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!

Limited Editions Running Out

'Head Study, Acadia' 10.5 x 7 " Giclee Reproduction

I have two giclee prints available on my website and this year of 2010, the price is going up on them, as I am running out of these fine art print reproductions. They are sold in a package and are signed and numbered, printed on archival watercolor paper,ready to be matted and framed. The above giclee was done in a Limited Edition of 120. Shipping in the USA is $12.00. Inquire about shipping outside the USA.
"Head Study/ Acadia " and "Lady In Waiting" have proven to be very collectible and grace the walls of horse lovers world wide!

This week a bit of my time will be taken in preparation for the Augusta Invitational Art Show Jan. 16th and 17th at the Augusta Civic Center. Hope to see you there! It's all about the HORSE!

And then there is the same, old same old, of walking the dogs, mucking stalls and dealing with Maine's lovely winter. And I am doing it all, thinking about spring. Riding come spring and hopefully driving too! Come spring!!

I Carry A Big Mahl Stick Now

I have been having a problem when working on large canvases and keeping my hand steady ...so wanted a mahl stick to work with. I explained what I wanted..showed my husband the stick in an art catalogue I have... and voila! The man made me two! One a 30" stick for my bigger easel works and a smaller 15" one for works that I can actually do on my drawing board. I don't know how I worked before without them! I do know I dragged my hand through wet paint a lot! Not good! I photographed the sticks so you can see what he made!What a clever man!

Today I am getting paintings together for the art show in Augusta next weekend at the Northeast Horseman's Conference and Trade Show Invitational Art Show. I have been invited to exhibit my work along with 4 other Maine equine artists, January 16th and 17th, 2010 in Augusta, Maine at the Civic Center. My work exhibited will mainly comprise my casein work. I am excited to see what the other artists have been doing! One of my painting will be "I Can Do It My Self", [shown below] a smaller casein on paper. Hope to see you there!

"I Can Do It Myself" 9 x 12" casein

Day 2 Of Casein Of Pony

This is where this casein painting is at mid-day of day two. I will now let it sit and dry before I go back into it with more color. I usually do my casein paintings on a colored ground and leave a bit of that colored ground show here and there in a painting. I feel it give it a depth.

So now this afternoon, I am working on an oil....started with casein and am now painting over the dried casein under-painting. This is a carriage driving scene too, but with 4 white horses...not one little cute Welsh pony!

Back into the paint!

New Year, New Painting

The new year blew into Morrill with a major snow storm, high winds and over a foot of snow. My loft studio was a good place to stay and get some paperwork done and to start several new works on canvas. I am planning a year of artistic growth and exploration. I am pushing the envelope a bit with my casein work and working a bit in tempera and in oil. The newest painting is a 24 x 48" canvas of a driving scene...a lovely welsh pony hitched to a governess cart. So stay on for the ride....it might get a bit bumpy!!

In A Crabapple Tree

Outside our cottage, standing almost as tall as our house, is a crab apple tree that pleases us all year long... with spring blossoms, summer shade and fall crab apples. In the winter it also pleases the birds who flock to our feeders and the boughs of this tree with its rotten fruit that sustains them through the cold long winters in Maine. Today our resident Ruffed Grouse flew up into the branches to feed his fill of the fruit...and the buds, on the tree. My husband has named him 'Buddy". Buddy has taken to following Les around our property and has also taken up housekeeping on the edge of our lawn amongst the woods and brush. Today Buddy lit on a branch above me and I had my camera in hand...and finally he posed as I snapped away. It so brings to mind the song "A Partridge In A Pear Tree"!! I find it so amusing that this bird has adopted Les, so to speak...! Les and his 'Buddy"!!

After last night's blanket of snow, the dogs were so happy to get out and play, wrestle and run. I had the privilege of shoveling while they played.
But I did get some time to actually get into the paint and have almost finished a casein I am working on of two Blue Tick pups. Back to painting now before it is time to walk the dogs again and then batten down the hatches for the next snow storm predicted for tomorrow! Gotta love Maine winters! Actually...I think I really do love them!