Sometimes Life Throws A Curve

 

"My Duster" , a watercolor portrait I did of my boy.

It has been a long month …this past month was one of worry and sadness. My old Duster horse was not doing well. He had been “my boy” for 28 years. I was there when he was born out of my Tennessee walker mare Ebony, and he had been with us throughout his life. It is hard to lose a fur kid…and our horses are a big part of our lives. They are our lives now.  Over the past month the vet was here regularly as Duster failed .and we hoped he would rally. It was not to be. So last week we had to say goodbye to my dear boy. My heart broke with this passing, but I can only pray that he is now somewhere running free across the Rainbow Bridge. I have done several paintings of Sundusts Glory Boy B [aka Duster]. One of my favourite ones is a watercolor of the boy…done when he was a bit younger.

 During this ordeal I managed to paint a bit. But it was hard to concentrate. I was inspired to do a small painting of a small bird’s nest that I found shortly before Duster’s passing. I think it is a hummingbird’s nest as it is so small. It had blown down to the ground during one of the rain storms that blew through our farm while Duster was so ill.  It seems to be woven with Duster’s mane and tail hair…..black and gray….with a mix of browned grass. I don’t think it was ever finished and I hope no eggs were in it when it fell. I have kept the nest in memory of by sweet boy. I was impelled to painting it…I did it in oil on a small copper panel.  It is done and available. I have my memories…maybe someone else can relate to the painting and find joy.

 

"Empty Nest"   oil on copper   5 x 5"

June is always a magical month in my gardens that surround my studio and cottage. I am afraid the gardens are a bit neglected at the moment, but hopefully I can find time to get into the gardens now…. between preparing for new paintings and getting work ready to ship to Equidae Gallery for the race season in Saratoga Springs, NY.   

Taking time to smell the roses.

"The Garden Hat And Roses"  , oil on copper,  6 x 8"

OIl Painting of Acadia, Done

"Starting The Drive At Acadia"    Oil on copper panel    12 x 12"    Sold

I don't know where the days have gone! I just realized I haven't blogged in 2 weeks!! I have been busy though......I finished the painted I had started at Equidae Gallery for my demonstration on oil painting on copper...and it has been sold.  And I did a self- portrait study in casein on board. Every so often I do a self-portrait as a sort of landmark of the passing of time and maybe of my growth as an artist. .

I am having trouble downloaded images to my blog....I don't know what THAT is about. So let it suffice for now, I am alive, and kicking.....but frustrated with Blogger problems..... and so I am headed outside to "play" in my gardens and maybe paint a bit!!!!. I will deal with my blog posts later!! 

Saratoga and More More More

I let the demo audience try their hand at oil painting on copper!!

It has been a while since my last post.We have gone to Saratoga  Springs and back....Had a wonderful vacation of sorts. [I think they call it  a bus-man's holiday??} I did a painting demonstration at The Equidae Gallery that represents me in Saratoga Springs in the summer and then in Vermont the rest of the year. I talked about how I got started in oil on copper paintings, [Thanks to artist Renee Lammers !! ] and why I work in that medium on copper and not so much in oil on canvas. I painted in the demo too, starting a new work depicting a four-in-hand in Acadia's Wildwood Stables. The Friday night Champagne Reception was packed and I was pleased to be greeted by the proverbially "red dot" that every artist hopes for when we arrived at the opening!! A good start of the race season!!

Les and I had time to explore the parks and gardens of Saratoga, visit the track, enjoy the carousel in the park and the artists' retreat and wonderful gardens of Yaddo, with its lovely statuary and fountains,rose gardens and woodland walks. We also managed to have some wonderful tasty meals at Saratoga's awesome restaurants. One could say we ate our way through the city!! Indian,Thai,Italian....and of course Mrs. London's pastries extraordinaire! We met friends there and when I wasn't working we just had a great time!!

Visited Spa Gallery with friend Juliet Harrison & we called artist friend Kimberley Santini

 to congratulate her on her work hanging there!!

Saratoga Springs Park

In the gardens of Yaddo

One evening I even sat on the Saratoga Lake-side and plein air painted the wonderful brilliant sunsets our B&B afforded us each night. But Saratoga was hot...and felt much hotter than Maine's hot weather feels. We were happy to be on our way back home, and travelled back taking the "high road" through Vermont and New Hampshire, where we enjoyed the beautiful landscapes of each New England state.

"Saratoga Lake Sunset"   Oil on copper    6 x 6"  plein air

So we are home. Nell is happy to have us home. ...and I am back working in my cool basement studio with Nell by my side....Life goes on.......and wonderfully it seems!!

