WAOW..A SHOW

Consider this a postcard invitation to the online art show held by "Women Artists Of The West"...of which I am one! I feel very privileged to be a juried member of this National group of artists...even if I don't live in the West , but in the woods of East Coast New England! With two paintings of mine in the show.....I am 'hanging' with a great bunch of women artists!


The past few days have been sunny and brisk around the farm, very wintry! But today dawned sunny and warmer! With temps up in the mid 30"s, way above freezing, I hiked out into the fields with the dogs and then on our way back I stopped at the barn and brushed two of our horses, old Dom and Duster our perennial 4 year old [who is actually 24!] My gloves and hat ..and face ..were covered with horse hair. Nell , our JRT had a grand time chasing hair clumps as they rolled around the paddock. She jumped with joy! I think I need to paint that scene!


I am working on an watercolor now of a Maine girl and her horse as they do mounted shooting. That is a equine discipline that is full of action and noise! and I am doing this while waiting for some casein paintings to dry. I am not content with only working on one painting at a time, and have to jump from painting to painting to keep my muse amused.....

Guess I have the attention span of a Parson Jack Russell Terrier!!

Two Small Casein Portraits

Max and His Pumpkin casein 8 x 5 1/2"

Two small quick caseins of our grandsons are ready to go to my son and daughter-in-law. The boys are growing so fast it is hard to paint fast enough to capture them...but I think I did this time!
These are just to depict a great day last fall, when the sun was shining and snow was nowhere to be found. Today the snow is all around, and though the sun is brilliant, the air is very cold and nipping one's nose. Fall days like depicted in these two paintings are a thing of the past! But those days will be remembered now with these small portraits.
On the up side though ...it is now only a little over 40 days until spring! I am so looking forward to that!

"Logan, The Pumpkin King" casein 6 x 8"

Now onto some bigger works that I am doing.....and I will be taking out my watercolors for these.
My afternoon will be spent in the studio, winter sun shining in, and Les Miserable 's wonderful music entertaining my muse!

Pony In Cart

"Pony In Cart" casein on canvas 24 x 48"

Mind you, I am not complaining. I am just stating a fact. It is cold out. But this is winter and this is Maine, so I guess I am stuck with it. I stay cloistered in my studio, the sun shinning into the room, but I can hear the wind howling outside.
Today I finished the above casein on canvas of "Pony"....the pony perfect. Lynn, the lady driving him, sits in a lovely antique governess cart at a recent Maine Carriage Day event held at Skyline Farm in North Yarmouth, Maine. If I painted everyday, all day for the rest of my life, I would still have scenes I want to to portray, paintings that need to be painted, all about driving horses.A passion for me...horses and driving.
"Pony In Cart" is available to grace someone's walls...........

Ridden Dressage In Casein

"Shades Of Gray #2" casein on paper- 9 x 12"

This morning while the bitter cold January winds howl outside my studio, I painted, and still in my pj's, have just finished the above casein on paper. This is one more done for my series titled "Shades Of Gray".....a series where I will explore the color, light and shadows in gray [or white] horses. In the past few years I have done a similar foray into the colors I see in the black horse...now the gray will be the subject of this 'experiment"! I am putting it up on my website.

The new online art show with "Women Artists of the West" titled " It''s An Artist's Life" is now on line and I have two still life works 'hanging' in it. I am very proud to be part of this great group of female artists who are from all over the U.S.of A. ...not just the West as their name states. Please take a stop into this virtual show and enjoy. Sorry I can't offer you a glass of wine!

Guess I better get dressed and bundle up to walk the dogs. Out into the cold!

The Art Of Farming On A Small Scale

Sweet Adeline [resident Corgi] on her way to the farm and chores.

Life at Cob Cottage doesn't always just mean sitting in a warm sunny studio and creating works of art. This January it has ALSO meant treks to the barn through knee high snow and shoveling ...shoveling....shoveling! That is the hard part of having a small farm tucked in the Maine woods. But on the bight side..there is a lovely changing landscape that we are blessed with, ...360 degrees of nature's beauty... God's gift to us to enjoy each day....between shoveling and trekking!

JRT on the hunt.

Our dogs are small, so they need paths, to and from, to get their business done each day. Addie is very happy for these paths, like mazes running through our orchard and gardens...all provided by Les . The man snow blows them paths hither and yon. Spoiled pups! Nell [ our resident JRT ] spends the majority of her 'walkies' time looking for voles and varmint under the snow. She jumps and leaps through the white, then dives to depths with only her tail showing! Then after she has hunted her fill, she heads for the bedroom to sleep among the pillows...where she is sure I will not find her!

What dog? I don't see a dog?

Down in the barn four horses depend on us for their food and comfortable...no lack of that there! But even there, in the paddocks and run-out-sheds, there is more shoveling and snow blowing to do with each snow storm. [Not to mention the daily shoveling of 4 stalls!]

There is no lack of subject matter at Cob Cottage to feed my creative muse

Now it is time to get back to the studio and the next painting!

After the Show ...High Ho High Ho

Les straightening the pole-skirting.

The weekend flew by so fast as we flew back and both between Morrill and Augusta each day for the Equine Art Show at the Civic Center. I was so happy to have been included in this art show and for the chance to reconnect with old friends and clients...all the horse folks of Maine!! And I was so good... and did not spend any money on horse stuff...though I did lust over a few trailers there that would hold a pair of driving horses AND our carriage!!! I say that laughing because I need a bigger studio before I get a bigger trailer!!!

Today I finally got back into the tiny studio and to work on the driving painting that I am doing...24 x 48" with casein. As snow fell over our farm, I stay cozy in the studio making headway on this small pony on a big canvas. There will be more to come...but this is where we are this afternoon.

First Oil in 2010

I say first because I plan on doing more in between my usual watercolor and casein work. These horses and their driving party were up at Acadia enjoying the miles of carriage driving roads there....I have portrayed them before in several casein works..how I love the white team put to the black and red brake. And the seemed to be enjoying themselves too! The horses and their passengers!

I will be putting this up on my website too....more works to come! But now.......time to walk the dogs! Nell is 'terrier-izing' poor Addie...I hear them wrestling in the living room....time for a walk!