Thursday, July 30, 2015

On a Roll

acrylic painting, 5x7"

Looking forward to some kayak time chasin' seagulls, maybe sea otter, a seal or two, if we're lucky some whales cruising the shoreline.  Heading north to Bella Bella in the middle of the Great Bear Rainforest and source of oh so much painterly inspiration!  See you when I get back, cheerios! 

Monday, July 27, 2015

Evening Falls on Summer Pasture


It has been a welcome break in the heat around here.  True Northwesterners are flapping their webbed feet in excitement to see some rain!  With all the fires the sunsets are spectacular.  Field hay has already been cut once, may get a second cutting if it rains enough to keep the grasses alive.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Portrait Documentary, Fox

This is a portrait documentary.  Fox, I don't know a lot about him but I believe his resume included teaching quite a few people how to love horses and dressage riding.  I met him briefly when this portrait was commissioned, unfortunately he unexpectedly moved on to greener pastures since then.  I never got to see him perform, but I'm so glad I got to meet him because even brief impressions are incredibly helpful in creating a portrait painting.  He didn't have ideal conformation and his joints were getting creaky but my clear impression was that of a dignified gentleman.   The series above shows developmental stages of this representative style portrait.  Although I didn't stray far from the structural detail of the photo, maybe you can pick out a few changes I made, keeping in mind that my goal is to capture a presence even more than just a likeness.  Below is the completed portrait.

"Fox"  20 x 24" acrylic on canvas

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Resting in his field of dreams

This is Floyd in retirement, a portrait I did recently.  The monochrome view was a preliminary sketch to figure out what to do with the busy grass & flowers background in such a small space (6x8")   Which one do you like best?

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Fly like Wind - portrait


Back from backpacking and Ride & Tying but still playing with horses.  This is a painting of Wind and Nelson Mittuch of Northwind Farm in Port Orchard.  Wind is a pensioner now, but still doesn't mind chasing the other girls around the pasture.  I imagine they get together to talk about the challenge of training their human partners and the thrill of a good cross country course.