"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.

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

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!

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

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

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.

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.