New Oil Paintings And Distractions Galore

"In The Summer Light"          Oil on gallery wrapped canvas       10 x 10"

The summer days are flying by too fast it seems. I am getting ready to head down to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. again for the reception at Equidae Gallery, and for me that always seems to be the end of my summer "busy busy" time. My boxes have already arrived there with my paintings and I will  also taking two larger heavy oils on copper works with me...They will be there for the Equidae Gallery's champagne reception on the evening of August 3rd. In the morning of the 3rd, I will again be doing a painting demonstration and talk. The talk this year will be about my painting in casein versus painting in oil, and why I like painting in oil on copper panels. I hope to see new faces there, and I will be letting folks try oil painting on copper and casein painting on paper!! It should be fun!

Last week I did an oil on canvas of my horse in the summer hot sun....and our fields that are no longer green. I love the contrast of the hot yellow sun as it hits my black horse and the cool blue greens against the dark shadow of the forest background. "In The Summer Light" is on gallery wrapped canvas, sized at 10 x 10".
I also did a small landscape of a favourite scene viewed from Acadia's carriage roads. We love driving on the back of Little Long Pond and the dark forest roads that offer shade on a summer's drive.One of the stops we so enjoy  looks back down on Little Long Pond's boat house and the ocean beyond.The Rockefeller family has gifted us, the American people, with such a beautiful gift of  roads to drive or ride our horses on and to recapture the atmosphere of a slower and more gentle time. We should cherish this.

So I painted this Acadia scene.....  this small gem of an oil painting in oil on copper,

 "The Boat House From Above"

"The Boat House From Above"         Oil on copper        6 x 8"

So now I need to get back to planning my gallery talk,make notes...and pack up some paintings for a new Gallery I have been invited join [More on that later]. The garden needs  tending.....and all the daily chores on the farm call. I guess I need to get crackin'......Until next time!!

Pond Lilies and Horses - New Paintings

"In Our Pond"      Oil on Copper        6 x 6"

June has come and gone. The farm gardens are resplendent with color and heady with fragrance. I love it. I want to stay sequestered in the comfort of our cottage and wrapped in the atmosphere of my surroundings. But it seems lately that every summer I am called away to do painting demonstrations and attend show receptions...all away from home. I am busy now getting things done for Saratoga Spring's Equidae Gallery show that opens the end of this month. But I have been able to get a few new paintings done...One ...the small 6 x 6" oil on copper, "In Our Pond",  pictured above. An afternoon was spent painting our pond lilies,,,,,sweet summer grass  perfume filled the air and  bugs buzzed by....a lovely humid summer day past before the thunderstorms came through

Back in the coolness of my basement studio I did a 6 x 8" oil painting of a Saratoga Race Track scene...And "Saratoga Sea Hero"  and the pond lily painting "In Our Pond" are both now on my website.

Today I work in my studio, after a brief reprieve. The farrier came to trim the horses.

The skies darkened and a bit of thunder rumbled,....but no storm.

Now it is back to framing......And before I know it, the day will be here for shipping paintings. Back to work.

"Saratoga Sea Hero"   OIl on copper    6 x 8"

New OIl Of Saratoga Race Track

"Back Fom The Track"   Oil on copper    8 x 6"  

I am getting ready for a new exhibit that opens at the end of July at  the Equidae Gallery in Saratoga Springs,NY.,and hanging during racing season. Here in my studio there are paintings that need framing and a few that still need varnishing, but I am almost done. The weather has cooperated and it has been rainy for the most part , which keeps me in the studio and tending to business. I just finished the small painting above yesterday, and snapped photos of it today.... between raindrops. It will be headed to the Saratoga's gallery. "Back From The Track " is a 8 x 6" oil  showing the backside of the track's stabling area, across from the actually race track. I loved seeing the hustle and bustle of the track's working stables. Pictured here are the outriders who accompany the nervous thoroughbreds to the track and to the gates.....their work is done now.....and they head back to the stables.Life at the races, from the backside.


More news !! ...My watercolor painting "Heading To The Pull" was picked to grace the cover of the July issue of The Equine Marketer , an equine publication the serves the Mid Atlantic area of the USA.  They said that this painting was, " ...is so appropriate for all the county and country fairs that take place, at this time, in the Mid-Atlantic."  Thank you Equine Marketer !!

"Heading To The Pull"    Watercolor on paper on board   9 x 14"  copyright 2006   www,kathipeters.com  

June's Song Brings New Oil Paintings

"June's Song"    Oil on copper      6 x 6"              Available

I do know that I should be working on paintings for the upcoming show at Equidae Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY, for July....and my only excuse for producing the work I am doing  lately is that I needed a change. That is my story and I am sticking with it!  The few wonderful sunny days we have had lately have called me out to paint plein air, and to explore natural light and the vast array of subject matter that sits outside my studio walls. No need to even leave my farm. There are subjects enough for a lifetime of painting here. And so, I have been venturing forth, with Nell by my side,....and I have added two small oil painting gems......from my world here, on Cob Cottage Farm, to my website in the Small Works Collection.



