New Painting Of Dosing Drafts Done

This was originally posted on my studio blog .  10/20/2013

 "Sleeping Grays"     Casein on paper      9 x 12"

 

“Sleeping Grays” is done…. and I am back working on one of several commissions that I accepted. "My Studio Clean up Sale" is still on…so don’t forget to check it out, as I have added a few new paintings to the sale and will continue to do so for a bit longer. Thank you to everyone who has helped me so far clean out and gain back studio space for creating!

My days in the studio seem to fly by and Nell is always with me when I work. She works too. Squirrel guard is a very strenuous job…..Sometimes she needs to take power naps [too]!

 

My gardens are still providing color and eye candy. Soon though, all will be gray surrounding the farm, until snow comes and blankets it all with white, and the blue and purple shadows of the long winter light.

 

 

 

Each season has its own glory. I enjoy them all.

The Grapes Are Ready

The grapes are ready.....   copyright 2011 Kathi Peters

A sure sign of fall is the ripening of the Concord grapes on our arbor.I am ready to do a painting of them,and have been checking on their progress each day.The time has come!! Now if the rain would stop....just for a while...I will do a painting of them in their lovely purple hue...it will be an oil on copper....I can't wait!!!

My last roses of summer are on the bush....I think I need to do a painting of them too.This all needs to be done soon....the days seem to fly by....I feel a need to capture the sweet songs of summer  and of fall as they slip away.

My roses   copyright 2011 - Kathi Peters

This Friday,Nov 7th is the opening reception of the TWO PERSON SHOW at Gallery B in Lexington,KY. I regret that I will not be there in person....but my artwork will share the stage with the work of Veronica Clark...and I will be there in spirit. I am also donating a portion of my sales  to the American Stroke Association.....so please help me to help them!!!
and enjoy the show!!!

New Mixed Media Equine Painting

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"Champion"    Graphite & Casein on claybord     12 x 12"

The second work is done in a series I am doing where I am depicted a horse in graphite and then going back in to highlight selected area's with my casein paint adding color.I have done a driving horse,a hunter jumper now and will be doing at least 2 more of various disciplines.
They are done on Ampersand museum series claybord,a very archival substrate. "Champion" will be put on my website for sale.

The house has been in upheaval..with no time to clean!!!!.The studio was full with packages and wrapped paintings heading down to Lexington,Ky. and Gallery B for a show that opens on October 7th with a reception .....The show will be a 2 person show...I share the show with fellow artist Veronica Clark of North Carolina. I will not be able to get down to the reception,but I do hope that everyone will check out the exhibit...and add to their collection of my work.I am giving a portion of my sales to the American Stroke Association.As a stroke survivior I am invested in this Association.....and their purpose. Help me help?

Thought you might be interested in seeing a studio in flux.....here is how it was earlier this week before the paintings were boxed and sent.....

Pre shipping

And this is how it looks today!!

I have my studio back!!! and I am looking forward to making use of it!!

A Turkey For Every Pot

We have turkeys everywhere. They are in my gardens, under the bird feeders, kicking up the snow and leaving their calling cards splattered behind them. As much as I do enjoy hearing their chatter in the distance,and see in them  as they cross our fields... THIS is too much ,thank you! I was working in my studio, when I heard them outside my door where they declared their joy as they cleaned up the bits of seeds left by the song birds. I grabbed my camera and shot a few. [ I don't have a gun.] Some of the photos I took were shot through the screens that are still up on the windows, but I still was able to get some fairly good shots of the marauders! I am thinking that the soup kitchens should come to my garden and harvest the bounty of Ben Franklin's "national bird"! 

I have been working on a 12 x 24" casein painting of a driven Freisian horse, forward moving and trotting out!  I thought I might show you the work in progress. The painting is on a gessoed board.

The first layer of paint is where the highlights and shadows are done with a watery watercolor affect. At this point, I have used Payne's Gray,Yellow Ochre,Terra Verte, Purple, Ultramarine Blue, Naples Yellow and Titanium White.The gesso soaks up the watery paint.

Now I have started going in with a thicker mix of casein paint with less water,more pigment. This is where it is today. I am letting it dry while I varnished some new caseins, and ship off some work.

I even went for a walk down to the barn with Nellie. She sat and waited while I fed out hay to the horses.....I am sure she was calculating how long it will take for our snow-pile by the barn ,to melt.

while looking for turkeys!

