My Advice...... Gather No Moss



"Gather No Moss" , mixed media, 12 x 12" copyright 2017 www.kathipeters.com
 



  Always moving it seems. Seldom still. A horse grazes, covering ground in search of food.....and rolls to rid it's self of burdens and bugs.

A scene that is often seen on our farm ....and on farms and plains all across our land.

Like a rolling stone......gather no moss.

This is another in my foray into abstraction work. I will continue to explore my abstraction and representational mix. I hope you like it!

I will paint

 

 

"Gather No Moss" is available , and ready to ship to your home.  

New Painting - Cavallo Nel Campo

"Cavallo Nel Campo", oil ,12 x 12"  www.kathipeters.com

  Summer comes and goes too quickly it seems. It feels like only yesterday that we were planting seeds and waiting for them to sprout. Now we spend days mowing grass that grows too fast and trying, in vain, to keep up with the gardens and farm work. Days spent carriage driving at Acadia are few and far between . But I am getting into the studio and am painting and drawing as time allows. I have so many photos to pour over for future painting......as I actually look forward to slower days with the coming of fall.

 

"Cavallo In Campo" [ meaning Horse In The Field in Italian] was inspired by one of our horses, who often just stands watching what is going on in the woods surrounding our fields. He can stand for what seems hours just watching........watching life go by in the world around him...in the world out side of his pasture....his world.

 

 

My Work In Two Exhibits 'Down South '

"Warning Signs"  casein on board   12 x 12"

 Just a quick up date and reminder.....My casein painting "Warning Signs" can be seen at The Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art - "The Horse In Fine Art", at 30 Atlanta Street, Southeast Marietta, GA from April 13 - July 2, 2013. AND  this Art Show overlaps the Spring "AAEA Invitational ...Exhibition" at is hanging in The Anne Wright Wilson Gallery , Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY. April 12 - May 24, 2013. My work can bee seen in BOTH venues for the AAEA Spring Invitational. Hope you all get a chance to see the shows!

I have been busy, finishing up a commissioned watercolor and now working on a large [for me] casein of the coaching carriage crowd at Acadia National Park in Maine. This painting will be included in a one "man" show that will hang in North Yarmouth, Maine at Skyline Farm Carriage Museum that opens next month....I will write more about this in another post.

Now it is time to clean stalls.....

Spring Invitational Art Exhibit In Kentucky

"The Wicker Pheaton"          casein , 9 x 12"     ©2013 www.kathipeters.com

 I want to invite EVERYONE in the Lexington, Kentucky area to come to The American Academy of Equine Art's reception for their Spring Invitational Exhibit of "The Horse In Fine Art" Artists Reception at the Ann Wright Fine Art Gallery!! FRIDAY EVENING !! April 12th, 5pm - 8 pm. The gallery is on the Georgetown College Campus at the corner of Mulberry and College Street. I have work in the exhibit. The show runs until May 24th......!!

Spring has finally found us in Mid-coast Maine!! I am finishing up painting commissions and doing new work for up coming shows...Trying to get it all done before the gardening rush starts. The brook is bubbling and my flower gardens are starting to show bulbs bursting though the earth as the spring sun beckons them out of the dark ground.  

Our horses a bend on covering themselves with coats of mud and I fight the daily chore of trying to keep up with the mess!! 

Such are the rites of spring.......and HOW I love it all!! 
 





 

Waxing Poetic And Painting Too



Our farm today.  ©2012 kathi peters

Nell and I took a walk to the back of our fields today.We have had a rash of gray days with rain, rain,rain....so today's sun beckoned, so we enjoyed a longer walk and the sunshine. The horses are grazing in the back fields, and will until deer hunting's gun season. I took my camera with me and succeeded in capturing some wonderful photos that I can use to compose a painting I am planning. Nell had fun smelling all the wild animals smells that cover our farm.

Now ,back in the studio, I have to get back to work. Nell sleeps under my drawing board. I have finished an oil painting of the ripe grapes on our arbor.....it took me a while.

 "Ripe Arbor Grapes"   Oil on copper   12 x 12"  ©2012 www.kathipeters.com

 

Our marigold circled grape arbor today. ©2012 kathi peters

 

 

During the recent rainy spell I spent time walking in the wet woods....and on one of Nell and my walks, I composed this poem......

 The Woods Today

The woods today, seemed dark and gray

Until I stepped inside.

Then orange and red

Covered green moss bed

Of paths I walked beside the upright trees

That dropped their color, bold and bright.

Though rain had wet the fields from skies above, all dark and gray,

The woods were decked in colors that brightened up my day.

Now I need to get to work, while Nell sleeps. Paperwork is waiting for an invitational art exhibit I have been invited to participate in. It opens next week!..I will write it a bit later!! I am stoked to be invited!!! AND it IS in MAINE!!

I am Stoked



"His Flock"  Casein on board    12 x 12" ©2012 kathi peters

The year has started wonderfully....I am so happy to announce that my casein painting "His Flock" was selected as part of the FAV15%  (the jury's favorite 15% of the entries) in the December 2011 BoldBrush Painting competition. This is a huge competition that highllights the works of the best of the best.......and I AM stoked to be elected to be part of the FAV 15%!!
I just wanted to share.........

