It's A New Year ! More New Paintings!

 "The Cob Mare" , oil, 12 x 12" ©2015 kathi peters

 I can't believe time has past so quickly since the last time I posted new work ....but it has, and needless to say, I have been painting between holiday commitments  and snow storms and doctor appointments! Life on the farm goes on and I do get time every day to get into the studio and do something creative. ............even if it is only balancing my checkbook. Believe me, that can be VERY creative!

At the end of 2015 I did an oil of a Cob brood mare, fond memories of a mare that produced some awesome foals. The painting is available on my website and hopefully she will find a new home in the new year.

  I also have been working on some smaller works on paper , in mixed media, and they are turning into a series of works I will be doing as I explore the pulse of the prerace ride, the feeling of the horses and their side riders, as they ready for the gate loading and their race. So far there are three done  in this series......

 "Before The Race #1"  ©2016 Kathi Peters    

"Before The Race #2"  ©2016  Kathi Peters

"Before The Race #3"     ©2016 Kathi Peters

I have had  papercut drawing work juried into an exhibit opening at River Arts Gallery in Damariscotta, Maine January 15th,2016......Good to have my  papercuts back in the mix of my portfolio of work again. I am looking at some changes in my work in the new year. I hope to keep you engaged in my work. 

And so I paint....create!

  

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  

Spring Brings Foals

"A Yearling"                       Casein on board                          6 x 6"  

Between shoveling and dreaming of spring I have had some creative progress in the studio. 

This little  casein pictured above is done and available through my website's Small Works Collection.  The subject is a handsome yearling  who I met at Cobra Farm during my Lexington,KY  visit last year. All the yearlings were getting ready for the weekend's Young Stock Sales.......a sad and a happy time. Young stock were headed to their new life....no longer left to just play and grow.They had a purpose in life.....and the weekend  sales would determine that to a point. I saw so many at Cobra Farm that I would have loved to take home with me. Like I need another hole in my head!!

It is raining today.A spring misty moisty morning. The farrier is here trimming our horses feet. Our horses are left barefoot. They have not felt the metal of shoes for years. I think they like that. I am headed to the studio for the rest of the afternoon. I need to clean the studio up a bit before I start on some bigger paintings now....and finish a commission.

Opening In Saratoga Springs,NY.

"Cinching Up"    casein on board      12 x 12"

"What Are You Looking At"          casein on board         12 x 12"

These are two of  my  three paintings depicting hunter-jumper scenes, that are part of my work in the Equidea Gallery Exhibit. The gallery is holding its champagne and artists' reception to night in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. from 6 - 8 pm. Equidea Gallery is housed in the Holiday Inn and is open throughout the racing season.

I have other work hanging in this show....stop in and see!!

Falling Of The Wagon

Actually what really happened is that my husband was thrown off the carriage when he was driving with a friend up at Acadia National Park. The pair of Canadien horses they were driving bolted and the fun began! Les hit the gravel carriage roads on his right side, which left him with 4 broken ribs and a very bruised arm.....and a wicked case of road rash on his arm and face. I received the news Thursday afternoon and life as been in a turmoil since.
After several days at the Bar Harbor hospital, Les is home now recuperating. I get to be nurse maid, farm manager,lawns keeper and chief cook and bottle-washer.Needless to say, I have not had any time to paint.

Studio work has been put on hold.

"Holly Bull"   casein on board    7 x 5"

The above casein was the last painting I finished.....along with an oil on copper that I have not photoed yet . "Holly Bull" will be put on my website in the Small Works Collection. Now back to the patient patient, who needs his meds and a cool drink. This will be slow healing process.....and I am anxious to get him healed!!

Eye On The Prize

This painting is done....done on a birch panel, gessoed and then painted in casein. "The Gray -Holly Bull" is available on my website. I was thinking that maybe I should have titled it "Eye On The Prize"...because that is where this fellow was looking... at the barn where the mares were awaiting his pleasure!

Speaking about "men"....This morning when I went out to do the stalls, I watched as a young white-tail buck followed a doe right through our pasture where our horses were grazing, oblivious to the goings on. Of course I had no camera with me...just two noisy canines who were wrestling at my feet, as they tried to take each other's orange bandanna off. Yes, it is not boring on the farm. Everyday is full of 'happenings"!

Another White Horse

I have been working on this 11 3/4 x 13 3/4" casein for a few days now, on and off. Yes, another white foreshortened horse. This is a subject that I can not get tired of exploring. And I will be doing more white horses over time...a series of sorts. [Like my 'Shades of Black' series that can be seen on my website.] This is a stallion from the Darley Farm in Lexington KY., a wonderful Thoroughbred Stud Farm that I was privileged to visit last spring.You don't see many farms like this here in Maine!

It is quiet today at Cob Cottage Studio...Nellie, our non-stop Jack Russell Terrier, is at the vet's, where she will spend the night, recuperating after having been spade this morning. She is doing well..or so I was told when I called a bit ago to check on her progress. Addie, our Corgi, is enjoying her reprieve from her nemesis and napping and taking leisurely strolls around the farm. How Nell has changed our life...for the better....since she came into it a year ago. But for today we are enjoying a quiet time.

Kentucky Sunrise

This is a detail of the finished "Kentucky Sunrise" casein [18 x 18"] on canvas. The entire painting shows a panorama of the fenced fields at Darley Farm in Lexington. This stallion is Hard Spun who stands at Darley and who was an undefeated Stakes winner as a two year old. The power of this man, even standing as stud, is undeniable. The morning that we visited him he had just rolled in dirt....living the good life at this point in his career!

More handsome studs from this farm are in the works. So many and so awesome! I will be posting the whole view of the painting on my website. But we are still dealing with a sick Corgi and farm chores and life that just seems to keep getting in the way. Blog entries will be short and sweet for now!

Two Black Horses

It is raining......foggy and wet around the farm. But our 4 horses wanted to get out ... so they are out and now know the folly of their antics in their stalls. When it is time to come in... I hope they appreciate their clean and dry stalls!!

Today I have been working on a study of a lovely little Morgan in harness, that will be a watercolor at some point. I also am waiting on a casein to dry and wonder if that would be happening today. It is a 16 x 20" gallery wrapped canvas of two driving horses whom I met last year at Acadia. They were not in driving harness, but rather were on their way out of the stables for a stretch walk with their owner, along the carriage roads under the Triad. It probably is best to let this painting sit for another day and work on the other casein painting...a 12 x 12" Thoroughbred racing scene that I have going.

'The Two Blacks' [at Acadia] painting is depicted above......at the point it is today....needs more work...but not today. After the rains.....