Nellie and one of our many  driveway snow piles!

Feeling The Cold





Nellie is a good mouser!

Weather has  been slowly getting colder over the past few days. I am dressed in my woolly orange sweater and still I feel the chill. I don't know what I will be doing when the real winter weather hits the farm! [ Dreaming of Italy.... I am sure!!! ]  Mice have been moving into the barn to get warm.The two pups smell them and  Addie, our Corgi and Nell, our JRT are all over the hay, trying to ferret them out! This chore keeps them busy, busy, busy while I muck out the stalls each day.

With cold weather, I will be spending more time in my studio. That is a good thing! [ As Martha would say.] I have big plans for new works, pushing the envelope a bit on technique,...eagerly waiting for painting supplies coming from Sennelier in France, as I have been picked to do a blind study of some products.....I  wonder what they will send?

Morning fog sits on the evergreen spruce.

Between taking care of the horses, walking the dogs and grabbing studio time when I can,  I have  been shipping paintings to shows, galleries and clients. Invitational shows have been coming up pretty often lately....I am always honored to be "picked" to exhibit in a show. So I have been getting up earlier each day to make good use of my time. The added perk,  to getting up early, is that I have been witness to some wonderful sunrise scenes in our own back yard!  I am sort of feeling like the early bird who has been catching the worm these days! I love the morning fog that sits over our back forest and I know that I will be painting that soon!

"Hello"   watercolor is sold.

So back to packing now....paintings being shipped ...and paint awaits me as it dries on my palette. I am wrapped in my happy fall sweater and have to get busy...following the example of my pups...busy, busy, busy!!!

Leader of The Pack Finished

This mixed media painting on canvas ,18 x18" is done and as it was done with casein, pen and pastels I will be having it glassed and framed. I have had fun exploring this combination of milk based casein paint and pastels on the canvas. Casein goes down smoothly over the Colourfix primer and then the pastels' pure pigment floats it seems on the casein and primer base.
"Leader of The Pack" will be put into my website and is available.

Now for today and however long it takes..my desk is cleared and I am doing the inevitable taxes.
Oh, how I avoid this chore each year!!

What I Do When The Snow Falls

And I have been doing a lot of it lately.. CREATE!!... as we get hit with yet another round of snow and wind and cold!! The only hope that keeps me sane is the fact that winter is almost over and under all the snow sleeps my perennial gardens...and I will be digging in dirt and transplanting soon!! [After all this snow melts!]

The above "work-in-progress painting is a 18 x 18" on canvas that was started in casein and I am into it now with pastels. It is coming along 'smashing-ly' and I can't get enough of it! The hunt reference shot was provided by a fellow EAG-er ...I just loved the way the tails of the hounds fill the air and wag throughout the composition. I have changed things a bit for my purpose..but still the tails wag!

My dogs were just walked and love the new snow....all I see of Nellie, the JRT, is her butt most of the time. She is hunting varmints under the white blanket.....Addie, our PWC , is busy rolling around in the snow.....to each their own!

Work In Progress

Work in progress.....I write that and I think. “My goodness…I am a work in progress!!!!” :-)

Anyway…here are two “From The Loft “ shots as she stands today. I will do more this afternoon…. while I wait for a watercolor to dry.
Since the last time I posted I have gone into the painting with Titanium White casein mixed with Ultramarine Blue Deep casein and a bit of acrylic thrown in to the mix. I find that makes the casein dry a bit faster and glazes it so that it doesn’t give up so much of the bottom color as I brush through. My shadows are started to get where I want them and the darks are reaching the depth that I want. I have started highlighting the reflected light…and did you notice there is a lot of gray in white snow???

Here is a close up of Miss Vicky...there is Shiva Violet added to her body and glazed on the shadows. The hay will be the next project.

And then here is Nell! …Waiting for popcorn! She barks at the microwave. I think she thinks that makes it POP faster!!! Silly little JRT!

Now back to the drawing board!

Three Dancers

This new figurative painting, "The Three Dancers", just came off the easel. It can also be seen on my website in a larger format. When I lived in Rome, Italy I used to go to the theatre and watch the ballet practises and sketch. I could watch dancers all day and never be bored. I was never a dancer myself other than a few years of tap as a child.....but I appreciate the dedication of the dancer.