"First Flower - Pond Lily"  Oil on copper      4 x 4"            Available

Yet the past few days have been spent in the studio, while rain pounds down around. The brook is reaching over its banks and my gardens are strewn with wilting flowers. Sad. But I have captured some of June's song in the paintings above. Enjoy! The sun WILL come out tomorrow!

One More Job Done

"Heading To The Ring"   Oil on copper     12 x 12"      copyright 2012  www.kathipeters.com

I started the day with full intentions of starting a new painting....but was waylaid by the brilliant sunshine and the flowers languishing in their flats in the sun-warmed greenhouse. They begged to be moved into the window-boxes  that adorn our cottage. So  I  carried the flats up to deck, where Nell and I enjoyed the beautiful weather, and I succeeding in crossing one job off my long list of To-Do's that dictates my days each spring at Cob Cottage.

The gardens are starting to bloom with new splashes of  color each day. I can loose so much time just walking around looking for new bursts of bloom that herald each season....and this is the season of new growth and promise.

The front raised garden.....bursting with spring promise.

Even the invasive dandelion sings happy yellow beside some pink and yellow tulips and  blue scilla in the front garden.

One painting is done too....a new oil on copper panel of a young rider on her way to the show ring. "Heading To The Ring" is 12 x 12" and ready to frame.
I am working on more oils on copper and getting work together for Equidae Gallery for this summer's Saratoga season. I am so looking forward to Saratoga .....so I need to paint and fit the gardening jobs around my studio work. I love it!!

Demo Painting Continued

The Saratoga demo starts
.

Terry Lindsey, of Equidae Gallery, invited me to do a demonstration of how I work in Casein paint and to tell about this much misunderstood milk based water medium. I hope I was able to dispel some fear that folks have about Casein, a paint medium that lost artists' interest when acrylic came into being. I have worked in acrylic, sometimes mixing Casein with acrylic in my mixed media works...but for the most part Casein is my favourite medium, and the majority of works done by me, and collected by collectors of my work, is done in casein...pure and simple. Casein, a clean milk based water–soluble medium requires no strong solvents. Because of that, I am comfortable using it in my home based studio. And because it dries quickly to a velvety, matte finish and over time, it becomes resistant to moisture,  it is possible to lay on a glaze and move onto the next stage within a few hours instead of waiting for days,like I do with my oil paints....or even watercolor. Did I say I like Casein?

I explained how I work in Oil on copper versus Casein on canvas.




Demo #1

All most done...or done? I need to put it against the wall for a bit,then look again!

This shows a bit how one of the caseins progressed. I turned it into an oil pastel painting when I got home. I don't know why. Maybe just because I could. I think it is done now. I will know that it is in a few days....after looking at it a while.Or NOT looking at it for a while!!

In the mean time my sunflowers are growing!!!

copyright 2011 Kathi Peters

Things That Take Me Away From My Studio

"Pond Iris"            oil on copper panel                    6 x 8"

I have a new copper panel ready for painting Plein Air....I want to get out and paint the pond lilies in our field pond,a bigger and deeper pond than the small oil I finished a few days ago.[ "Pond Iris" ] The yellow and white pond lilies in the big pond are in full bloom, reaching for the sun from the depth of the deep dark pond. Nellie and I have been there several times on our walks to check out their growth, but I have yet to get time to go there and actually paint. Maybe over the next few days,if it doesn't rain.

My artwork for Equidae Gallery,Saratoga Springs,NY, has FINALLY left the studio after a snafu on my carrier's part. The show there opens this Thursday, July 22, 2011. I guess my shipping problem is one of the down-sides of living in the woods!

The weather lately has been  very hot by Maine standards My studio is cool in the summer, so Nell and I have been staying in the studio a lot .....so if I do go out to paint, I will leave Nell in the house,sleeping. I think.

Take me!!???

Drawn To The Gardens

The garden outside my studio.

The gardens outside my studio are in full bloom now.I sit at my drawing board and paint and look out the window upon this myriad of colors....How they tempt me to come out side. I have been working on the watercolor of  Acadia drafts.... and it is all I can do to keep my mind on the work at hand. But I have made some headway on it...This is almost done....the  work in progress is at this point now:     

"Acadian Clyde"s  watercolor....... almost done.

Life on the farm is in full swing...and between the mowing, weeding and chores I am getting paperwork, paintings and framing done. Life is good ...if a bit fragmented during this season. Paintings are framed and ready to ship to the next show in SaratogaSprings the end of the month. I will tell more about Equidae Gallery's show in another blog post.

The studio is cool....I am headed there now! Nell and I will enjoy the studio's cool while looking out at the summer hot..... remembering what winter is like in Maine!!