Art and Horses

The Cremello Foal

2011-12-31T09:56:00.002-05:00

The Cremello Foal, oil on canvas, 36 x 6 in. gallerywrap canvas

Blue eyes, pale creamy coat, reflecting the green grass of summer, and the blue sky. This colorful Morgan foal fills this tall narrow canvas, coming over for a friendly sniff.

I enjoy these unusual formats--contemporary, eye-catching, and fitting so nicely into a narrow wall space. The painting continues around the edges of this 1.5 in. thick gallerywrap canvas.

As 2011 comes to a close, I have been reviewing my inventory for the year. Sometimes it seems as if there is no time to paint, and yet this year, I have added more works to the inventory than ever before. This has also been a banner year for commission work, and I look forward to the commissions of 2012. This is an excellent time of year to start thinking of a portrait of your favorite horse or pet. Horses are best photographed in the spring and summer. Dogs may be photographed at any time, and often look best in their winter coat.

In light of the economy, although my costs for materials and heating the studio, etc. continue to rise, I will not be raising the rates for commissioned portraits this coming year. Prices start at 200. for a mini-painting (5 x 7), with custom sizes available up to 36 x 48 in. I hope that I will be painting your special animal in 2012.

Painting for the Cure

2011-12-22T15:52:00.002-05:00

It was a happy Christmas delivery today of the last of this year's portraits. It's always nice to see the grin on the face of the recipient, and the words, "I love it--it looks just like him!"
Meet Nagid--the beautiful black Arabian owned by the Platinum rider at this year's Komen Ride For the Cure. Cheryl raised over $7,000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and in return, she recieved this custom portrait of her horse. There is something striking about a black horse trimmed with pink ribbons, and I'm glad the owner wanted the ribbons included in his portrait. I am happy to be able to contribute to the Ride for the Cure in this way, and during the day of the ride I was able to set up a booth and see all the horses and riders and meet some wonderful people.

Alphadogs!

2011-11-25T11:24:00.002-05:00

It's here! Alphadogs!
My Horses From A to Z has been a popular item for the last twenty + years. And Alphadogs actually started out as a t-shirt design some years ago. After some local inquiries about it, I decided it was time to produce to poster. A bit more refined than the t-shirt design, the Alphadogs will make a perfect companion to the Horse alphabet.
The poster is at the printers now and will be ready to ship by Dec. 3.

Take advantage of my Small Business Saturday deal (actually a Friday, Saturday and Sunday deal) and get all three posters for only 15.00, or any two posters (can be two of the same) for 10.00. Go to aleciaunderhill.com for the Saturday deal.

Artists in the Country

2011-09-19T11:16:00.003-04:00

What a beautiful weekend we had for the annual Artists in the Country show and sale. The weather gods smiled upon us and the two days could not have been more perfect. It's always a concern when setting up a tent for two days and displaying paintings and works on paper, notecards and the like. Wind can actually be more of a concern than rain, as even a light breeze can wreak havoc on a display. And bright sun can cause condensation on things that are wrapped in plastic, prints framed under glass, and even notecards in clear stationery boxes. None of these things were a concern this weekend! It was so lovely meeting people, talking with fellow artists, and listening to the wonderful entertainment throughout the weekend. Many thanks to all the volunteers that helped out, delivered lunch to the artists, were available for breaks, etc. This show is such a treat--I look forward to participating again next year.

I love to watch the little ones' reactions to my animal paintings. When you have a booth full of chicks and pigs and sheep and cows and horses...it seems to draw the attention of the toddlers, who love to practice their animal sounds while admiring the artwork.

On a totally different subject...this seems to be the year for commissions. I still have a little room for new bookings before Christmas, but the schedule is filling up.

One recent dog portrait has involved a bit of dialogue back and forth about the color of the fur and the amount of wrinkles on the face, and I cracked up one day when I realized that the ads on the right side of my g-mail window were for things like "get rid of dark circles", "skin lightening in 14 days", and "best makeup for aging skin".
Those targeted ads have no idea that the e-mail discussion was about a dog!

Objects of Beauty

2011-08-01T10:16:00.003-04:00

Sage is a beautiful German Shepherd dog, recently completed on commission. It was a challenge to capture the right look of this dog, a serious, contemplative look, without being too intense. Her owner has such intimate knowledge of her expressions, and was specific about what sort of look he wanted in the portrait.

A dog portrait can take on many moods--playful, serious, goofy, noble. It all depends on the dog and the owner's relationship with the dog.

My post title, Objects of Beauty, perhaps should not pertain to a dog, if you are offended about a dog being considered an object. However, even human beings are often considered objects of beauty, so I meant it as merely being the subject of a beautiful painting, and it was inspired by the title of the latest audiobook to which I am listening in the studio...Steve Martin's "An Object of Beauty".

I highly recommend this book as a dead-on depiction of the Art world, with a capital A.

Little Jersey

2011-06-04T11:45:00.003-04:00

Little Jersey Calf, acrylic on board, 5 x 7 in.

This little Jersey calf is one of several new little works in acrylic and oil that I will be bringing to the Garden City Center Arts Festival. (Saturday, June 11th, 10-5., in Cranston, RI)

I have been enjoying working with acrylics lately. It's that time of year when I am much more pressed for studio time, and it's nice to be able to complete something, all the way to the signing, scanning and framing stage, in a much shorter time frame. Acrylic paints have come a long way since I last worked with them, and although I'm not sure that they would suit my painting style for a large piece, they are great for these little paintings on gessoboard.

Come out and see the Garden City Arts Fest! This is a new festival...looking forward to getting out there next Saturday.

Fluffy Duckies

2011-05-19T14:16:00.003-04:00

The latest additions to our little farm are an adorable pair of ducklings. Since we already have chickens, it was a natural addition, and we assumed that we could house the ducks in the chicken run, with their own doghouse-turned-duckhouse for a shelter.
Of course, the way projects often go...we realized that the chicken run would be unsuitable for the ducks and we decided to build them their own enclosure. The doghouse--suffering from a bit of rot, required considerable renovation, and now will sport a new red metal roof made from scraps from the chicken coop, and a clerestory window, with a hinged roof section for easy access.
The ducks have grown inches every day, and at four weeks old today, they are at least five times their original size, and growing feathers.
Swimming practice has taken place in the bathtub, a large plastic bin, and muck buckets.
They should be old enough to swim on the pond now, but cold rainy weather has delayed the duck housing construction, and so they'll happily remain in their temporary barn enclosure under a heat lamp for the time being. This little 8 x 10 oil study is the first of many duckling-inspired paintings to come.

Piggies.

2011-05-09T21:17:00.003-04:00

"Piggies", 8 x 10 oil on canvas

Everything off the easel lately is seems to be an 8 x 10 canvas. That is because I found a deal on a ten-pack of 8 x 10 canvases, and I toned them all at once, so they are ready to paint. It's a convenient size, made even more so by the fact that I found a source of 8 x 10 floater frames at my local art supply store, so that when these little paintings are finished, I can frame them up and they're ready to go. I have painted these piglets before, but I loved this pose of them snuggling in together. Piglets seem to love being one of a crowd, a foreign concept to someone who grew up as an only child.

Speaking of being in a crowd, I had the privilege tonight to start rehearsing with the ensemble for a local production of Sweeney Todd. As someone who likes to sing, but cannot sing well, it is a treat to participate with a cast of at least 30 voices, and to hear them all harmonize, even mine--since I cannot hit the high note, I drop down an octave when necessary. The music is tricky for Sweeney Todd, but our music director can work miracles. I was looking forward to doing this again since last summer's experience with Oliver, and I need something to replace the endless soundtrack of Food, Glorious Food that still pops into my brain whenever I cook dinner.
After doing Sweeney Todd, I may have much more horrific images in my brain when I cook dinner. Meat pies, anyone?

Chicks and Peeps

2011-04-21T16:31:00.004-04:00

"Easter Chicks", oil on canvas, 8 x 10 in

"Peeps", oil on board, 5 x 7 in.

These paintings are so new off the easel, they're still wet. But I wanted to post them in time for Easter. Since I've been enamored of baby chick paintings for the last couple of years, and since our baby chicks are all grown up, I had to settle for the marshmallow variety to paint. I thought it would be fun to combine a live chick with a peep, and then I had to do a study of the peeps themselves. Thank-goodness they went stale while under the studio lights, so I didn't have to eat them. I've never been a fan of Peeps for consumption, but I love the look of them with their curled over marshmallow beaks and little beady brown eyes.

"Chocolate Eggs", oil on board, 5 x 7 in.

And this last one had to be completed quick. You must know how difficult it is to stare at three foil-wrapped dark chocolate eggs for several hours. I thought of changing the painting to include just two wrapped eggs and an empty foil wrapper, but I restrained myself until the painting was finished. Those were the last of the chocolate eggs. Now if I want to do another painting, I'll just have to buy another bag.

Experiments

2011-02-19T14:21:00.000-05:00

Part of being an artist is experimenting with new things--new media, new subject matter, new ways of looking at things. My recent experimentations were with a new blogging site. I thought maybe I would start a fancier looking blog, something I could customize more, and the results are that I wasted a lot of time that could have been better spend painting. The new site was achingly slow to use, and I finally decided to stick to the familiar, and use my time on more painting.

I'm also signed up to teach a beginning drawing class, and in preparing for the class and thinking a lot about the process of drawing, I was inspired to get out some charcoal pencils and render some chickens. The dramatic contrast gives a whole new look to the chicken portraits.

And my third latest experiment is music. I had taken a few years of piano lessons as a kid, and though I never really had much talent for it, I enjoyed the ability to make some form of music, and I missed having a piano. The classic spinet piano that I slaved away at for many hours had been given away to another family--as I had no space for it in my home. So it occured to me that I could purchase an electronic keyboard--small, portable, but it would serve the purpose. So for a mere seventy dollars, I finally acquired a "piano". I set it up in my studio, and while photos are downloading or images are printing, I can exercise my brain by trying to play the piano. I had to dig deep to remember how to read music, and lo and behold, my fingers still have some memory of playing "The Entertainer". I will never be anything but a lousy piano player, but I think the brain exercise is probably a good thing. Maybe in some way, it will even make me a better painter.

Buried

2011-01-30T15:59:00.001-05:00

We're feeling a little buried here in Northeast Connecticut. This is more snow than I have seen in my lifetime. With more to come this week, I am hoping the weather pattern is going to change soon.

Cheerio is still up for a game of fetch the jollyball, no matter how deep the snow.

Winter Afternoon

2011-01-11T16:09:00.000-05:00

As I sit in my studio wishing for a snow day tomorrow (and all reports seem to indicate that it will come to pass), I am also in the process of organizing, sorting and purging computer files. This involves sorting scans of all my artwork into folders, deleting duplicates, and archiving certain files. It is only in the last five years or so that I created the system I have now, so there are an assortment of miscellaneous digital files of artwork that are uncategorized simply because they are a few years older. The library worker in me is driven nuts by the disorder, and so I am trying to neatly compartmentalize all of it. This was all brought on by the necessity of having to clear some space on my hard drive.
In the process, I encountered this painting, a 1997 oil on canvas titled "Winter Afternoon". I still have this piece in my possession, and it has been in storage for a while. This was a gelding that was boarded at a place I used to keep my mare. He was a very handsome Morgan, a dark seal brown with a gloriously long mane, which you can't see in the painting because it hung on the other side of his neck.
I would like to see this painting go to a new home, so I offer it for sale, unframed for $400. To purchase this painting, go to http://www.aleciaunderhill.com/small11.htm

Tis the Season

2010-12-02T09:48:00.000-05:00

"Belle", 36 x 36 in. oil on canvas

The RISD Sale is nearly here...This Saturday, at the RI Convention Center. On Friday evening, I'll do my usual drive to the loading dock and schlep all the display panels and boxes into the convention hall, and on Saturday morning, will be the fun task of setting up the booth, and visiting with other vendors that have become familiar friendly faces. This Holiday sale is a joy, a far cry from the early days of the RISD holiday sale, when half the booths were in a freezing, leaky tent on the quad, and the rest were crowded into the upper refectory. The RI Convention center is spacious, and warm, with music to create the mood, and an easy loading in and out.
I'll have "Belle" there this year, as well as a bunch of new original animal paintings, prints and cards. I'll have signed copies of "For Horse Crazy Girls Only" available for sale, and I'll be bringing the bargain bin! All the originals in the bargain bin are $75., and some are even framed.

Despite the fact that November and December tend to be the busiest time of year, with holiday art sales and internet orders to fill, it also seems to be the time I can be most productive. It could be that I seem to thrive on deadlines, or simply that there is much more "indoor" time available. Early darkness means I'm not outside puttering in the yard, throwing a tennis ball for the dog, or plucking weeds from the flowerbeds. Leaves are all raked--the rest can just blow away.

I've mentioned before in this blog how important the annual holiday card is to me. In my mind, it isn't just a perfunctory greeting, it's a gift to an extensive list of family and friends who are far-flung, and who we may not communicate with at any other time of year. It's a way to say we still think about you. And as my husband and I are both artists, the design of the card is a personal statement. It's a fun annual design challenge.

This year, it almost didn't happen. Not that we would have abandoned the annual holiday card altogether, but "stuff" was getting in the way of our usual enthusiasm for the project. Not to mention a raging sinus infection through Thanksgiving that had me down for the count for a couple of weeks. I was resigned to just picking out a photo from our digital files, and doing a simple photo card at Walmart.

But I sat down at the computer and printed out a couple of possible photos, and I just couldn't do it. The card had to be more than this. So I dug back into my files and found a story of mine to share. An hour or so of fiddling around with text in Illustrator, and creating a cover photo for the story, (which I had printed at Walmart), and suddenly we had a card that is special. (and time-consuming to assemble!) The assembly becomes a family project, which has become a nice tradition to share with my son. So I am glad I didn't go the easy route.

It's been a while...

