designing the coordinating beaded tassel. So I combined the process of drawing, watercolor painting, leather work, collecting/combining the beads and stones and then sewing and gluing. Then learning how to get good photographs to best represent the art, *sigh* which I think is the most difficult part for me. The creative process flows pretty well in stages. A lot of times, I'll get to a point in the design, and then a little voice will say "stop" or "let it rest" for now. So I'll go do a barn chore or something and then the rest of the design will come to me! Then I just have to remember it for when I can get back to my art desk later! LOL!

I hope folks enjoy the bookmark art, anyway, there's four in my Etsy shop, each very different to appeal to different equestrian taste! I tried in each of the bookmark painting descriptions to delve more into what inspired the painting for me. I found that was something very personal to share. People could think I am one of those "nutty artsy fartsy types"! HA!

I've got to gear up in making more Christmas themed items, but there's this new painting idea stuck in my mind, so if I know what's good for me, I'll get started creating that first!! LOL!

UPDATE ! ! *** UPDATE ! !
BOOKMARK ART SOLD! And just like that, my first bookmark art piece sold this morning!!! The English rider and horse piece "Practising the Good Hack" now has a new home! Thank God! What a great feeling!

More Paintings Finished

Well, have to say I'm proud of myself for getting these miniature bookmark paintings done, I'm gitting, oops, getting, more disciplined about my time during the day to devote to creating some artwork. Plus, it's actually fall season here in Texas (hey, when the temps are 90 degress or less in September and October, it's Fall! LOL!), so I'm not tired from working out in the heat around the farm.

I want to start with the bay horse and the hand painting titled "The Polite Offering". This depicts a natural horsemanship concept called the horseman's handshake, which is all about approaching and inviting the horse to seek the human first, not the human just taking over the horses personal space and grabbing and pushing the horse around (which is rude to the horse, and they know it!). The hand in this position shown is placed to simulate another horse's muzzle in a friendly non-threating position. There are volumes of thought that go along with this, and for me, learning about it opened up so much more depth in my horsemanship! The style of the painting is rather controlled, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Takes a lot of patience to work a lot of detail in a small (2"x2") space! I will put this is a vinyl bookmark sleeve and embellish it with a beaded/leather cord.

The next bookmark I went in a different direction stylisticly, looser and more abstract. I don't have a name quite yet for this one, so it's working title is "Bold Spirit Horses of Color". This painting is based on a vintage Navajo sterling silver pin I have. I love collecting and wearing Native American artisian made jewelry, and have a special interest in horse pins. The horse colors represent the stones often used in NA jewelry; turquoise, coral and spiney oyster. There are stories from several native indian cultures about how the horse was created and was used by the dieties. I found a very interesting story about a horse of turquoise color that was ridden across the sky every morning and thus the reason for blue skys! ( Thanks to Twin Rocks Trading Post of Bluff, Utah for sharing this info online!!) The ruddy colored background is an abstract representation of the red rock sandstone formations that I've seen ancient petroglyphs on. With this painting it will give me the opportunity to embellish with some genuine natural Kingman turquoise and spiney oyster beads (once my bead order gets here) for the bookmark cord.

The very top painting is called "Practising the Good Hack". Here, something a bit more traditional in equestrian painting. While I live in the mecca of cowboy country, there are a fair number of English style riders and activities around. In fact, I know several riders from the UK across the pond who have been riding among the cowboys and wannabe cowboys here for many years! All of my barn boarders are english riders and I myself, ride either english, western or bareback. Depicted in the painting is a rider on a proper turned out horse working on their form. I could just hear the rthyhm of the trotting footfalls across the arena sand and the rider quietly counting, "one-two, one-two" in posting up and down. I think it turned out to be a very plesant looking little painting! This one also will be put into a vinyl bookmark sleeve with a beaded leather cord, perhaps gold embellishment on this one!

I'm planning on getting these in my Etsy shop by the weekend I hope, as I will also have some little notepads ready to list by then too! Now, back to the day job....

"The Inviting Path", first of a series

Don't you love it when you finally get going on something you know you should be doing? Finally, I finished my first bookmark painting. I call it "The Inviting Path". After all these years of trying all kinds of horse riding activities, my absolute favorite riding endeavour is heading down a trail in the wide open spaces. There is such a bonding experience between rider and horse from doing something so simple as going from point A to point B down a path, whether it's for an hour or 24 hours!

