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

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?

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.

An Eventful Weekend

They call a horse that has power to spare when jumping fences "scope-y".  This characteristic is a real asset on the x-country course where the obstacles are huge and the pace is just short of mach V!  Had a great time at the Aspen Farms Horse Trial last weekend.  I've wondered about the fact that most of the things I like to do best require body protection gear, but compared to these upper level event riders I qualify as rather sedate.

Discover the Great Bear Rainforest

Paintings at Blend in Key Center the month of June.  The white black bear or Kermodi bear is an icon of this unique coastal treasure.  A % of any painting sale goes to help protect the region from current threats by short sighted politics & big oil.  This is a place worth saving!   

First Race

This is a sketch that I made for a larger painting a while back.  I'm posting it in honor of American Pharoah and his amazing running talent.  Whether you like horse racing or not, you can't make a horse take ownership of the racetrack like he does.  I used to gallop racehorses.... long ago and I wasn't particularly good at it (they tended to set their own pace and get me in trouble for letting them go too fast)  but there is nothing like the rush of power and lift into flight without wings.  I will never forget that feeling.

Golden Days

Happy dogs are always fun to paint!