2010-11-20T12:55:00.000-05:00

I really did keep telling myself to finish the posts about our Southwest trip, and so and behold, it's suddenly November. No, I didn't get hit in the head and knocked out for six months, but well, life gets in the way. Painting, maintaining the garden, working, attending soccer games, helping out at cub scout meetings and helping out at one church supper after another all seem to take priority over blog posting. And honestly, this one is going to be short, because Thanksgiving is in five days, and there is a house to clean. The horse, the dog and the cats all ran out of food at the same time. And of course, it has to be purchased from three different places! Poor Cheerio, I used up the last of her food last night, and she had to accept dog biscuits for breakfast, until I could run out and buy dog food. She was rewarded for her wait by being there when the new bag was opened and poured into the plastic bin by her crate. She likes to stick her head under the pouring kibble, to grab as much as she can before the lid goes on. The result is that the kibble that hits the top of her head bounces off and gives her even more kibble to hoover up.

Maizy decided to sit in my fern today. This is a very fluffy soft fern that I have had for two decades, nearly killed last year, and brought back from the brink of death by putting it outside for the summer. The cats are what pretty much killed the fern in the first place. Pixel likes to eat it, and apparently Maizy likes to sit in it. So out to the studio it goes, where the watering schedule is a bit dicey. This is because there is no running water in the studio, so watering plants involves filling up a large plastic jug at the outdoor hydrant. I seem to do okay with outdoor plants and the garden, but indoor plants are not in good hands in my home.

Okay, I'm going to go clean something now.

Southwest Trip-Part 4-North Rim

2010-07-18T18:37:00.000-04:00

We arrived at the North Rim late in the day, so we had just enough time to hike the short trail out to Bright Angel Point and then catch the sunset from the outdoor patio at the lodge.
Our first impression of the North Rim was that it was crowded, because we had a tough time finding a parking place, but it was nothing like the crowds and the shuttle bus system of the South Rim. They had also decided to repave the area right in front of the lodge the days we were there, so we just couldn't seem to escape construction, even at the Grand Canyon.
The views from the North Rim were even more spectacular..perhaps the lighting was more interesting. Max was bored watching another sunset, so we again occupied ourselves with finding shapes in the rock shadows. Max found an alligator. I found Whistler's mother. Though I couldn't seem to really capture those shapes in a photo, so don't bother looking for them in these views.

We were most excited to try a half-day mule trip into the Canyon. I attempted to book the trip when we first arrived, and yet we still found ourselves on standby for the afternoon ride the next day. As it happened, it worked out in our favor. Perhaps it is due to a bit of good luck acquired through rubbing Brighty's nose in the Grand Canyon Lodge. (There is a bronze statue of Brighty, with a very shiny, well rubbed nose.)
We were shuttled to the North Kaibab trailhead, and assigned to our mules. "Slim", "Big Mac" and "Gus". They divided us into groups of about eight per mule wrangler, and we headed down. It is a steep trail, and much more tiring to go down than up. I will never understand why people do this ride wearing shorts. None of us were particularly bothered by the mules' tendency to hug the edge of the trail. We trusted them to carry us safely down. At the stopping point, there is a water fountain, a restroom, and hitching posts for the mules, so everyone gets off to stretch their legs.
The red dust is everywhere. And by the time the ride is over, it is embedded into your boots, jeans and socks. We inhaled quite a bit of it, too.

The view between Slim's ears.
Michael looking relaxed in the saddle.
Try shooting straight when you're twisted around in the saddle, on a moving mule.

The next morning, we decided to explore a couple more points on the North Rim, which involved a 20 mile drive out to the end of the Walhalla plateau. From here we viewed Angel's window. Then we took our last look at the canyon before heading north to our next stop, Bryce Canyon.

Southwest Trip - Part 3

2010-07-12T14:21:00.000-04:00

Next we were on our way to Page, AZ, where the next morning, we were scheduled for a half-day smooth water float trip on the Colorado River. But to get there we would drive through some spectacular scenery. Driving through the Navajo Indian reservation, we had many opportunities to shop at the roadside stands for jewelry and pottery, and my husband's favorite--Buffalo jerky.
We saw the western edge of the painted desert, and a lot of desolate, barren country of red sandstone.
Driving through Antelope Pass was a treat, and we would have liked to explore Antelope Canyon while in Page, but time did not allow for a lengthy side trip. Page was an interesting little town, built because of the Glen Canyon Dam, and it was a place where all of the churches of different denominations were on the same street, all one after the other. We treated ourselves to a real dinner that night, at the Dam Bar and Grill and we were ready early the next morning for our raft trip. We met at the Colorado River Discovery headquarters at 7am to board a bus down to the river. To get to the bottom of the canyon, the bus goes through a 2 mile long dark tunnel which emerges right at the base of the dam. We had to don hard hats, because apparently people up above on the bridge like to toss pebbles over the edge, perhaps aiming for the river, but more often hitting the parking area where the rafts are docked.

The raft trip itself was a nice relaxing trip on the river. Our guide pointed out various things of interest, and talked about the geology of the canyon. At the halfway point, they docked the rafts, and we were able to get out for a short hike up to the petroglyphs. You could wade in the river here, but the water was numbingly cold.

The raft trip ended at Lee's Ferry, the starting point for the longer raft trips into the Grand Canyon. We watched them loading up several of the large boats with supplies. I have heard that the trips are spectacular, and it would be a fun adventure to try sometime in the future.

After taking the bus back to Page, we drove on towards the Grand Canyon North Rim. On the way, we stopped to admire Marble Canyon and the views of the Vermillion Cliffs, as we headed toward the Kaibab plateau.

Southwest Trip-Part 2

2010-07-01T21:39:00.000-04:00

Day 2 (continued)
Grand Canyon, South Rim

We opted to stay at the Bright Angel Lodge in the park for one night, which gave us the opportunity to view a sunset from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. As all the guidebooks warned..the South Rim was very crowded, and parking was a challenge. You can't park anywhere near the Bright Angel Lodge--you can pull up and unload, but then you have to park somewhere distant and either walk back or take a shuttle bus. If you're traveling light, it wouldn't be a big deal, but for a family of three, with three bags, a cooler, backpack, camera, and groceries, it was a bit of a pain. Perhaps we could have been organized enough to leave one or two bags in the car, but we're not that organized.

We spent the late afternoon exploring the area around the Bright Angel Lodge and cabins, including Lookout Studio and the Kolb Studio, where there was an exhibit of Grand Canyon artwork from the park's collection. The work was inspiring, and I wish I could have spent some time painting while there, but in reality, traveling with family doesn't allow any time for such pursuits.

The shuttle bus system in the park does work fairly well. The road out to the viewpoints on the western end, Hermit's Rest, is closed to most vehicles and you have to take the shuttle. You could walk the rim trail all the way out there, but it is miles long. After snacking out of the cooler for dinner, we hopped a shuttle out to Hopi Point, a popular spot to watch the sunset. Since watching the sunset is about as exciting to a ten-year-old boy as watching paint dry, we entertained ourselves with finding shapes in the shadows on the rocks. Much more fun than clouds...they stay put a little longer, yet they gradually change shape as the sun sets. This first shot is looking east from Hopi Point.

The view to the west as the sun dropped into the horizon was a beautiful shade of blue, with a tiny metallic sliver of Colorado River showing.

Max and I were up early, and we headed out to see the early morning sun on the canyon.
We watched a California condor sitting on the rocks, stretching its wings, waiting for the warmth of the sun. I felt very lucky to see one of these birds as there are only about 73 of them in all of Arizona. Many of them are in the Grand Canyon, so it is one area that you are likely to see one.

This is looking west toward the Lookout Studio. Designed by Mary Colter, it is perfectly designed to blend into the landscape.

As Max and I walked toward the Bright Angel trailhead, we passed the mule corral, where they begin the famous mule trips to the bottom of the canyon. There were several pack mules in the corral, and we watched the wrangler lead them out, and a crew loaded them up--with DIRT! These mules were part of a trail work crew--carrying evenly balanced loads of dirt to replace an eroded section of trail. We watched the pack train descend a little ways, then two men unhitched the bottom of the bags, dumping the soil, and the mules were turned right around and returned to the top. It looked to be a lot of work to haul a small load of dirt, but it was done so efficently with these mules.

Now imagine making a u-turn with this string of mules on this trail! They did it.

We spent the morning checking out the rest of the viewpoints at the western end of the park, on the shuttle bus route to Hermit's Rest. Then we picked up the car and drove out the eastern end, stopping at a few more viewpoints along the way. The last stop is Desert View, where there is a watchtower, also designed by Mary Coulter, and although it was under renovation at the time, we could still go inside, and I managed to get a shot of the outside without the construction cranes in view.

Leaving Grand Canyon National Park, we drove east onto the Navajo Reservation, a barren, but beautiful landscape of red rock. This was our glimpse at the western edge of the Painted Desert. We also had a good view of the smoke from a wildfire burning out of control in the mountains just east of Flagstaff. We discovered later, that the day after we left Grand Canyon, they closed route 89 south of the park, and were re-routing traffic through G.C. National Park because of the smoke. We were lucky we didn't run into a lot of traffic.
I'll continue with our next adventure in the next post.

The Southwest Trip-Part 1

2010-06-29T22:25:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from a vacation trip to the Southwest. We flew into Las Vegas, and drove all the way around the Grand Canyon, seeing the sights as we went. I am going to break down our adventure into several parts, as there is too much to talk about in one blog entry.

Day 1

We started our trip with a flight to Las Vegas, where the rental car agency upgraded us to a Toyota Prius. Based on how much driving we would be doing, we figured the gas savings would more than pay for the extra fee, and we were right. First on the agenda was to head to a supermarket and stock up on some food, a disposable styrofoam cooler, ice and cold drinks. We managed to find a Wal-mart that happened to be undergoing a big reorganization, and it was a challenge to find the coolers, but after a slight delay, we were on our way to Boulder City and the Hoover Dam.

The dam is certainly impressive, but the day was hot, and I was not prepared for the wind along the top of the dam. We didn't really have the energy for the full tour, but we paid a lower admission for access to the museum exhibits and the observation deck. As you walk in, they take your family picture against a green screen and later you can purchase a photo of yourselves in front of various settings--places in which you never actually set foot. We declined the pictures, and continued on our way to Kingman, AZ, our first stop on the way to the South Rim.

Day 2

We hit the road early after taking advantage of the hotel's continental breakfast, and drove east on Rt. 40 to the town of Williams, a major stop on the historic Route 66, and the starting point for the Grand Canyon railway. We stopped just long enough to poke around the souvenir shops and have a coffee break.

Soon we arrived at the Grand Canyon South Rim. We debated catching the National Geographic IMAX movie at the theatre outside the entrance, but we decided we would rather see the real thing. The most popular Mather Point viewpoint was closed off due to construction, so we parked near the Visitor's Center and walked a section of the Rim Trail, and easy, paved walkway along the top with many views of the canyon.

That's all I have time to post for now. To be continued...

And now for something completely different...

2010-06-14T15:34:00.000-04:00

Peony Bud, oil on gessoboard, 8 x 8 in.
Available for purchase, $350.00

I have been photographing many things in the garden this spring, and I've been wanting to do a small series of paintings featuring simple flower elements. My goal is to bring something to the painting that I can't capture in a photograph, yet I want these to be luminous, detailed, with lots of contrast and stark, graphic shapes.

The first successful one of these is this white peony bud. Peonies are one of my favorite garden flowers, yet they are so short-lived. Cutting a few and putting them in a vase results in a shower of petals on the table a day or two later. I love the look of peony flowers just before they have opened up--the perfect roundness of the bud, it is such a solid shape, before it opens into a marvelously perfumed, delicate voluminous flower.

Flower paintings aren't the only thing different about this summer. I'm calling this the year of trying new things...from participating in a local theater production, to doing the bicycling leg for a relay team in a sprint triathalon.

The horse paintings are not completely in the background. I currently have on the easel an 18 x 36 in. oil of some working draft horses. There is a lot of fussy harness work on this piece, and I have been picking away at it for a few months now.
There is probably another couple of weeks of fussing ahead of me. I really don't like it when paintings drag on for this long, and when they do, they either get abandoned or I finally reach the point where I just have to knuckle down and finish them. This one has far too much going for it to abandon. And now, there are some more brass rivets that need my attention.

Big Chicks and a lot of Bling

2010-05-26T21:15:00.000-04:00

Big Chick, 40 x 30 in. oil on canvas
This big fluffy chick has been finished for a while, but it's always a challenge to photograph these large canvases, and the time and weather finally cooperated to get it shot outside. This little gal is much much larger than life, and she makes an impact on the wall.

Bling, 40 x 30 in. oil on canvas
Bling is another large canvas, and this one is nearly ready for hanging. Still awaiting a final varnish and hanging hardware. Shiny silver bits on halters and bridles are always a challenge, but so satisfying to finish up with those bright white highlight spots. A chain lead shank never looks right until the final highlights go in. I enjoyed the blue eye of this paint--it's not often I get to paint a blue eye.

Studio work has been a bit derailed lately, with all the work involved in putting in the garden, and running around to family events. This summer I will be trying something completely new to me---participating in a local community theater production of Oliver! My son and I both have ensemble roles, so we will have fun getting our feet wet in this new venture, without a huge time commitment of learning a lot of lines. It was so rewarding to challenge myself with something completely out of my element. I have no illusions of being a good singer...I guess I can hit the notes, but my voice is not pretty--I can blend in with the chorus just fine. But I have to admit to being a musical theater geek--I often paint to the music of the great Broadway soundtracks.
I know of many artists that have talent in both the visual and performing arts, and I have always been one who has the desire to do something musical, but do not have the gift to be able to play an instrument. So perhaps this is a sign of the desire breaking through. Hopefully I will not completely embarrass myself.

The Banded Mane

2010-04-16T20:09:00.000-04:00

The Banded Mane, oil on board, 8 x 10 in.