This painting was done from several photos given to be by an artist friend of mine...along with permission to paint what I wanted. I pulled them together and this is the scene I invented. This is a 14 x 11" painting.

Evening is closing in here at Cob Cottage........so I am headed down to the barn with the dogs. Snow coming and more cold weather.

After the Storm

This past Monday was spent digging out from too much snow. Even with a snow-blower it was an all day affaire. Nothing was done in the studio....it was all about the snow.

But today is sunny and not too cold out. I am back in the studio....and getting things done..sort of.

Our Cobs want hay...just keep them fed and they are happy. Look at the chest on our little Maggie. She will be 5 this year! How time flies! She is really ready to be worked!!

Back to my painting.....because time is flying.....and my casein paint hasn't been lately!

Here Today Gone Tomorrow

The area of Maine that we live in is very rural. It is still a part of Maine that has open space and working farms. We drive on a back country road to get to Belfast...Belfast is where we go to shop, get our horse supplies, visit doctors,etc. We have been living here going on 6 years now, and we were drawn to this area because of the rural-ness...the dirt roads to ride horses on, and carriage drive. Now we see more houses being built...more farms being divided for development. We laugh that maybe it is time to move more north!
The old barn in this landscape graced some fields that we pass on our way to Belfast. We used to get some of our horses' hay out of this old barn from a local farmer who stored his crop in it. We watched as the old barn and out buildings crumbled....the silo leaned as the boards rotted. It was like watching an old man change with time. A reminder that we aren't getting any younger either!
And then one day we were saddened to see the old barn down....the outbuilding torned down and the huge support beams being hauled away. It was gone so fast ...Here today and then gone tomorrow.
I had started this casein while the barn was standing.....then I put it away and forgot about it.
I got it out a while ago...and now I call it done. It sort of reminds me that I need to do things now...before there is no tomorrow.

This painting is casein on board , sized at 14 x 18"......

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning

Friday morning I got up before the sun had spilled into our farm......and I caught this shot from our deck, at that magical moment as the sun started creeping across the pastures , into the pond behind the barn ,through the barn doors and hitting the night mist as it rose above the stand of spruce that reach up skyward from the very back of our pastures. Fall color has not yet begun, but will soon. The morning chill of the past few mornings tell me that it is time to get out my sweaters and warm socks.....summer is done.

The horses have all started getting their winter coats already. The bay Cobs are dappled with red in their coats. The Corgi has thrown 3 coats of shedding hair all through the house.....even Mittens, the wizard kitty, has blown her summer coat and is sporting her winter fur. And I can tell that my indoor allergies are in full blossom........ And that is ONE reason that I paint in casein!!

I am finishing up another papercut of a Saddlebred, inspired from my Lexington, Kentucky outing of last summer.
And new work needs to be shipped to Chisholm Gallery in New York...........and I have started a watercolor of three Peruvian Pasos.

...........and then there are the gardens that need to be put to bed.

Jim Key and Dr Key

The painting for the Mural progresses...the first foray into the casein is drying and I had to wait at least a day before going back into the painting... as I didn't want to pick up much of the first casein layer that I threw on there. It gives me time to sit back and reflect about changes I need to make and think about where I am going with this work.





I have now added the 1904 World Fair Pavilion where Jim preformed those years ago. This horse could read and spell and count...made change with money....My goodness..I can't even do that!!!



There are a few panels that have already been finished and are up at the Le Cadeau Du Cheval website. I love seeing what other artists are coming up with for their panels...Check it out for yourself! Just think, over 238 artists all working to the same end..the mother image that will emerge as the panels are finished and put up onto the grid! Exciting!

I need to finish my painting and get it up there!!

So back to the drawing board so to speak!!

What A Face

For an Equine Artist, I paint a lot of dogs!!?

This Boston Terrier fellow was just begging to be painted, so as I am a sucker for any cute mug, here is what I came up with. It is a small [5 x 7"] casein painting on board.

Life has been a bit busy of late. I have been picked up by another gallery! This time in Millbrook, New York. Paintings need to be boxed, shipped and paperwork done. Being an artist is not all brushes and paints. There is a side of the business that takes doing that is dull and boring, but it needs to be done if we want to be able to do the creative part.