As this painting is for a bookmark purpose, I wanted to tie in the theme with purpose. Reading a book takes the reader on an adventure for fiction or fact. If you will, taking the reader down a path. So here is a path painted that I hope folks find just as inviting as the book it's in to read! Notice how the horse has the right ear facing back; he's listening to the rider or reader in this case to keep going forward!

This is a freestyle painting, I used no reference photos, just what I saw in my imagination. My watercolor pencil palette was pretty simple of a few greens, yellows, browns and indigo blue and ultramarine blue for the background and my horse is a few violets, paynes's grey, indigo blue. I decided to put in a wildflower field in the distance and used a permanent red, orange chrome and a pink to add some bright color. Bookmark size of approx. 2.25" wide by 7.25" high on white Lenox 100 cotton rag paper (I LOVE this multi-purpose art paper for small projects!) I will put this painting inside a vinyl bookmark sleeve and embellish the top with a leather cord and wonderful silver horse charm. I plan on putting this up in my Etsy shop as soon as I get a few more bookmarks created.

Ok, so now that this first one is started, I'm going to stay on this momentum and get going on the next! And I will be sure to post it on the blog as soon as I can!

Promote! Promote! Promote!

I started something I've never done before last week, creating promotional items of my Etsy art shop! Making my Etsy shop a success (ie producing a steady monthly income and showcasing my art) has become really important to me. So, I've been reading through all the forums for days on the site to glean ideas about how to do this, especially in the economy today! I gathered some great ideas and one of those was to join an Etsy Team. I joined the Etsy Texas Crafters last month and one of the events is a participating booth at the Maker Faire in Austin Oct. 18th. And, one of the members is cordinating "goodie bags" to give out to promote Etsy and the Texas Etsy members. And all I, or any member, need to do was simply send their shop promo items and the kind Etsy member will distrubute them out!!

I thought, wow, this is a great and affordable opportunity for me, so why not participate and take advantage! Now, what in the world do I send as a promotional item? The obivious is business cards, however, I asked myself, would just a business card be motivation enough to get someone to come to my shop? While I have some very nice business cards, they do not really promote my Etsy site (it mostly highlights some other websites I use, but I'm in the process of changing my mind about those sites as I'm not getting ANY sales there!). I racked my brain and thought back on my experience from working in a doctor's office and when I was a veterinary pharmaucetical distributor salesperson. At those jobs I was innuadated with promotional items from all sorts of drug companies. The ones that I handled the most, therefore in my eyesight more often, was nice, cute USEABLE, items........

So, there you go...... (as Texans say)....

I tossed around a few ideas and decided on two products that would get some good attention and say "Pick me" "Look at Me"! Or at least I think so! A small handmade notepad (4" x 2.5") and a bookmark/business card combo. The notepad will have my store info, a copy of one of my paintings and a beaded accent and backed with some handmade paper. My bookmark with be printed on some cotton linen type handmade paper with a ribbon and bead accent. And here's a sample of what I came up with:

The first notepad shows how I did the back of each pad, bound with real leather cord and assorted handmade paper. Then two of the examples of the pads showing the beaded binding and a painting example. Each pad has five pages of off white resume paper. I'm thinking people can use this pad as a mini sketch pad too. I'm having to practically hand cut all the pages so it's a lot of work. The front of the pad is printed on some great cotton rag paper (Lenox 100) that has a nice stiffness and thickness. I used glass beads with gold beading wire and just wrapped it around the leather cording (these supplies, beads & leather cord, came from WalMart so I didn't have to spend much). I'm making around 30 or so of these!

And these are the business card/bookmarks:

I'm making around 30-40 of these and hand tying each ribbon and bead. The paper used has more of a cotton linen feel to it, I really like it a lot.

I'm trying to be very disciplined and keep working on making all of these and then get them mailed off. This being the first time I've ever hand made promo items I'm getting a good idea of what it takes timewise and cost wise. I'm learning a lot, it will be very interesting to see what kind of response I get after they are handed out in October.

Now, after this project is done, it's time to really build art projects for my shop in time for October. Lots and lots of ideas........Stay tuned!!!

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!!!