I've been working on a series of small paintings on board, inspired by my photo references from a local horse show last fall. The evening light was glowing pink on the back of this pinto pony, and his banded mane looked so cool with the stripes of white in his mane. It's an unusual viewpoint, but there is beauty to be found in these odd angles, and if you only saw this pony from the front, you wouldn't be able to appreciate all of the hard work put into that mane!

Spring is a busy time around here. Gardening and other outdoor farm chores are taking away from studio time, and yet I am squeezing in a little work here and there.

If you are in Woodstock, Connecticut, check out the Artists' Collaborative, at the Artists in the Country site, County Road, West Woodstock. The barn is open from 11 - 5, Sat. and Sunday for the next two weekends in April. Several artists, including myself, have set up displays in the barn. There are paintings, photographs, jewelry, and some ceramics and glasswork. Beautiful art in a beautiful setting.

More Dogs!

2010-02-02T16:39:00.000-05:00

Cheerio , oil on gessoboard, 8 x 8 in.

This week's painting is a study of Cheerio. I captured a moment of contemplation, as she lay on her bed in the living room, with winter sunlight pouring in. Her eyes, with the little brown eyebrow points have so much expression in them. I can hear her sighing in this one. She really wants to chase Pixel, but has decided to behave herself for the moment.

The Cell-Phone Dog , oil on gessoboard, 5 x 7 in. $75.

Also just off the easel is this little yellow lab study. This dog works for the state prison system, and is trained to sniff out cell-phones. She has that lovely, gentle lab face. This little painting is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing her, please contact me.

Going to the Dogs

2010-01-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

Pyrannes Pup 4 x 6 oil on canvasboard, $50.

Bulldog Study 5 x 7 oil on gessoboard, $75.

Little Collie Mix 11 x 14 oil on canvasboard, $125.

St. Bernard 4 x 6 oil on canvasboard, $50.

Hmmm, last year was the year of the chickens..I think this year might be the year of the dogs. At least it's starting out that way. I have been inspired as of late, to do a number of quick, small paintings featuring dogs that I have photographed in my travels. I usually find one or two to photograph at an outdoor art show, and there are also dogs at town events, parades, and soccer games. Since I tend to photograph these dogs on the sly, with a long zoom lens, I have no idea what their names are, or who their owners are, but something about them just called out to be captured in paint.

Since these are quick studies and unframed, I am offering them up for sale at very affordable prices. If you are interested in purchasing any of these--shoot me an e-mail.

More dogs to come...

Painting in the New Year

2009-12-31T15:22:00.000-05:00

"Snow Lashes", photograph, 2009

I'm back in the studio at last, after a month of Christmas preparations, holiday concerts and gatherings, gift shopping and wrapping, and holiday baking.
Just days after Christmas was over, I was driving to Long Island to deliver paintings for a show in Oyster Bay, New York, home of Teddy Roosevelt and the Teddy Roosevelt Association. TR and the Horse is an exhibit featuring myself and four other equine artists. We will each be exhibiting 7-10 pieces of our own work, and a few drawings of Teddy Roosevelt's favorite horses. My contribution is an ink wash drawing of Manitou, his favorite hunting horse. The preview party will be January 9, and the show will run through the month of January.

Oyster Bay, as is turns out, is also home to quite a few Underhills, and there is an entire room full of archives and geneology on Underhills, maintained by the Underhill Society. Since I'm only an Underhill by marriage, I lack the knowledge of family names to do any real research into the family history, but it was fascinating to know that it was there.

My little trip to Oyster Bay was a perfect excuse to visit a friend in Manhattan, and so to avoid the scariness of driving into the city, left my car in Oyster Bay and took the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station. This made my return trip quite the ordeal, as it is an hour and a half train ride to Oyster Bay and then it was a four and a half hour drive home in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 95. Apparently New York City rush hour begins at 2 in the afternoon.

So now I am back in the studio, inspired to paint a few dogs. Kimberly Kelly Santini's book, Painting a Dog a Day, was a Christmas gift, and her wonderfully expressive paintings of dogs have inspired me to tackle a few myself, and revisit some of my reference photos of dogs I have encountered at various events.

Today, I ventured no farther than my own paddock to photograph Niqui and Keeper in the wet snow. The photograph above features Niqui and her beautiful long eyelashes.

Max's Debut

2009-12-13T14:08:00.001-05:00

Permit me a moment of parental pride, here. Max has been singing with the Fourth Grade Select chorus this year, "Fortezza", and really enjoying himself. We always thought he could sing in tune, but coming from a family of lousy singers, we're not always sure that we're the best judge of his vocal talents.

Today, with the help of our friend, Donna Lynch, and Brenda Rich-Pike on the piano, Max made his singing debut in church today during a very musical service of carols and Christmas readings. Despite the onset of a head cold, he was a trooper, and he impressed everyone with his singing voice. Way to go, Max!

Here is Max's duet with Donna, singing "There Was a Little Baby".

Open Studio Weekends

2009-11-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

The paintings are all hung, everything is arranged--stop by my studio this weekend or next Nov. 28-29, and Dec. 5-6th, from 10am to 5pm.

I am at the far northeast edge of the Artist Open Studios of Northeast CT. That means I may not get as many visitors as some of the artists. For me, though, it is a welcome opportunity to take stock of the inventory, and spend a whole weekend (or two) in the studio, catching up on projects.

In hanging work for this weekend, I am realizing that the inventory is quickly outgrowing my space! You'll have to come just to check out my bargain bin, an assortment of smaller paintings just waiting to find the right home. All the originals in the bargain bin are priced at just $75.

Windham Arts button wearers will get a free Horse Alphabet (or Cowman Numerals) poster for supporting Windham Arts.

The kitty up above is Pixel, of course. Lounging in a windowsill is his favorite summertime activity, and he likes to lie on his back or his side, and wiggle and squirm, showing off his furry chest and belly. This is an 11 x 14 oil on canvas.

"Bay with a Blaze" is an 8 x 10 oil on board. This horse was just shining in the evening sunlight of the Woodstock Fair. I like the shadow that his head casts on his neck.

Cheerio and the Chicken

2009-09-07T16:15:00.000-04:00

I caught this moment on camera while grilling some juicy sirloin and vegetable kabobs. Ran in to get the camera while Cheerio and the chicken faced off. (And that trench in the background is for the conduit that is finally going to bring the internet to my studio!)

Also up this week is my online interview with The Equinest:
http://www.theequinest.com/alecia-underhill/
Since this interview tells all about me, I can keep this blog post short.

Getting ready for the Glastonbury Fine Art on the Green show, this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 12-13, 10-5 rain or shine. (It better shine!)
It's going to be a busy fall, with shows ever other weekend until Columbus Day. I just agreed to do Artists in the Country in Woodstock, CT on Sept. 26-27.
Then there is the RISD Alumni Sale on Oct. 10.

Round 'em Up Cheerio!

2009-08-02T21:45:00.000-04:00

"You want me to what?"

My English Shepherd dog...my intense, somewhat high-strung, bossy, territorial, prey-driven dog...is not chasing the chickens. She's not eating the chickens. Okay, she's not even herding the chickens.
When they were baby chicks in the brooder, she nearly put one in her mouth. I was convinced these chickens would be coop bound. No free-range chickens for us...we have a dog that goes at about 100 miles an hour after a squirrel. And though I have put a lot of time into obedience training, and her basic commands are well-mastered, I thought there was no way she was going to come to me when there was a chicken dinner strutting across the lawn.

So I invested a hundred bucks in an electronic training collar. There are a few behaviors other than chicken chasing that I needed to nip in the bud. Barking at the lawnmower, for instance...when you're in the driver's set of a roaring Cub Cadet, it's hard to train your dog. Chasing cars up the driveway is one, although she has gotten much better about that lately. Circling the inflatable pool and barking at us while we splashed around in it was another behavior that I figured I could zap away.
The lawnmower and the swimming pool barking each took two electronic corrections. She has not committed either one of these misdeads since. And she hasn't chased a car while I've had the training collar on, either.

So, now I thought I'd try it out with the chickens. The first day we let the hens out of the run a couple of hours before sunset, so they could explore and stay pretty close to the coop and want to go back in on their own. I kept Cheerio in the house, just to give the hens a easy introduction to the wide outdoors.

The second day, when it was time to put them back in the coop, I put on Cheerio's electronic collar, and her regular collar with a long lead--a horse lunge line, so that I could remain at a distance and see how she would do. She trotted right up and investigated the chickens, never barked, never chased. I asked her to help me "round 'em up" thinking, here now she finally has a chance to use those herding instincts. All that practice in trying to herd the family together on walks could now be put to use for an actual job. My dog is approaching three years old, and it's time for some gainful employment. I demonstrated to the best of my ability what I wanted her to do, but the blank look she gave me said it all. She ran in circles, but not in circles around the chickens.

A week later, the chickens are still fully enjoying the great outdoors, and Cheerio is a contented observer. Chicken wrangling just might not be her thing. They just may not be challenging enough. The horses, however, now there is an animal worth herding.
"I think I'll go bark at the horses" Cheerio says. "Hey, you there! You're not supposed to lie down. Get up right now! Right now, I say! Horses are not allowed to lie down around here!"

Driving, Daisies and Dot

2009-07-02T15:43:00.000-04:00

Gentleman's Turnout
oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.
"Pulling Their Weight", the Horse in Fine Art Exhibition is up and running at the Mackinac Island Public Library. Gentleman's Turnout is one of my three entries. The show can be viewed online at the AAEA website. It looks to be a stunning selection of work. I am so honored to be a part of it.

Pulling Their Weight, The Horse in Fine Art

The whole horse pasture is just full of buttercups and daisies. I wish it were full of more edible grass for the horses, but I am hopeless at pasture management, and it has been made difficult this year with all the rain...it just grows and grows faster than the horses can eat it, and there is very little time to mow it. But on the bright side, the daisies make a beautiful, very long-lasting display in a lovely old mason jar.

Yellow Chick
oil on canvas, 11 x 14 in.

And this is "Dot", my little yellow chick. She has grown into a beautiful cream-colored pullet with a bit of orange on the edges of some of her feathers. Here is a photo of her all grown up.

I am moving on from the baby chick paintings to hen paintings, and I will post as soon as one is finished and scanned.
The coop is nearly finished, just a few small details left to do, and the young ladies seem to be very happy in their home. They have all figured out the chicken ladder and go into the coop at night, safe from all the wily predators. And here is what I'm calling "The Egg Drop Inn", complete with window box.

Mowing, Chickens, and Carriages

2009-06-10T21:42:00.000-04:00

The riding lawnmower (the gas-powered one) spent a couple of days at the shop recently, and the bit of lawn that stretches behind the studio, around the blackberry patch and amongst the orchard grew tall and lush. As I started to mow it with our newly serviced piece of machinery, I had a revelation, to let the four-legged mowers at it. So with just two bits of wire fence strung, the horses now had access to the best bit of grazing to come along this spring. It is my least favorite piece of lawn to mow, and though we'll have to clean it up when the horses are done, at least the rocks will be more visible, and the grass will have provided nutrition and calories to the beasts.

The chickens are in their new coop as of this past weekend. They are not too keen about the great outdoors, however. They perch on the doorstep of the little chicken door, and peer down the ladder, and one chick made it down two steps before going back in. The next day, I shooed a couple of them out, but none of the others followed and those two birds huddled under the coop until dark, when we had to take apart the temporary board in the front to get them out. It's so chilly the last couple of days, I've put the heat lamp in the coop and today I didn't even open the chicken door.

The coop with outdoor run in progress.

I have finished one more chicken painting, which I cannot yet post, and have moved on to finish up a couple of horse paintings. I have been juried into the Glastonbury Fine Arts on the Green show the second week of September, and I will be spending the summer getting ready for that show. (In-between shuttling the 9-yr old to soccer camp, cub-scout camp, day camp, and doing other family things like biking and a trip to the amusement park, etc...)

Three of my driving themed paintings are going to Mackinac Island, Michigan, this summer for the AAEA sponsored show, "The Horse in Fine Art" at the Mackinac Public Library, July 1 - July 31st.
"Carriage Meet" is one of the pieces. Oil on canvas, 11 x 14 in.
This is a bit of a rambling blog post, but there is a lot going on here.

Gentle Giant

2009-05-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

Gentle Giant
oil on canvas
30 x 40 in.

Thought I would take a break from the chicks for a while to post this finished oil.
With these big gallerywrap canvases, sometimes it's hard to know when they're finished. This one has been put aside to dry for a while, and when I went to put a hanging wire on it, I realized the bottom edge never got painted. You can never paint all the edges at once, since it has to rest on one, so sometimes the bottom gets forgotten.

The latest horse on the easel is an appaloosa. And now I am cursing myself for taking this one on, but of course I was attracted to the image in the first place for the spot pattern. Now the spot pattern is driving me nuts...I have a feeling this one is going to take a while to finish.

A beautiful day like today makes it hard to confine oneself to the studio. The garden is calling, and the mowing is never-ending. And this morning, I prommised to take my son to the school track and run with him. He recently ran the mile for his physical fitness test and he is eager to do more running. I challenged myself to run a mile today, at a nice, slow steady pace, and I'm both shocked and pleased that I was able to do it! (It's been two knee surgeries and a long time since I've done any running, and it was never my favorite form of fitness.) I ran four laps of the quarter-mile track without stopping, and I felt like I could have run another lap. I must be in better shape than I thought! Must do this more often!

Painting Chicks

2009-04-27T21:07:00.001-04:00

The Grumpy Chick
oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in.

Just a Couple of Chicks
oil on canvas, 11 x 14 in.

These chicks are already inspiring some paintings. Out of thousands of baby chicks that leave the hatcheries and get shipped all over the country, lucky are the ten chicks that came to live at Underhill Hollow. Three of the babies have already been immortalized on canvas, and more paintings are to follow. I have to admit a partiality to the yellow Americauna chicks. Never have I used so much cadmium yellow in a painting. These images are for sale as prints in my etsy store.

