Four-In-Hand Painting Of Acadia

 

 

"Two's Company, Four's A Team" , oil, 12 x 24" ©2016 www.kathipeters.com

 

It was in Acadia National Park that I saw my first four-in-hand turnout and I fell in love with the sport. The four-hand-in of four [ Yes.... there ARE four horses in this painting.] Kladruby horses took my breath away. I have painting them several time over the years.

"Two's Company, Four's A Team" is maybe more about the groom holding the two lead horses, looking into the sun, while another groom unhitches the two wheelers. They had just arrived back from a long picnic drive over the miles of beautiful carriage roads of Acadia.  I love depicting the everyday scenes that surround the life of carriage driving and horses. I just love to paint my life. 

Three Sketches and Drawings Available

 

"Two"  graphite study ,  9 x 12" ©2016 kathipeters.com

 

While working on several paintings in the studio, I worked on several drawings/studies ......and here are three that I have decided to sell. They are available on my website.  At least one of these will become a painting.  I am always a day ahead of myself. 

 

 

"Alone With His Thoughts" , graphite , 16 x 20" ©2016 kathipeters.com

 

Days go by and I can easily loose track of what day of the week it is, but I always know what I am going to do tomorrow in the studio.That is a comforting feeling.

 

"By Sun's Set-Study" , 18 x 12" ©2016 kathipeters.com 

 

 

 

Horses and Hound and Maine Winter

Duster looks out over distant fields.   ©2012 kathi peters

Winter has been cold and bitter of late....winds howled and snow blew.The horses cherished any sun they could find,soaking up any warmth it might afford them.But I have to admit that the snow covering the farm and forest is beautiful to look at.....soft to walk through....and not that hard to shovel.I am grateful for small miracles!

Victoria enjoys her side of the barn.  ©2012 kathi peters

Nell soak up sun anywhere she can find it in the house.   ©2012 kathi peters

The buoy chime swings in the wind. ©2012 kathi peters

I have been working in my studio each day. I have finished a new painting of a mare and foal. "Mother and Son" will be up on my website soon. I am also busy on an smaller casein painting on paper....a four-in- hand driving scene from up at Acadia National Park.....a freguent subject for my artwork. I paint what I know and what I love......Acadia is so beauiful. Combine that with carriage driving.....heaven!!!

But now it is cold out. Winter is in full force and my days are spent in the studio,...while our resident horses and hound look for comfort in the warmth of the winter sun, while they dream of spring,summer, warmer days.

Winter In Maine Is Cold

Graphite Self Portrait ....or having fun!      ©2012 kathi peters

It is cold. It is winter and we live in Maine. One would think that we would be used to this....but it always is a bitter reminder that Mother Nature is in charge... and we get what we get and HAVE to cope, as we bundle up in multiple layers, to go down and do barn chores, waddling like Michele men through new snow and ice. THIS is when I wax nostalgic for Italy......sun and warmth. I have been looking through old photographs of my life, ions ago,in another life.....growing up in Italy. A lot of sweet memories there.....and they help warm my winter days in Mid-coast Maine.

But I have also been painting.

I have done a new oil painting, again with a copper panel for the substrate.The subject of the painting is an old bicycle that stands leaning on an old tree....and has been standing there for several years now....summer, winter,spring and fall...in all weather....in snow or rain. I have been wanting to, planning on painting it, for a long time. Each time I drove by the yard where the bike sits, I would say to myself...."Paint that!"  It was time to do it last week....so here it is. I have added it to my website.

"Retired"    Oil      10 x 10"  ©2012 kathi peters

The sun is dipping lower in the sky now. The temperature only rose to a chilly 10º F. today, is starting to fall again. I guess it is time to bundle up, waddle to the barn and close the horses up in their cozy stalls for the night. They will appreciate it. Winter in Maine is cold.

 

Our stand of spruce.    ©2012 kathipeters

Holiday Wishes From Cob Cottage

©2011  Kathi Peters

It is a very damp cold gray day outside. A drizzling rain is covering our farm [and most of Maine] with ice.So in between wrapping Christmas presents and taking care of office paperwork, Nell and I decided it was time to get into the Holiday spirit and have Nell pose with her Holiday outfit.....she as always thought she could be one of Santa's reindeer!!

                                                         

                                                        BEST WISHES EVERYONE!!! 

Comes Winter

Nell the snow bunny...       ©Kathi Peters  2011

Snow came last week and covered the farm with a soft white blanket ,brightening our days. Nell donned her new barn coat and burrowed in the white, gone to ground in pursuit of moles or other varmint.Thanksgiving day was shared with our children and family. Fall is slipping into winter as it often does.

Our outside greens are up.

And then on Saturday our mail brought a pleasant surprise......the Fall issue of StrokeSmart magazine arrived and it is sporting my face on the cover!! It actually is my self-portrait that I did...A study of my face in casein.StrokeSmart magazine is put out by the National Stroke Association  .In 2009 I donated a portion of all sales in my solo art show  "Finding My Voice", held at Gallery B in Lexington,KY. , to the National Stroke Association.had been contacted by a freelance written for StrokeSmart about doing an article about me, my art and my recovery after a ischemic stroke in 2006. I never thought it would be such a big article....and never thought I would make the cover!! Imagine my surprise to see my face
on the cover!!! I try to do a new self-portrait every year.....and they used my 2009 painting! Lisa Pogue,the writer, did a lovely job capusclating my stroke and personal approach to recovery.Thank you Lisa and StrokeSmart!!



My mug.....my self-portrait  ©kathi peters.2009

Article featured two paintings that are now with Gallery B.

Maybe next my painting will make the cover of The  Rolling Stone!!!!

Rearing To Go

"Shades Of Gray #6"  casein on paper         12 x 9"

The past few days were a blur of movement. I have been up and down mid-coast Maine, yet loving it all. What a great time of year to be driving through Maine countryside and coastal roads...and all in the call of duty! Through all this flurry of activity, I have managed to finish a small casein on paper and chalk it up as number 6 in my series of "Shades Of Gray". I am working on some larger works for this series, with some lovely Arabian grays and some Pre grays too! Where my 'Shades of Black' series have been mostly my own two black geldings, the grays seem to be from all over the world. Interesting that new friends I have found on Facebook are willing to let me use their photos of their horses as inspiration. It always intrigues me how small the world has become with the event of the Internet!

Warm weather has descended on Maine.Today feels like August.The horses sleep in their run-out sheds, out of the hot sun . The dogs are sleeping on the living-room floor, trying to catch a cool breeze....and I am headed down to my studio where it stays cool.  I think I am going to really appreciate my downstairs studio this summer!. I am working on the drawing for a new oil painting on copper. This will be fun! I am excited to be doing this. One could say I am 'rearing to go"!

Another Shade Of Gray On A Gray Day

 The rain is pelting the windows as I sit now writing from the loft. But a better part of the day was spent painting in the new studio space we have created in our walkout basement. This will be' my space', craved out of the limited space in this tiny cottage in the woods of mid coast Maine. I am starting to feel that it is my space as it comes together...as I figure where I want what and what goes where. It amazes me, as I put things away in this much larger space, how much I actually had in my tiny [very tiny] loft studio. And a lot of what I had crammed into the old studio will be weeded over and be discarded.I vow I will not collect!! I will not horde!! I will simplify!!

The above painting is a 9 x 12" casein on paper.I will post it on my website when it is done....and did you now I have a few papercut drawings still available?