The chicks had their first outing in the yard on Sunday. They seemed to enjoy the beautiful summer-like day, pecking about in the grass, doing what chickens do, and climbing all over my son. Michael is making great progress on the coop, and the pressure is on to get the main part finished, as the chicks are already growing fast, and will soon outgrow the plastic brooder in the bathroom. The coop is designed with one side that will open up completely for easy cleaning. Still have a lot of details to finish such as the shingles and the outside run.

The Chicks are here!

2009-04-19T20:02:00.000-04:00

This being our entry into the keeping of chickens, we are so excited to have the little peepers home. I now have a chicken-bathroom. We set up a large plastic tote with a 100 watt lightbulb for heat. I'm using puppy pads for now, as I read somewhere that newspaper is too slippery for them. When I use up the puppy pads, I'll switch to shavings, but for now, this is so easy to keep clean. I have a layer of newspaper in the bottom, with two pads on top, and I can just roll them up and replace them without taking all the chicks out. There are four Americaunas, three Rhode Island Reds, and three Barred Plymouth Rock. Despite an earlier decision not to name them, the three RI Reds are tentatively called Prudence, Patience and Hope. (How original--I wonder how many RI Reds in Rhode Island have these names?) And I really want to name the four Americaunas after my aunts..Margie, Hallie, Beverly, and Dot.
The three Barred Plymouth Rocks are a bit up in the air, but Max suggested either Chelsea, Mindy and Laurie, (his girl cousins) or Jeannie, Sheri, and Amy (his aunts). We have no idea if they would appreciate having chickens named after them or not.
Of course, we look upon it as a thing of honor. After all, these hens are going to be beautiful and dignified hens. Of course, we also have no idea yet if any one of these is going to turn out to be a rooster!

This was a great weekend for coop-building, and Michael has made huge progress in getting the chicks permanent home constructed. The four walls and floor went up, the roof is on, and the siding is mostly in place. It's only three sided, still, as the fourth wall is going to be two big doors that will enable us to open it up for easy cleaning. I will post the coop pictures soon.

I think today was nearly a perfect day--it started with apple pancakes, and included some time in the garden, time with my son, and a lovely short trail ride in the afternoon. Except for a nagging cough and doing two loads of laundry, it would have ranked as perfect.

My new Etsy store

2009-04-08T10:30:00.000-04:00

I finally spent a little time putting up an Etsy store. It seems to be a good place to list prints and small original works of art for sale. I like that the focus is on art and craft items, unlike ebay. I never felt comfortable listing art on ebay, which to me seems just like an online garage sale. The piece above, "Drive On!" is available as an 11 x 14 giclee print on watercolor paper. Matted size is 16 x 20.

So, if you are inclined, stop by the shop. www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7175226

Thompson's Community Art Show has an opening reception tonight at the Thompson Public Library. I have "Star in the Mist", "Llama", and "Spotted Cow" on display. Opening is 6:30 to 8:00 pm in the Community Room.

Must get some eggs to color for Easter. We like to color lots!
Happy Easter!

Young Steer

2009-03-26T20:37:00.001-04:00

Young Steer, 36 x 36 in. oil on gallerywrap canvas

This impressive creature captivated me with it's solemn look, the warm, soft wrinkles in its skin, and the afternoon light coming through the ear. The painting is bigger than life, 3 feet square, and will make a substantial statement on somebody's wall.

I have a bunch of new work, all in stages of completion...I'll introduce them one at a time here. In the early half of this year, I am concentrating on building my body of work, especially the larger paintings, and as a consequence I don't have much in the way of shows coming up in the near future. The Glastonbury Art Festival in September may be my next show, if I'm jured in. Then I'll be participating in the Artist Open Studios of Northeast Connecticut in November.

We are eagerly awaiting the shipment of baby chicks at the local farmer's coop, and the chicken coop is partway to being completed. I am reading up again on the care and feeding of baby chicks. The original plan was to raise the chicks out in the studio, away from the pets, in a large plastic tote, with a 100 watt lightbulb for heat. However, we've decided we need to be able to monitor the chicks more frequently, and there is no water source in the studio, so Plan B is to keep the brooder in our spare bathroom, door tightly closed at all times so they don't become lunch for the cats.

We have had nice surprise visitors recently to our little pond..a pair of mallard ducks. They have come a few times, and I'm hoping they'll stick around a bit and don't mind the dog.

More Piggies.

2009-03-06T20:13:00.000-05:00

Piglets at the Fair, oil on board, 9 x 12 in.

Summer Drafts, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in.

A number of new horse paintings are in various stages of completion, and I have to wait until the weather complies to drag the easel and the tripod outside to photograph them, but I'll post these piggies for now, and a piece that I completed last fall--
"Summer Drafts". It all comes down to the light, and I loved the backlighting on these meaty draft horses that were being held, waiting to be hosed down on a sultry summer day. My reference had a person in there, holding the horses, but I edited the head out of the final painting..as well as the lead rope attached to the halter. I wanted this piece to have a peaceful simplicity, and the handler made the composition too busy.

I made a trip to New York City last weekend, to visit friends, show my son some of the city, and check out the big ArtExpo at the Javitts Center. Our friend, a phenomenal painter, Nick Paciorek, had his work there, and it was so nice to see his colorful city landscapes in person. I may be in a booth at this show myself next year...haven't decided yet whether or not to do it. It's a lot of work, and it's going to take some serious planning.

Meanwhile, I have another draft horse on the easel now, and the horse colors project--my grid of 80 individual horse paintings is getting closer to the finish line.
I have about 20 horse heads left to paint, then the final adjustments.

The 10 inches of snow that got dumped on us Monday has really been a bit depressing. I am anxious to be able to get out in the woods to walk the dog, and ride! The horse's winter shoes come off in a couple of weeks--all the snow better be gone by then!

Star in the Mist

2009-01-27T19:45:00.000-05:00

Star in the Mist, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in.

It's been a good week of painting. Mainly because I decided to upgrade my computer. What does one have to do with the other, you might ask? Well, to make a really long story short, in the course of upgrading, I lost my internet connection in my studio. So the other day, I had a day of just painting...without any electronic distractions. And it's amazing how much you can get done without the computer.
However, online work must be done, so I have carted the computer into the house, to download necessary software updates, etc... I will have to get the internet problem solved, but in the meantime, I think I'll leave it in the house for a few more days.
Several new paintings are in progress, however, all have yet to be scanned or photographed, so I'll post some December paintings that have joined the inventory.
Star is a 25 year old Standardbred gelding that joined our barn last summer. He has a mane to envy--long flowing orange locks that hang below his neck, and a forelock to match. I photographed him behind the other horse on a misty summer morning. I loved the softness of the light. I'm not entirely satisfied with the way it photographed..I haven't been able to capture the true color in this painting with the digital camera yet.

Spotted Cow, oil on board, 11 x 14 in.

This second painting, "Spotted Cow" is an attempt to capture that beautiful afternoon sunlight that bathes the cows in the barn at the Brooklyn Fair. It lights up the pink in their ears, and and straw bedding just glows with warmth.

The Great Chicken Adventure

2009-01-15T10:08:00.000-05:00

It has been decided at Underhill Hollow that we will raise a few chickens. Now I have said for a while that I wouldn't mind raising a few hens for the eggs. Yet, it is only recently that my husband is on board with the plan. He has visited some folks who have chicken coops, and is now sold on the idea that this would be a fun thing to try. Of course, our reasons for wanting chickens vary greatly--I think chickens are beautiful birds, and of course, fresh eggs are the main goal. My husband wants to build a cool-looking coop, and be able to watch them free-ranging around the yard. Realistically, we have a herding dog who may not agree with the free-ranging idea. We also have a healthy population of hawks around. So we will build a coop with a roofed, fenced outdoor run, and hopefully be able to let them free range a little bit.
My other motivation is artistic, of course. I am envisioning a whole series of chicken paintings. So we'll be raising breeds that will be good egg layers, are docile in nature, and are colorful and inspiring to paint.
This little painting above is of a chicken at the Roger Williams Park Zoo. 5 x 7 oil on board.

Johnny Come Lately

2009-01-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Johnny Come Lately oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. Private commission.

Johnny is a big bay half-morgan, half Appendix Quarterhorse. I thought he was a warmblood when I first saw him back in October, his glossy dark bay coat just starting to get the winter fuzzies. What had to be captured in his portrait was his kind eye. His owner had seen some of my newer work, the big close-up head images, and she wanted something similar for her portrait of Johnny. I experimented with various croppings, with and without halter, until we came to an agreement about this pose. I usually like to do commissioned portraits with halters or bridles, unless the horse has really interesting markings, or a really well-sculpted head, the tack usually adds a bit of interest and helps define the bone structure a bit. In this case, the halter gave me an opportunity to personalize the portrait by putting his name on the brass halterplate.

Now that Johnny is completed and delivered, my New Year's tasks are to finish up some previously begun projects, and start some new big paintings. With spring commissions and potential freelance work around the corner, I need to seize this opportunity to paint for myself. Christmas vacation was supposed to be the start of some studio productivity, but all of the holiday socializing and entertaining, then the clean-up and putting away of all the Christmas stuff sort of drained my energy.

Then there is the distraction of the Wii. Since the Wii is brand-new to our family, we are still in the honeymoon phase of enjoying all the basic Wii Sports, and creating lots of Mii's for the plaza.

So, now that the work week has started, I have checked off task number two on my studio list, which was, "Create a new blog entry!" Now, on to number three, which is "Paint!"

Falling Leaves

2008-11-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Cheerio, my English Shepherd, is going to turn two years old this coming Thursday, and I thought I would celebrate her birthday by posting a recent picture here. We have a wonderful old maple tree in the side yard. I don't know exactly what kind of maple it is, but it has smaller leaves than some of the others, and they make a particularly lovely carpet around the trunk when they fall off the tree. The color just sets off Cheerio's coat beautifully.

Although she is nearly two and her "off switch" is much closer to being fully functioning, she still just loves to play, and our favorite game is to throw the jolly ball into the middle of a pile of leaves and watch her dive into the middle of the pile. She would emerge, leaves sticking out of the sides of her mouth with the jolly ball, reminding me of Linus jumping into the leaves with a wet sucker.

I've been spending all my painting time working on a large commissioned portrait, that I won't be able to post here until it's finished, and other studio time is being occupied by computer work. However, today was for more leaf raking. And what a day it was for working outside. It is so warm, I can't believe it's November. There is a small window of time to get the leaves raked before it snows. And I would rather not have to clean them all up in the spring. Growing up at my parents' house, on their small wooded lot, the leaves would be ankle deep, and you could easily accumulate a pile four feet high from raking a small area. We would haul the leaves on a big piece of plastic sheeting and dump them at the curb and wait for the city truck to come and suck them all up. Our yard now, with it's scattered mature trees, means I have a much bigger area to cover, and we tend to rake it in sections, depending on which trees drop their leaves first. At least our hauling method is the same, except there is no city truck to collect them. We just compost them ourselves along with the horse manure.

The big excitement of the day? Bluebirds! I saw a flock of five or six Eastern bluebirds in the yard this morning. I sure wish they would use the house I built for them, but I'm happy just to see them around once in a while.

And this last picture is my Morgan mare, Unique, looking cute wearing her fall "jewelry". I found someone selling these at Equine Affaire last year, and I thought it was a wonderful alternative to the big, clunky hunter-beware bell that clips onto the saddle (that is, if your saddle has d-rings, which mine doesn't, and those leather ties just don't hold it securely.) So now Unique is fashionable on her fall trail rides.

Horses, llamas, and pigs...oh, my!

2008-10-23T13:17:00.000-04:00

"Working Eyes"

oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in.

I have finally gotten around to posting this guy. He was discovered at a pulling contest, on a blistering hot day in June. I was amazed at how little these big drafthorses were bothered by the heat. I love the big heavy leather harnesses and blinkers, and the way they frame the gentle eyes of this guy.

Soccer games and practices and meetings and computer work keep trying to take away painting time. Despite interruptions and delays, I've been able to get a brush on canvas and finish up a few small pieces, inspired by visits to the local county fair.
"Llama", oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in.
"Pig Snooze", oil on canvas, 8 x 10 in.
"Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner", oil on canvas, 11 x 14 in.

These little piggies were just captivating. I kept checking back in on them all afternoon, and that momma sow never moved.

We spent a day in Williamstown, Massachusetts, recently. A trip to photograph a horse made a great excuse for a day trip to see the fall foliage, and take in a museum. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute was a pure delight. It was a chance to see work by many of my favorite American artists such as Whistler, Sargent, Homer, Chase, and Twachtman. After taking in the art, we walked the trails behind the museum. A pasture trail takes you up a hill, to a spectacular vista of autumn foliage. This makes me want to paint autumn landscapes and I would not be surprised if one of these makes it onto the easel soon. The day could not have been more perfect. On our way back through North Adams, we checked out the Natural Bridge State Park, and were amazed at the wonderful rock formations, and deep gorge running through this old marble quarry.

2008-08-15T16:31:00.000-04:00

Cheerio, Run!
oil on canvas, 48 x 24 in.

I had a great time photographing Cheerio running around in the springtime, chasing her tennis ball, and this painting was the result. An English Shepherd in full stride, her glossy coat flying in the wind--it describes my dog so perfectly. I had planned to send this painting to a gallery, but I just couldn't do it--it fit so perfectly on the bedroom wall, right above where Cheerio's crate sits. This one is a keeper.
Quick update on the kitten: Status: Adopted! Yay! We're back to a reasonable number of pets in the house.

I'm on vacation this week, and it's been a week of getting outside, getting the horse exercised, the dog exercised, and the kid exercised. We've been bicycling, hiking, and I've been riding! The bugs are not that bad here this August, so I've been out on the trail. We even fit in a trip to Six Flags, where I am proud to say that I rode a rollercoaster three times! Okay, so it wasn't the Superman coaster, or the Batman coaster, or even the Mind Eraser. It was Catwoman's Whip, which is pretty comparable to the Goofy's Barnstormer kid-coaster at Disneyworld. But I loved it! It was just enough of a thrill to me! My son, on the other hand, at eight years old, was just tall enough to ride all the big coasters and seems to enjoy being twisted and turned and plunged and flung upside down at very high speeds. I'm glad he doesn't have my stomach! It's a lucky thing that my husband is willing to ride with him on these things, because if I rode one, they would be carrying my body out on a stretcher, after I had a heart attack!

I have managed to fit in some painting time, and my latest project on the easel is an ambitious one. It's a 30 x 40 in. vertical canvas divided into a grid of 80 3x5 in. rectangles. In each rectangle is a horse's head, viewed pretty much head-on, but there is some variation to the angles and expressions of the horses. The horses are all individual personalities, but the concept behind this grid is to show the spectrum of horse colors, starting at the bottom with the blacks and dark bays, and as it goes up, there will be lighter bays and liver chestnuts and light chestnuts, buckskins, palominos and greys. It's unusual for me to work a canvas from one end to the other--I'm usually painting all over the whole thing--but this is a very different sort of a painting, and so far, I have almost 30 heads painted. The image below was shot with a digital camera with indoor lighting conditions, and shows a portion of the heads. I think after all the heads are in there, I'm going to want to go back into some of them and tighten up a few details, but for now, I'm painting the heads fairly quickly. There aren't a lot of layers of color on each horse--each one is painted within about a half hour. I solicited pictures of my friends' horses, and fellow equine artist's horses, and dug deep into my own photo bank, and I'm hoping that the result will be that everyone that sees this painting will see "their" horse somewhere in there. At least a horse that looks somewhat like their horse. It may take me the rest of this year to finish this, but it's well underway.

This Kitten Needs a Home!

2008-07-17T10:11:00.001-04:00

I suppose we've been lucky, in the eight years of living on this farm, not to have been frequented by many stray cats. The only one up until now was a friendly solid black male who now goes by the name of Cornelius and lives as a very content life as a lap warmer in the apartment of our tenant.
But last week, a baby appeared in our back woodpile. A tiny baby kitten, not much more than 6 or 7 weeks old, was almost trying to get our attention as my boarder and I cleaned the paddock. A few attempts to capture the kitten failed at first, but at last hunger won out, and my boarder was able to get the kitten close enough to grab. There has been no sign of other kittens, or the mother cat.
She has taken up temporary (I stress the word temporary) residence in our little bathroom, and 10 days later, she is still here.
She has started coming out of her frightened shell, and becoming friendly, and approachable. She's a lively little kitten, likes to play, and seems healthy except for what looks like a belly full of parasites, as all kittens are prone to have.
I know that I cannot keep this kitten--we are at our limit with two cats (one with health issues and a prescription diet), and an active dog that feels the need to herd the cats. This kitten would probably like best to be in a quiet home without other pets. She seems to like older children who will approach her gently and quietly.
So this is a plea to anyone who might be local to me that could offer this kitten a home. I'm beginning the process of finding a shelter that will take her, but the shelters are full, and I fear that going this route is not going to be possible.

Away from the subject of kittens, I thought I would post this week about my new adventures on the bus. A change in my work schedule has made it easier to work with the bus schedule, and so this week, I tried it for the first time. This is a huge step for me--I love my car--I like to have control over when I leave, where I stop on the way home, and how much stuff I can haul with me. But the gas prices are winning out, and so at around $60 a week to fill the gas tank, I have decided that this is one expense that can be controlled with a little sacrifice. (Especially when when my employer has a deal with the bus company that allows me to ride for free.) I was not prepared for the volume level of the crowd on the bus. I sort of expected that most people taking my bus route, which runs to the most rural part of the state, would be working people who would sit and listen to their ipods or read a book. Many of them do those things, and I instinctively chose a seat next to a young woman with cords running from her ears. However, the back of the bus was a cacophany of conversation and laughing, and I have a feeling that my morning commute will at least be somewhat entertaining, if not peaceful. The ride home was much quieter, and much emptier, due to the fact that the evening rush is staggered somewhat between several different buses.
I thought it would add so much time to my commute, but it only adds about fifteen minutes. I think I might actually get used to this. And my wallet certainly will.

Second Mural Panel and the Batty month of June.

2008-07-02T15:20:00.000-04:00

I was asked to do a second mural panel by the creators of the Cadeau du Cheval mural, and despite a tight deadline, I have managed to get it completed. I saw a white horse head in the middle of the panel, and was able to work it into a bald-faced paint horse. The setting is a county fair horse show, the Friday night horse show classes under the lights.
There are many more images added to the mural mosaic, check out the live grid at http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cadeau.html

It's been a crazy summer here, so far. Every day has a chance of thunderstorms, so it's difficult to get any riding in, for fear of being caught out in a lighting storm. It's been a time to catch up with farm chores and simply enjoy the backyard. The month of June is the batty month for us. Our old timber framed barn has a healthy colony of brown bats that raise their young along the top rafter. The only trouble is, the baby bats don't seem to be able to cling to the rafter very easily, and many of them fall three stories, only to dehydrate and perish on the barn floor. We rescue as many as we can, carefully using a stick to pick them up by the back legs, which eagerly grip onto anything they can. We sometimes place the babies on a board and move them as high up in the barn as we can, climbing into the loft and leaving the board with the bats on a high beam, hoping they can crawl back up to the colony. I have no idea how many of these bats actually make it, but we just can't leave them on the floor of the barn to shrivel up. Having been through this routine for eight years now, I've gotten used to the bats, but I love to show visitors the brown lumps up along the rafter and explain what they are, and watch them back sloooowly out of the barn. Admittedly, it is rather disconcerting to reach for a piece of equipment and find a bat clinging to it. One day, when one of the geldings refused to eat his grain, I was worried, until I looked in his feed tub and found a bat in there with the grain. I love having them around, though. We have never had a big mosquito problem around here.

Blinker Hood

2008-06-10T22:31:00.001-04:00

"Blinker Hood", oil on canvas, 20 x 20 in.

A few months ago, I found a call for entries for a show at the Attleboro Arts Museum, (Massachusetts). The show is called "Out of the Blue", and all the entries had to feature the color blue. I decided to do a couple of paintings specifically for this show. I don't usually paint things to fit the requirements of a juried show--usually I just look through my recent inventory and select something suitable, but I had plenty of time to meet the late spring deadline, and the theme inspired me. "Blinker Hood" was from a photo in my reference library, and since I have been doing so many close-up horse portraits, I was eager to zoom in on the blue hood, and see what I could do with those colors and shapes, when so little of the horse's head was showing. I love fabric folds and the colors that show up in white objects such as the eye cup.
So this piece is the result and this is the one that was accepted into the show.
The opening is July 11, 7 - 9 pm.

"Blue Cooler" oil on canvas, 20 x 20 in.
This is the second piece I did for the "Blue" show. (This one didn't make it in.) I threw my blue cooler on my mare, and shot a bunch of pictures of her in late afternoon light. She has such a soft expression, and the blue really complements her orange-red coat. You can't really see it in this web image, but my studio building is reflected in her eye.

The studio is pretty much like a blast furnace these last few days. I was moving paitings into the cooler first floor as it seemed like the paint was going to run right off the canvases. I think sometimes a heat wave is terrific excuse to goof off. I spent an hour or so this afternoon in the hammock under the trees, reading a book, and didn't feel the least bit guilty about it!

Finished Mural Panel

2008-06-02T15:14:00.001-04:00

I am calling this mural panel finished, and after a bit more drying time, I'll ship it off to Mural Mosaics. Now, I'm awaiting my second panel in the mail! I was honored to be chosen for a second panel, and I'm interested to see what will develop on with a completely different set of colors and shapes.

Other excitement on the farm is the addition of a new horse in our barn. We have a new boarder in residence--"Star", a lovely and sweet 25 year old Standardbred. Star arrived yesterday, and was carefully and slowly introduced to Keeper and Niqui, and the whole thing turned out blissfully uneventful. We stood and watched the three of them when they were first turned out in the paddock together, and it was about as exciting as watching grass grow. They walked around each other, sniffed a bit, ate at separate piles of hay, and after maybe two squeals and one little warning that wouldn't even qualify as a kick, the three chestnuts settled down as if they'd known each other forever. Apparently at 25, 25 and 20, these three are too old to engage in youthful shenanigans, and took a mature approach to the relationship.

The month of June here is really a bit like paradise. The lawn is lush and green, the irises are blooming (the ones that Cheerio hasn't trampled) and the bird population has exploded. I was able to add to my bird list recently with the sightings of a red-chested grosbeak, a scarlet tanager, and a pair of orioles. I came upon what I think was a baby female oriole perched in a tree, just starting to fly, and probably resting from the ordeal. My husband was chased by a ruffed grouse while mowing the lawn on the riding mower!

The lettuce is coming along nicely, the pea vines are starting to flower, and the beans have popped out of the ground. All is right with the world!

Mural Panel update

2008-05-22T12:22:00.000-04:00

My panel for the Le Cadeau du Cheval Mural is coming along nicely. I'll post two installments here...I'm working pretty quickly on this, and I didn't have a chance to post a new blog entry in between, so you can see the early stage of the painting and how it has progressed. The first image, I have included an image of the original panel next to it, so that you can squint your eyes at the image and see how the shapes and the tones fit into the original. This has been an extreme challenge. The only horse I have a decent reference for is the big bucskin in the middle. The others are pretty much made-up out of my head.

In this latest installment, I've refined the anatomy of the horses a bit more. The ear on the grey looks a little small to me, so I'll probably adjust that. I've used the forelocks and manes of the two middle horses to create the dark lines in the composition. This is a departure from my usual work in which I'm concerned with strong light and shadows. With no strong light source, the horses are looking a bit flat, but I can't get too contrasty with the light, or I'll lose the original overall shape.
The mural page has had a few new pieces added. Check out the progress here: http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cadeau.html

The Horse Gift Mural

2008-05-15T11:16:00.000-04:00

Le Cadeau du Cheval "The Horse Gift" Mural is a collaborative mural project in which individual artists each paint a panel from a large mother image. I am thrilled to be a part of a project like this, and I'll start posting my progress today.
I was able to choose which panels I preferred. Of my top three choices, it seems that I got my first choice. Some panels were fairly monochromatic, some had lots of pinks and purples, and some had definite shapes and edges. I wanted to challenge myself with a panel that had definitive shapes, and it certainly is a challenge to find an image that will maintain the values and contrast in the right places. I chose the panel I did because I immediately saw something in the image. Of course when I received the actual panel in the mail, I decided to do something entirely different.
Above is the original panel I recieved. At first all I could see was a big white horse rear-end in the lower right corner. And I thought of perhaps an appaloosa or pinto horse, rear view, looking to the left. But the shape in the middle was too rounded and big to be the right proportion for that idea, so I worked out a cluster of heads that work themselves into the shapes.

I think I'm ready to start painting. I'll post the progress as it goes along.
To see the whole Cadeau du Cheval mural in progress, go to: http://muralmosaic.com/Cadeau.html
To see other mural mosaics, http://muralmosaic.com/

Two New Large Scale Paintings

2008-03-27T15:14:00.000-04:00

"Belle" oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in.

You are looking into this horse's soul. This is another foray in to these large-scale paintings, and the composition of this one makes it the first one that is actually larger than life size. Belle is a mare that I hardly know at all...I photographed her on a visit to the stable where I used to work, and she was just looking over the fence in a way that made the shadows fall over her face in an interesting way. I think she must be a kind, gentle mare, from the soft look in her eye.

"Controlled" oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.

"Controlled" is a look at the harmony between horse and rider. This horse is not straining against the bit, there is no tension, just perfect acceptance of the rider's cues. He's cantering between jumps and his rider is probably rating his strides to the next fence. A glossy bay thoroughbred on a sunny, late-summer day brings out the sharp lines of the shadows, the crisp highlight on the nostral, the soft highlights on polished leather. The light greenish yellow of the background evokes the color of dried-out late-summer grass, while complimenting the reds in the horse's coat.

2008-02-27T17:53:00.000-05:00

It's Pine Car Mania!

On March 30, I will be participating in my first Pinewood Derby. My son is in Cub Scouts, and when I heard that parents and others could enter in the 'wannabe' category, I just had to build my own car. I am just not one to do things halfway, so I set out to make a pinecar that would be a little work of horse art. My car may not be the fastest...but I was determined to make it one of the prettiest!
I'm calling it "Horsepower" (of course).
The medium was a bit of a challenge. I planned to originally use oil paint, so I primed the car with several coats of gesso and sanded it smooth, then added a base coat of oil color. But the three-dimensionality of the car proved to be a problem with slow-drying oil paints. So I wiped off the oil paint and started over with some inexpensive wood-craft type paints that I purchased at Wal-mart. If I had a working set of acrylics, I would have gone with those, but my box of tube acrylics dates back farther than I'll admit, and I ended up having to chuck the whole lot of dried up tubes in the trash.
I still need to get some holes drilled in the bottom to add some weights, and I'm hoping that these little horses really make this car fly!

To end on a funny note...I just had to post this picture of our loveable Maizy. This cat is sort of a big blob of fur that settles and spreads where it plops. The other day she was watching the birds in the window, and the dog came up to bother her, and in the process, the potted amaryllis bulb ended up on the floor. As I'm sucking up the dirt with the vacuum, she's still sitting and watching the birds, while I'm moving the vacuum nozzle around her. Any other cat would have high-tailed it outta there, but not Maizy. She's not going to let a little thing like a vacuum cleaner ruin her enjoyment of the chickadees.
For cats, watching the birdies must be like us reading gourmet food magazines...it's enjoyable, and makes your mouth water, but you know you're never going to make any of the dishes.

2008-02-07T11:44:00.000-05:00

"Power"
oil on canvas
30 x 40 in.

Well, it's been a while since I posted and I'm happy to finally post the first of my larger scale paintings. Since my work has been going in the direction of these close-up angles and graphic compositions, it was crying out to be in a larger format, and so I'm getting used to working with these big canvases. Honestly, it didn't take much getting used to...the process is the same--just using bigger brushes and a lot more paint.

This foray into larger formats is in thanks to the owner of Polonaise Art Gallery, on the main street in Woodstock, VT. He has a selection of my work on view there and he wanted to see my work larger, so I gave it a try and it really worked! So if you are in that area, stop in. He has a wonderful mix of traditional and contemporary painting and sculpture, and these new larger paintings are something that must be seen in person to be really appreciated.

"One Looks"
oil on canvas
36 x 48 in.

"One Looks" is sort of an equine landscape. I liked the juxtaposition of these three horses in the three different colors, and I liked the depth created by the bodies of the foreground horses. The first piece radiates action and tension, while this one of the horses unhaltered, untethered, free of restraint, is all about peace and tranquility.

2007-12-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

"Woodstock Cows"
oil on canvas, 11 x 14 in.

"Flash Noseband"
oil on gallery wrap canvas, 12 x 16 in.

I would see these cows in the late afternoon light on the picturesque country road that leads to the kennel, where Cheerio was "studying" agility. One day, I finally remembered to take my camera along, and stopped at the side of the road to capture the luminous late afternoon light in late summer. (Despite my son's protests--"Mom! This is so booooring!") He really wanted to get to agility class.
A few weeks later the cows were gone. I was glad that I had taken a moment of time to capture them on film, and then on canvas. Someone appreciated their beauty long enough to paint them.

"Flash Noseband" is one of a continuing series of close-up studies of horses in light and shadow. This guy was waiting his turn at a jumping event, and the late summer sun was sculpting his face beautifully. There was a lot of reflected light from the ground, as the dry summer had parched the grass to a warm yellow, and his blaze ended in a glowing pink on his muzzle.

This afternoon, I trudged around the pasture where I let the horses out to play in 10 inches of snow that fell the other day. The camera may have captured some interesting winter light, so perhaps this will be the next painting. I am working larger--on a 30 x 40 canvas, currently, and can't wait to do more of these big, bold paintings.

2007-11-23T20:27:00.000-05:00

Halter Class
linoleum block print
6 x 8 in.

I have finished the linoleum block print, and I'm looking forward to doing more of these. This one had five colors that had to match up, and I'm pleased that I was able to register the colors successfully. The neat thing about these block prints is that each one is slightly different in the edition of 15. I started out with an edition of 16, but forgot one print when I was printing the brown, and I had already cleaned up the ink when I realized it.

This weekend is my open studio, and I've spent the day frantically cleaning and organizing the studio. Anyone in the area is welcome to stop by. I have lots of work on view, having just gotten a load of work back from a gallery on Martha's Vineyard. It's kind of fun arranging everything and making labels. There are original paintings, prints, cards, rubber stamps, and posters--something for everyone.

Last weekend was spent on a much needed getaway in Vermont. Woodstock, to be exact. We explored Quechee Gorge and some of the surrounding area, and even though the foliage is gone, it was a beautiful sunny weekend to roam around. There were no tourist crowds, being between the foliage and the ski seasons. We visited Billings Farm, a restored dairy farm with an 1890's farm manager's house and a herd of beautiful Jersey cows. We rode around the farm in a wagon pulled by two dappled grey Percherons.

2007-11-02T12:49:00.000-04:00

The Cat and the Mouse

Relaxation
oil on canvas board
8 x 10 in.

Gadget

A little sadness around here--We had to have a little pet funeral last week. Gadget, a fancy mouse that we've had for nearly two years, passed away last weekend after a full and joyful life of running on her wheel and jumping around her cage.
Seriously, she was a neat little pet, quite active and entertaining. She had an overturned plastic flowerpot with a little door cut in the side. She would fill it up with the bedding and make herself a cozy nest inside. She would leap from the top of the flowerpot to the top of the cage, inverting herself and clinging with all four feet to the screen.
She ate mouse food pellets, mostly, with occasional sunflower seeds or almonds, or a bit of banana for a treat. She didn't get handled much, but she would sometimes climb onto your hand, and chomp her sharp little teeth into your finger.
We think she had a dark side, as the first four companion mice she had (Gizmo 1, Gizmo 2, Gizmo 3, and Gizmo 4) mysteriously died in short order. We finally gave up getting her companions--she apparently preferred to live alone.

In the studio this week, I have been working on a multi-color linoleum block print. Something posessed me to attempt a block print recently, and I can't just do a simple one-color print, I had to do a five color print! Three colors are now printed, the registration of the colors seems to be working out, and I just have to deal with my impatience of letting each color dry completely before printing the next color. I'm not used to creating art that is such a multi-step process. I guess I needed a little break from my traditional media.

The other item completed recently is this little oil of Pixel. I couldn't resist the expression on his face, his "Come hither" look.

Now I need to finish up the lino block printing so I can clean up the studio to get ready for my Open Studio on Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of work to do!

2007-10-22T23:22:00.000-04:00

Cheerio
I seem to have folks interested in Cheerio lately, so I thought I'd give an update. Cheerio has started learning Agility, which she loves! She's had six weeks of classes so far, and has been introduced to most of the equipment. She seems to be a natural at this, and it is so neat to see her picking things up so quickly. Being almost a year old now, she's being a typical adolescent dog with sort of a Jekyll and Hyde personality. One week she's well behaved, the next she's not. The amazing thing is that even when she's having a bad week, behavior-wise, I can still take her off the leash to work on the equipment, and she stays focused on me and does what she is supposed to do. She just has the patience of a toddler when it comes to waiting her turn, and listening to the trainer's instructions. She is the kind of dog that pretty much has to be doing something all of the time. (Kind of like her Mom!)
Since Halloween is coming, it is time to work on costumes and tonight I dug out the sewing machine and went to work on Cheerio's Underdog costume. Okay--I know she's not a beagle, but it's a COSTUME. Her favorite seven-year old boy is going to be Simon Barsinister, not as easy as the ghost costume that I thought we were going to make. Finding a kid-size lab coat is not easy either, so I finally ordered one online and I am praying that it comes in time for Halloween.
Art-wise, I am getting ready for 3 more shows this season, the New Haven Arts and Crafts show on Nov. 11, an Open Studio at home on Thanksgiving weekend, and then the RISD Alumni Holiday Sale on Dec. 8.
Lately the foliage around here has been just spectacular. My drive to work takes my breath away. So last Thursday, Cheerio and I braved the ticks, and went out into the woods to shoot some pictures. I wish I could sit outside and paint, but I'm just not a plein-air painter. Anyway, later that day, I downloaded my photos and worked up a couple of watercolors. This one is a scene of a clearing in our back woods. Sometimes I just have to get away from painting horses, and working on landscapes like this can be good for loosening up.

2007-08-28T10:45:00.000-04:00

The Seed Table

This is a little off topic, but the story of the week is the Seed Table. This is actually our coffee table, at least what it looks like when it isn't covered by books and newspapers, coffee mugs, etc...
The table came about around 9 years ago, shortly after being married, and still childless when we had time to pursue this kind of project. The idea was mine--a table with compartments under the glass to hold seeds--and my husband designed and built the table, using a piece of circular plate glass that we already had hanging around. The process of collecting seeds was fun. I used excess seeds from vegetable packets that hadn't been planted, grass seed, bird seed, thistle, sunflower. I collected seeds from the flower garden--Siberian Iris, Daylily, Cleome, Marigold. We scoured the kitchen cupboards for things like sesame seeds and poppy seeds and tiny celery seed. One evening we sat sorting all the beans from a bag of bean soup mix, coming up with a colorful assortment of new additions to the table. After a friends saw the table, I received at work one day a mysterious inter-office envelope containing a zip-lock bag of red lentils. They gave a nice shot of color to the table. Apple seeds, grapefruit seeds, tangerines--no fruit was eaten without sorting out the seeds and washing and drying them for the table.
When we moved, the table went with us, legs carefully removed, and the table was tipped just enought to fit through the doorway and transported flat in the back of the station wagon.
Alas, nine years later, insects finally found the seeds. We discovered an infestation in the yellow lentils and the ryegrass seed. The table had to be cleaned out and debugged. I didn't plan on spending my vacation week cleaning out the seed table. With small dixie cups and spoons, we salvaged the seeds that didn't seem to be infested, vacumned out the squares and sprayed the whole thing. Seeds were returned to the table, but now many squares remain empty, waiting for new discoveries of seeds. I went on a seed hunt in the gardens and came up with dill, daylily, and more cleome. Later I discovered the morning glories going to seed and collected enough to fill a square. There are still available slots--Carol, if you happen to have any more of those red lentils....

2007-07-19T20:41:00.000-04:00

"Red Rope Halter"
20 x 20 oil on gallerywrap canvas

I am off to the Vineyard this weekend for an opening for a new show of horse paintings. The opening reception is July 21st, 7 - 9 pm at ABoDE gallery, on Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs. Red Rope Halter will be one of the featured paintings, along with some of the other works I have featured on this blog lately, Dressage Face, Star Gaze, and Pony Lineup. Fourteen new pieces in all, including a dog and a couple of cats!
Red Rope Halter is just one of those paintings that was begging to be done. I had a shot of this horse in the paddock at Saratoga, and his wide-eyed expression, and the afternoon sunlight on his face was just compelling me to paint him. It took me a while to arrive at this composition. Originally I wanted to show more of him, in a more rectangular format. But when I pulled back from his face, so to speak, it just wasn't as interesting. When you stand in front of this canvas, I want this horse to be invading your space! And there is enough hidden information that you can't really tell if this horse is moving forward into your personal space, or backing away from you. The red rope halter is what really makes the piece work for me--just a nice shot of color framing this guy's face.
The easel has been quiet lately, since finishing up the last of the paintings for the show, all the work has been in packing and shipping art--not my favorite task, but it is always exciting to send new work out of the studio to be viewed for the first time. July is too humid to paint anyway...and until I can get a larger AC unit in the studio, I can't really get it comfortable enough to work on hot days. Not that I wish summer was over yet though. I'm enjoying these dog days--poking around the yard and discovering the ripe raspberries and checking on the blackberry patch every day, waiting for them to ripen. Cheerio, my 8 month old English Shepherd, is maturing and mellowing, not as energetic in the heat. She's growing into a marvelous family dog. We've started Obedience II, where we are beginning to really work on the heel and the longer down-stays, and this dog is a star in her class. I don't feel that it's anything I've done--she's just been so easy to train.
I'm looking forward to competing with her eventually, in Obedience trials or Rally Obedience. Perhaps I'll even try Agility.

2007-06-05T22:21:00.000-04:00

Star Gaze
oil on canvas
20 x 20 in.

Here is my mare again, but not exactly--I added the star. Unique just has a sprinkling of white hairs on her face, and I wanted more of a focal point on this piece, and a shape to break up all of that red. This piece came about rather quickly...two weeks ago I had to cancel a photo shoot for a commission because it was too overcast to get a good shot of the subject horse. But later that morning, the clouds broke up a little, and I took my camera out to my own horse paddock, and snapped a couple of shots of my mare looking at me from behind the swayed back of the Quarterhorse gelding. I didn't realize what I had until I downloaded the pictures and saw the glowing light in her eyes and the intensity of her gaze. I zeroed in on her eyes and forehead for the square composition, and chose a complimentary soft greenish blue for a background color. This painting went faster than usual--but there wasn't a lot of fussy bridlework, just clean, simple color. The only thing I needed to fuss over were the forelock hairs.
This is on a thick gallerywrap canvas--my support of choice lately, and like the Dressage Face, the image continues around the edges. I still need to paint the bottom--always the last thing finished, so I can't even say this one is off the easel yet.

2007-05-17T11:36:00.000-04:00

"Dressage Face"

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted. I had a bit of a hiatus from painting this spring to work on some freelance projects, but now a batch of canvases are in the finishing stages, and one of them is this 6" x 36" vertical of a dressage competitor.
I am loving these long narrow formats--though this is a bit extreme and the format is quite a challenge to composition. This is the second of this format that I have attempted. The first one was "Close Up" http://www.aleciaunderhill.com/horses13.htm an image of my own horse looking at me, and I loved the way it fit on a narrow wall in our kitchen. However, "Close Up" has gone to a new home--I can't keep every painting of my own horse--and I decided to tackle another one. This is on a 1.25" deep gallerywrap canvas, and the horse image continues around the edges. I just loved his big pink nose and inquisitive look. And the hazy humid summer morning gave a soft light to the background.
There are other horse paintings in the works, and my mare, Unique will be appearing on a 20 x 20 in. square canvas soon. But the printer needs a light magenta ink cartridge, the toned canvas needs to dry a little, and all my eagerness to start something new has been twarted by these little snags.
I will post other new paintings soon.

2007-03-19T21:44:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I have been able to post--I'm too busy puppy training and working, working, working. I spent a lovely weekend at the Driving Forum, a conference and trade show for the carriage driving enthusiasts. It was a pleasant weekend and a lovely group of people to meet. Of course, I came home from this show wanting to drive. Same thing happened last year, but the farthest I've gotten is to put some long-lines on my horse and start ground-driving her. It's a good way to exercise both of us at the same time! However the horse hasn't seen any long-lines since earlier in January, just before we acquired the puppy, which happened to coincide with the weather taking a wintry turn. Since then, the yard has been covered with packed ice--it did finally mostly melt last week just in time to get another load of sleet dumped on it.
Our trails are inaccessible. And if I might just take the opportunity to vent--I am sick of boots, hats, gloves, and heavy sweaters.
Thank-goodness there is basketball to keep us entertained during these gloomy late winter days.
As for painting--the canvas is calling me, but I cannot answer it just yet. I am tied up with illustration work for the next few weeks. And birthdays, and appointments, etc... Can't we just add an eighth day to the week?

Alecia

2007-01-22T15:06:00.000-05:00

This has been puppy week in our household. We've been totally taken in by our new English Shepherd puppy, Cheerio. She has become my new muse. A lovely tri-color, everyone who meets her thinks she is a Bernese Mountain Dog. But thank-goodness she will grow to be only about half the size! Sweet and laid-back, she is learning to become a studio dog. However, the mountainous stairs in the studio have her a little on edge. I've been painting dogs, and cats this week, working on a theme here. I'm finishing up a few driving horse pieces, and have several new canvases toned and ready to paint. But for now, puppy needs a walk!

2006-12-15T21:29:00.000-05:00

The Cat that Walked by Himself
oil on gallery wrap canvas, 8 x 10 x 1.5 in.

This little oil pays tribute to Cornelius, a handsome black feline who wandered onto our farm and started claiming his territory a couple of years ago. Our tenant decided to take him in and get him the proper veterinary treatment and surgery, and has turned this wandering Romeo into the ultimate lap kitty. This view of him is what you get the minute you squat down with a camera. He immediately sees a potential petting and stroking and walks right over. There is no catching a candid view of this guy. Though he is known for perching on fenceposts and rolling in the dust of the paddock, I will never catch him at any of these activities on film. I was attracted to the way the sun reddened the insides of his ears, and his shadow reached out on the pavement.

The approach of the holidays means wrapping things up for the year---finishing up commissions, and getting the books in order for tax-time. It's a time to clean out the studio and shred excess paper. And of course there is the excitement of having some time off to start some new paintings after Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Peace and Joy to all!

Alecia

2006-11-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

Murphy
oil on board

I did finally manage to get Murphy re-scanned, and here he is, sweetly sitting in the snow.

The Pony Line-Up
12 x 40 oil on canvas

Having six or so paintings in progress certainly keeps one from getting bored working on any one thing, but sometimes it's a relief to finally get one or two or three off the easel. A couple of commissions are in the finishing stages, and one just got shipped off. And this painting of the ponies is finally complete. This is one of those paintings that I've had in my head for quite a long time. Finally I had an assortment of photographs that would work for it, and I did an elaborate piecing together of the composition. Thanks to Photoshop, I could arrange and rearrange these guys until I had them where I wanted them.
I love geometry and patterns, and though horses don't always lend themselves to such things, in this case, I was able to create some repeating elements--the helmets, the shirts, the hunt coats. Not all the girls were wearing white shirts, but I wanted the harmony of the repeating triangle of white. The life in the painting comes from the different attitudes and poses of the riders and ponies. I wrestled with the issue of the background--should I indicate some fencing, etc...but this is obviously a scene at a horse show, and it would be awkward to put in just a bit of fencing without indicating all the other stuff in the background, the trailers, the buildings and tents...too busy. I decided to put the emphasis on the shapes and negative shapes of the main subjects.

This weekend is Artists Open Studios of NE Connecticut, and I will have my studio open to the public. A complete list of artists and a map is available at www.aosct.org

2006-10-28T18:55:00.000-04:00

Pets have been on my mind lately. The painting pictured is "Bath Cat" an oil on linen of Pixel lounging in his favorite bathroom window. Relax while you can, Pixel, as we are making preparations to add a dog to our household, a puppy no less, and I've come to the conclusion that there is just no easy way to break the news to the cats. Not one to take the responsibility of a dog lightly, I've researched and researched, and have decided that the dog I have been looking for is an English Shepherd, a good, old-fashioned working type farm dog. I stumbled across the breed while researching breeders of Nigerian Dwarf Goats (another animal we would like to add to our small farm) and I felt like this is the dog I had always been looking for in a mixed breed. But the English Shepherd is an actual breed, and I have been talking to a breeder that could have a litter of puppies ready by January!
Not only am I salivating at the thought of having a puppy to play with and train next year, but you can bet that this pup will be photographed and painted as if he/she were royalty. My first dog, Murphy, a golden/collie mix is lovingly captured in an oil on board painting that resides in my living room. Our cats are also willing subjects and have been featured in several oils and watercolors. I find that drawing dogs and cats is a nice little break from my equine work. And it is different than working on horses. Horses all have the same basic anatomy. They vary in size and shape a bit, but overall, the anatomical proportions are basically the same. Drawing a horse is all about getting the anatomy right. Dogs vary so much in size and shape, and many of them have so much hair, that the surface anatomy is hidden. Painting fur is a technique in itself, and involves lots of layering of color. Portraits of dogs and cats are all about the eye expression. Currently on the easel is a commissioned portrait of two Australian Shepherd dogs, both with blue merle coats. It's important to me not only to get the markings right, but to get each dog's unique facial expression.
Next time I post, I'll try to get that painting of Murphy pictured. I painted it before I had a good knowledge of scanning, and now I need to take it out of the frame and get a good computer scan of it.

2006-09-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

September already! It's back to work, back to a normal routine. With a couple of commissions on my plate, and some freelance work, my time management skills will really come into play. Over the past month, I've been able to spend some quality time in the studio, and it will have to continue in order to get everything done. The Greener Pastures Rescue Art Exhibit will open on Saturday, the 9th at Stonington Vineyards, and I'm looking forward to the opening reception and meeting the other artists. At the end of the month, I will be delivering some paintings to Maine for an exhibit of art featuring carriage horses.
I made a trip to Saratoga Springs last month--the first time in at least seven years. There is nothing like Saratoga in August for an equine artist! Four different galleries offered a juicy selection of art, and a day at the racetrack yielded over 400 photos of racehorses and jockeys. I came home so jazzed up to paint, that within a week, I had completed two new oils on canvas. I'll scan those and post when they are dry.

For now, I'll post one of the watercolors I have done from the horse show I photographed last month. Little girls on ponies in the sunshine are irresistable to me. This young rider had perfect command of her bay pony, cantering perfect circles in the sunlit sand.

2006-08-21T22:11:00.000-04:00

As summer winds down, the show schedule is gearing up, and I have found myself in need of some organization so that I know where everything is going, the sizes, prices, etc... So I cleared my bulletin board of clutter, and have posted lists of paintings that are in or going to six different shows/galleries. Sort of like those boards in the ER where the patients are listed. Keeping track of shipping and drop-off dates, opening reception dates, and the like is giving me a massive headache. Oh, well, if you don't put the stuff out there, you can't expect to sell it, so out it goes. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, I have become an expert box engineer. I ordered a case of cardboard pads from a shipping supply catalog. They're basically just flat sheets of cardboard, big enough for most of my larger pieces, if I make two-piece boxes. For smaller pieces, I make a "pizza box" to directly fit the painting, then if I am shipping it, I wrap the small box in bubble wrap, and make a larger box to fit the wrapped box. I finally invested in a good hand-held clear packaging tape dispenser. Like my Logan mat cutter, I wonder how I've done without it for so long. Making my own boxes is a huge money-savings--and since many of my pieces are an odd long or narrow format, I could never find pre-made boxes to fit them anyway.

On another subject entirely...a family camping trip this summer yielded a great unexpected photo opportunity. A big horse show was being held within a mile of the state park where we camped, and I was able to go on the afternoon of the big grand prix. It was fun to try out the digital camera on the jumpers, but even with the continuous shooting mode, I still found it difficult to get the perfect jump pose captured in a shot. I came away with plenty of painting inspiration anyway, and I'm currently working on some watercolors of irresistable little girls on ponies.

For now, I'll post the image of this black Friesian mare and her foal.

2006-07-27T14:11:00.000-04:00

It has been such a busy summer for me, with a show on Martha's Vineyard, two invitational group shows coming up in Sept and Oct. and all of the family activities that go along with having a 6-year old out of school and needing something to do.
I have had three or four paintings in progress, some since early May. Last year I was at a local horse show, and photographed some hunter ponies lined up in the ring, with young riders in their hunt coats and velvet caps, fluffy white saddle pads, and shining boots. The painting has been in my head for some time, and I finally purchased a long thin, 11 x 39 in. canvas on which to do it. So I have seven ponies and six young riders, all in a line (The seventh pony is just poking his head in from the side.) Well, it means painting six hunt jackets, twenty four legs and hooves, well, you can do the math. It's taking the time that seven small paintings would take me, and yet it seems to be living up to my vision. Hopefully I can post an image of the finished product by October.

Recently, I also had the opportunity to photograph some Fresians, which of course led to another painting. This one came quickly off the brush, as some of them do, and I will soon post that one as well.
Another piece that went quickly is this small (11 x 14) study of my mare dozing in the sun. I loved the way the light flowed over her rounded body...she is all curves, reminding me of the reclining women painted by Rubens and Ingres, and other masters. I almost called it "Odalisque" but settled on "Repose" for the title.
And I also have a large head study of a hunter drying on the easel. That one has been in progress since early May and thought the subject matter is simple, the bridlework and shadows made for some very fussy work, and it took longer to complete. Most of these are gallery-wrapped canvas, my painting surface of choice lately. At first because I figured I didn't have to frame them, but now that I have done several, I have been putting them in canvas floater frames, and finding that they can have a contemporary look and still have the protection of a frame.

I mentioned two shows coming up in the fall--one is to benefit Greener Pastures Rescue, and Connecticut horse rescue organization, and will be on display at Stonington Vineyards, Stonington, Connecticut during September, and the second show is called "Driven", to take place at the Skyline Farm Carriage Museum in North Yarmouth, Maine. That show will open in October.

2006-06-08T22:03:00.000-04:00

Lots of good stuff is on the horizon, and it's shaping up to be a busy summer. I just shipped four boxes of artwork off to Martha's Vineyard for a show of new works that will open on the Summer Solstice, June 21st. The gallery is ABoDE, in Oak Bluffs, which had a showing of my work last summer, and it's so nice to have such a wonderful location for a show. Now that the Vineyard stuff is all packed up, I have a little breathing space before I pack up three more pieces to go to Lexington for a traveling show to benefit the Masters of Foxhunting Assoc. of America. I have only been to one foxhunt, ever, but I shot so many wonderful photos, and did several paintings from my experience, that I feel lucky to be able to participate in this show.

I had so much work filling the walls of the studio for my Open Studios weekend, and now half of it is being packed and sent off. As you might guess, I've been spending a lot of time as a cardboard box engineer. No one ever really mentions that aspect of being an artist, but it's a huge, time-consuming job. Every large flat box that I get something shipped in, I save. I'm still working with cardboard from our kitchen cabinet cartons when we remodeled four years ago. I could take the easy, but expensive way out and order artwork shipping cartons that have foam inserts. And I do order those sometimes, when shipping to a big juried show where the concern is as much the ease of repacking and returning the artwork as it is to protect it in transit. But I can't order 12 expensive cartons to ship everything to the Vineyard. And my husband and I will be carrying the four larger, odd-shaped pieces with us on the ferry. It's only a couple of weeks away--I really hope the New England weather improves by then!

The piece pictured is a new 15 x 30 in. oil on gallery-wrap canvas, called "Red Barn." This horse was really giving me the eye when I stopped to photograph a cow that was across the street. He was muddy and scruffy and seemed to be enjoying the winter sunshine. I liked the way his chestnut coat looked against the red barn behind him, and I loved his big, wide white blaze and the pink on his muzzle and lip.

2006-05-08T17:37:00.000-04:00

What a nice weekend for an open studio! A steady flow of visitors kept me busy for two days, and it was so nice to be able to talk to folks about my work in my home setting. I thought I might actually get some painting done, but there really wasn't that much time. I worked on a little watercolor of Pixel, my feline muse, which I'll post here. This guy is such a ham and such a character. He was a shelter rescue that came with the name of Peter, but we named him Pixel, and so he is affectionately called "Pixel Pete". He is wound as tight as a spring, and can wiggle out of our grasp with strength that cannot be believed. He is a perfect foil for Maizy, the sedate, pleasingly plump female that we adopted at the same time. Both are subjects that are readily available, and I photograph them all the time, so they appear in many paintings, drawings, and watercolors. I call this one "Birdwatcher".

More samples of the cats.

2006-04-27T20:14:00.000-04:00

This little watercolor of the hunter ponies is going to be on display at a brand-new gallery that is opening up locally. I am really looking forward to the opening--it will be a fun mix of fine art, craft, and furniture. If you are in the Northeast Connecticut area, check out the Gallery and Shoppes at Celebrations in Pomfret, when it opens on May 5. This beautiful Victorian house, a former B & B, will make a fine showcase for art, and hopefully become a destination for travelers in our area.
I am also very excited about my Open Studio Weekend. I have hung dozens of pieces, made nice little labels for them, and have been working at getting some local advertising done before the newspaper ad deadlines.
But you know, all this, plus a hundred other things in the business of life have left no time for actually painting. And despite our earnest attempts to curtail our driving, it seems like I am always having to run somewhere in the car!
This morning, I had a respite from the merry-go-round in the form of a blacksmith appointment. Every seven weeks, I have the pleasure of hanging out in the barn for a couple of hours, shooting the breeze with my blacksmith. It's a much needed forced break from everything else. We can talk about our kids, our horses, the price of fuel, property taxes, local government, alternative energy...the topics are varied, and I always learn something. And while my boarder's horse is being done, I get a good grooming done on my mare.
On a totally unrelated topic, I just have to get off my chest---I hate lawnmowers! We have a riding mower and a push mower, and right now, the only working mowers we have on the property are four-legged ones. The push-mower is only a year old and won't start, and the riding one is about 6 years old, and has had to be serviced nearly every year, because it won't start. Starting a lawn mower should not be rocket science--it just shouldn't be that hard! So just about every year, we get to the time when the grass starts to grow out of control, and we can't mow because the mowers won't start. I know that neither my husband or I has the "tractor-gene", the innate ability to tinker with internal combustion engines.
The only way I would like to tinker with them is with a sledgehammer.
Whew, I feel much better now. And tomorrow, the horses get to graze on the lawn.

Alecia

2006-04-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Can't believe a month has gone by since my last post. The driving conference proved to be a pleasant show. It was an enjoyable time, talking to carriage enthusiasts all weekend. I'm signed up to do the show next year, so I'll be busy doing some more paintings with a driving theme. Now to get ready for the next item on the schedule--an open studio. This will be my first year participating in the Artist's Open Studios of NE Connecticut, and although the event runs for the first two weekends, I am opting to do just the first weekend. It's tough to give up two spring weekends in May to sit around waiting for visitors. After all, it is prime gardening and riding season. I do hope there will be plenty of turnout. I'll be spiffing up the studio, baking refreshments, and hauling all the art I have hanging in my house out to the studio to display there. It will still be a lot less work than hauling everything in my car to some other location. It's a good thing I have a month to prepare. Somehow April is so booked up with appointments, art openings, swimming lessons (for the six-year old), holidays and soccer. The month is going to fly.
The image I've attached is a mini watercolor painting. It's only about 3.5 inches across. I really enjoy doing these quick little paintings when I feel bogged down by a complicated oil.

2006-03-06T15:57:00.000-05:00

Here is another in my bovine series of paintings, "Red Cow." This one just rolled so nicely off the brush...there was no struggling with composition or color, and I'm glad I was able to retain the looseness of brush strokes. It is a small painting, an 8 x 10 in. oil on canvas.
Well, it's the beginning of a week before a trade show, and with that comes all the stress of making sure I have enough business cards printed, wrapping prints and doing last minute framing. It doesn't help that my son starts swimming lessons, and the blacksmith is coming one of the days. And my printer decided to cease communicating with the computer, or vice-versa, and after spending a couple of hours backing everything up, and running a hardware test, (don't I sound like I know what I'm doing?) miraculously, everything started working again.
At least I have done enough of these shows to know that I will have enough done by Saturday--there will be more than enough to fill the booth, and the more work I bring, the more I have to carry.
The show in question is the Driving Forum. Although the only horse I have ever driven myself was a livery-stable rental on Mackinac Island, (the horse pretty much drove himself.) I have helped hitch and watched plenty of carriage driving events. I don't know if I will ever have my own driving horse, but a horse-drawn carriage is still one of those sights that inspires awe. Perhaps I will come away from the conference with a renewed interest in obtaining a carriage and getting my Morgan hitched. I guess I'd have to ask my mare first--she might have other ideas.

2006-02-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

It seems as if I am always complaining that I don't have enough time to paint, however, this week, as I was updating my painting inventory list, I discovered that I had a whole bunch of new finished works to add. Some of them are little watercolors, which I am still in the process of matting and wrapping, but I have a few completed oils, as well. Keeping an inventory list, which I can sort by year, title, medium, etc... is enormously helpful in the business of creating art. You get to look back at which things have sold, and which items are lingering around the studio, and one can adjust working methods accordingly. I had so many new watercolors to add, that I had to create another page of watercolors on my web site. Also there is a new piece on the home page--one of my recent favorites. I won't repeat myself here, I've written a little about the piece below the image on my home page.
As of late, I've departed from the equines temporarily to paint bovines. One sunny warm winter day a couple of weeks ago, I took a drive around town looking for some animals to photograph with the digital, and I hit the bovine jackpot at a nearby dairy farm. Rows of dairy cows lined up to feed, right by the road. Those cows were certainly giving me the hairy eyeball as I parked and started shooting away. Some of them actually posed rather demurely. Needless to say, I now have endless fodder for a series of cow paintings. Pardon the pun.

2006-01-18T01:20:00.000-05:00

It's been a productive day in the studio. A new painting was started and is well on it's way, and several works in progress have, well, made progress. The finishing touches went on a couple of things. One painting I thought was finished, and it already had a coat of matte varnish, and was ready to scan. Sometimes it isn't until it's up on my computer screen at 300 dpi, that I realize that something just isn't right. So it was back to the easel with that one, just for a minor touchup, and now it will have to dry and be varnished all over again. The work isn't really over when the painting is finished. There is the drying time, during which it can look patchy and ugly until the final varnish is applied. Then after the varnish is dry, the painting must be documented, which used to mean waiting until several works were finished, then loading a slide film into the camera and setting up the tripod and the lights, and doing a full photo shoot. Nowadays, everything just gets scanned, at full resolution, then a duplicate is saved at a lower resolution for the website. The next step is framing, if the piece requires it, or sending the work off to have professional prints made. It can be months after the painting is finished that it can actually hang on the wall of a gallery.
Speaking of finishing things, I'll post the finished version of the Coach and Four watercolor. I kept this one light and loose.

2006-01-07T00:27:00.000-05:00

The driveway is icy, the paddock is filled with snow on top of mud. Yet, I like this time in January, when there aren't a whole lot of things going on. I can finally settle down and focus on some work. Painting is progressing much more slowly this winter than usual. I think my new camera is stealing a lot of my time. I take a few pictures, I download them, I fiddle with them. All this time could be spent at the easel...but there will be time for that too.
I have a show to get ready for in March. Still far enough away to feel that I could perhaps have a new painting or two to exhibit. Yet I don't want to leave too much for the last minute. I'm trying to think about driving, carriage driving in particular. The show in question is the Driving Forum, a conference for carriage driving enthusiasts. I haven't been to a driving event in quite a while, so I'm going back through old packets of photos taken at the World Pair Driving Championships, Coaching Weekends in Newport, or other carriage shows. I've found a few promising reference shots, but it's hard to get excited when they aren't fresh and new. The challenge lies in going through the photos with new eyes, looking for something I didn't see in them before. The four-in-hand coaches in Newport provide plenty of painting fodder, Now to just sit down and draw all that harness and carriage paraphernalia. It's not just four horses--it's sixteen legs, four wheels, traces, buckles, collars, reins, and seven or eight people with top hats and lap robes! The image attached is of a work in progress, no background yet--it's a small watercolor, about 8 inches long. This size really helps cut down on the amount of detail I need to portray. The horses need to be darkened up a bit, still, and the background is just going to be a suggestion of the grand old trees on the Newport estate.

2005-12-28T18:25:00.000-05:00

In my house, we know Christmas is over when there is some new project in the works. My husband seems to get a break from his freelance work right after Christmas, and there is usually some home-improvement project to do. His task this week is building some painting storage for me. There can never be enough space to store artwork, frames, matboard, and other big flat stuff, so he is constructing some vertical flat files under the stairs. I am spending some time in the studio too, but so far it's been on things like matting new prints, and tweaking things on my web site. My new Christmas toy is a digital SLR camera. I've been playing with it just around the house and barn, so far, but I can't wait to take it to a horse event! It is really going to come in handy when photographing horses for commissions, which leads to my topic of the day.

On my web site, I have posted new detailed information on portrait commissions, and how to think about photographing your horse. This is something that most horse owners don't think about, it seems. Folks say, oh, I've always wanted to have a portrait painted of "King". But now King is getting old and graying around the muzzle, and they don't have a single decent picture of him from his younger days. I hope the information I've provided will help, because let's face it, artists can't always work miracles. We don't know the horse personally, and don't know that he changes color with the seasons. I can usually move parts around a bit, like moving a leg back or forward, or putting the ears up. I like to photograph horses for commissions myself--I can remember things about the horse that might not come through in the photographs. Sometimes seeing how he moves helps me know more about how he's built. However, the advantage to taking lots of your own photographs of your horse is that you can photograph him at different times of day, in different lighting conditions, even in different seasons. I'm pretty much limited to the hour of time I can schedule a visit to the farm.

For more information on this, visit the part of my web site devoted to portraits: http://www.aleciaunderhill.com/portraits.htm

So here's a New Year's Resolution for all horse owners: I will take lots of pictures of my horse this year!
Even if you're not ready to have his portrait painted, you'll have a nice photo record of him for your albums.
Happy New Year!

2005-12-19T23:05:00.000-05:00

Christmas week is here, and I'm starting to feel like I can relax. A few holiday events are behind me, my shopping is more or less done, and now we just have to wait for the big day. A five-year-old in the house can really add to the excitement. He knows exactly how many days there are until Christmas, thanks to an advent calendar. The first thing he has to do in the morning is rush out to the kitchen and open another little door. Then he counts how many closed doors are left, and announces how many days are left. That little advent calendar was worth every penny.
I really should be working in the studio tonight--I have a free evening, and some brand-new paintbrushes. I just might psych myself up to go out and paint after I finish this. Yes, it's a fact that artists sometimes really do have to psych themselves up to work. Especially when my painting time is in the evening, when it's just so easy to settle down on the couch. The thing is, usually when I do force myself to start a painting, or to start working on something in progress, then the juices start flowing and I can work contentedly for an hour or two or three. I don't know if I could paint longer than that. I don't think I've ever had that long a period of time to spend at it.
It is so much easier to get right to work when there is a new painting that I am excited to start working on. At the moment, I have one piece waiting for the final varnish to dry, and a couple of small oils on the easel, but nothing new in the works.
After Christmas, I will be getting back into full gear.

2005-12-13T01:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, the Christmas cards are done and mailed, and the RISD Sale is behind me. This year's RISD Alumni Holiday sale was a success as usual. It's always a fun show to do. It's a comfortable, well-lit convention center hall, and the unloading and set-up is easy. This year, I had more display panels, so my booth is looking sharper than ever. I brought a new piece with me, an oil on gallery-wrap canvas, called "Nosy". If you know horses, you know how weanlings and yearlings are curious about everything. I was visiting the University of Connecticut's horse paddocks in the spring, and this guy came right over to the fence. I was shooting away with my camera, and he came too close to the fence for me to photograph him, but he stuck his nose out at me, and I loved the way the shadow of the fence fell over his face. So I got down on my knees and took a couple of shots of him like that. The in-your-face nose. When I got the photos back, I thought it would make a neat square painting, and then I discovered the 2 inch thick square gallery-wrap canvases. I had to do this piece on one of those, and I wanted it to be very bold and graphic, with the lines of the fence on the top and bottom. The piece is all about the shadows, and the eye is in shadow, but he's obviously looking at you. This painting seemed to really reach out to people. So many asked if I had a print of it, that I think I probably will create a print. And the original has already found a new home.
I can't wait to unveil the big bold one that is still on the easel now. Ever since I did a big black horse head called "Watchful Eye", my work is definitely going in a certain direction. I want horses that confront the viewer, look the viewer in the eye, draw the viewer into the horses' world. I want a non-horse person to get a sense of what a horse owner sees every day in her horse's eye.
And speaking of horses, I wish mine would tell me whether to blanket her or not. I know in my heart that she could probably be out there without a blanket most of the time. She has a run-in shed, and she's a tough, hardy Morgan. She gets a nice thick wooly coat that snow cannot penetrate. But it's cold out there. She might get a chill. And so the blanket goes on at night. At least I can sleep knowing she has this protection.

2005-12-01T23:53:00.000-05:00

My second official day for this blog.
I am soooo behind on my Christmas card this year. Christmas cards are a pretty important part of the season for me. It's my way of staying in touch with family and friends who I have known over the years and saying, "Hey, I remember you, and I'm still thinking of you." I don't do the traditional newsletter, but have on occasion incorporated family news into the card. I hate it when I lose track of someone. People move and not everybody sends cards, and occasionally I lose someone from my list that I held dear. So if you are one of those people out there, just drop me a line or an e-mail, please. I used to draw my Christmas card every year, but since we've had a child, it's usally a photo of my son or all of us. Because those kinds of cards are the ones I love to get. It's so fun to see everyone's kids grow over the years. I save all the photo cards and the handmade cards. The "art cards" go into a special box, and the photo cards go into a huge 3-ring binder album. Anyway, I have a schedule for doing my Christmas cards, which I usually manage to stick to--I have to come up with the concept by Halloween, have the drawing part or the design done by Veteran's Day, and have it printed or reproduced by Thanksgiving. That gives me plenty of time to assemble, address, stamp and mail.
I confess, this year, I am wayyy behind deadline. I just put the photo image on CD to send to the lab. That gives me about a week to finish the rest of the card. So folks won't be getting ours quite so early this year, but I think I'll make the Christmas deadline. I hate to be so last minute. But on the flip side--most of my shopping is done, so maybe I'm just doing things in reverse this year.

P.S.--I was right--my mare is not in foal. The results did not surprise me. So now we can move on and figure out what other animals we might add to this little farm. Goats, anyone??

2005-12-01T00:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, here goes nothing with my first blog post. I'm winding down after a full day that included a web design class to learn Dreamweaver. I have my newly redesigned site pretty much finished, and I was eager to get it uploaded onto the web today, but my USB key sort of ate my web site. Luckily, I have a copy of everything on my hard drive at home, but it was disappointing not to be able to upload my new site today.
Part of this whole equine art business thing is marketing and a big part of that nowadays is keeping an updated web site. I spend more time on marketing and bookkeeping than I do on painting. And now that the Christmas season is here, finding painting time will become more of a challenge. When you have to juggle so many things, you get really efficient at using available time, and I know that the vacation time that I get at Christmas will be used to full advantage to get as much painting in as possible.
I was up at six this morning, just to be able to drive my husband down to the dealership to drop the truck off for service, and drive him and my son home before heading to Providence. I was able to convince him to feed the horses this morning, something he rarely does, but my five-year old knows the routine, so I was pretty confident that the two of them could handle the chores.
It was a rainy, mucky day, and the paddock is full of mud, but it is warm, so the horses don't need blankets, and by tomorrow, they will both be a lovely shade of light brown from all the dried mud caked onto their lovely winter coats.
I'm awaiting word from the vet as to whether my mare is pregnant or not. She was bred this summer, to a stunningly beautiful palomino Morgan stallion, (she is also a Morgan) and after two unsuccessful tries, I had her bred once more and then trucked her home. The early ultrasound proved undefinitive, so 115 days later, I had a blood test done. Am still awaiting results. I still don't know why we can't have them just pee on a stick. You might think that you'd have to follow them around all day, waiting for them to heed nature's call, but really, I could just carry the thing on a long trail ride, because she always has to go on a trail ride!
My bets are that she is not pregnant--not that I am usually pessimistic, but I just have a feeling she is not. She is seventeen. Hopefully I will have news on the blood test soon.