After Christmas

Morning dawns over the farm the day before Christmas ©2011 kathi peters

We had a lovely Christmas with family and friends. Christmas day blessed us with a perfect snowfall....Santa found Cob Cottage and all the four-legged family members received gifts. Now we are all getting back to work....and I am in my studio after what seemed to be a long break. Too long.

A vacant home during the winter months.©2011 kathi peters

  Nell and I are enjoying walks along our woods trails and found this small nest left after the occupants headed south. I think it might be a chickadee nest?? Or maybe Nuthatch's? I will be doing a painting of this nest....I do feel the need to do work other than equine art...!! I think I will try it in oil???

So new work will soon be available....and soon it will be a new year with new goals. I have been "thinking" a lot of late.

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!!!!

A New Belgian Painting And More

As I sit at my drawing board now I can not only look up and see my back gardens..but I can also look up and see my purple orchid sitting on the window sill. And not only am I happy in the new studio space, but I am joined by my orchid that is so happy it is blossoming and throwing out new buds. The casein on the drawing board is done...two big Belgians....I loved the lighting and shadows in this piece and the tails swishing. It was one of those painting that 'painted it's self". I love it when that happens. I will be putting up on my website.

With my mulch spread, and with the lovely spring weather we have been having, we got the veggie garden tilled and ready to start some seeds in....lettuce and spinach..the curly garlic are already up and green! I so enjoy having the gardens to work in...a quick break from painting and easily accessible now. Gardening is good exercise...stretching and bending!  The pups are loving the gardening time too. An excuse for playtime outside! 

And basking in the spring sunshine...the two black geldings.........muddy black Tennessee Walkers....we are ALL enjoying the coming of spring on the farm. Winters last a long time in Maine.

My Studio Space NOW

With three windows looking out onto my back garden, my new studio now affords me new views to distract me. I even placed my drawing board in front of one window to take advantage of the natural light and in the summer the fresh air! The door opens onto the back patio and a space where I can paint or draw out of the sun during warmer weather.A hop skip and jump outside the studio,birds sing,the brook bubbles and life on the farm goes on!

The back wall will contain my work tables,

room for my easel and also a wall space where I can actually hang a canvas that is too big for the easel!! Now I can really rock and roll [and not hit my head!] The black cupboard that houses my papers and supplies is now easy to get to ....without having to move furniture around to open the cupboard doors! I have paintings piled in the right corner of the room now, but that corner will soon be home to the flat-file [still needs painting ] and above that my small drawers that house all my paints [oil,casein,acrylic,tempera].

My charcoal and watercolors are housed in my taboret....and my pastels will soon be all spread out in a type-set drawer that I have....easy to grab and see the colors.The type-set drawer used to hang on the wall with nick nac's displayed in it....something to dust! Not anymore!

The wall that I am not showing here now, has the spiral staircase against it in one corner and will also be fitted with shelves where I can store finished unframed work and canvas to be used. Let me tell you....this has all been a dream for a long time.......... So see?!!! Dreams do come true!!! ;-)

"Jump Start" casein on board 12 x 12"
copyright 2009 Kathi Peters

Yesterday it was a real Northeaster that roared around outside our home, while I stayed cozy working in my studio. I am working on several paintings, some for Xmas.... so will not be posting them now. But one I can show is a 12 x 12" casein on board of a frolicking foal just startled by some birds, as he plays in his pasture. The reference shot was provided by a great photographer, Vicki Wright. She is kind enough to have provided this shot and I finally have painted it! I will get a better shot of the finished painting when the snow flakes stop falling around here.

So winter has started here in Mid coast Maine.....gray again today, so far, and big fat snowflakes fall from steel gray skies. I am headed down to clean horse stalls and let the dogs run....but will be back in the studio as deadlines are fast approaching and there seems to not be enough hours in a day. We haven't even started shopping for Christmas gifts for family..........maybe tomorrow?...if it doesn't snow??

Painting A Bit & Getting Ready For Winter A Lot

The last few days we have been busy battening down the hatches here on Cob Cottage farm in anticipation of winter and cold days ahead. It will come faster than we think...and I have more than a few gardens and window boxes to to cleaned and put to bed. It all cannot be done in one day. I am thinking this gardening frenzy that hits me each spring needs to be rethought and curbed a bit.

Control is not a operative word when it comes to me and gardening.!!

I am really almost done with the casein [30 x 40"] of the Blonde Belgians....this is how it stands today. The sketch of this painting has been sold and I need to ship that out this week. I am done with the drawing at this point and the painting can be finished without me referring to the drawing. I have many clients interested in purchasing my work sketches...a rather non expensive way of collecting my work.

The fall colors surround the farm. The below shot is from our deck.... of our fields...our barn. Soon the color will be gone and gray will prevail until the white and blue of snow covered winter landscape surrounds us. The scene new fails to remind us our blessed we are to be living in this spot in the middle of this natural splendor.

That reminds me.... I have 50 Narcissus bulbs waited to be planted before snow.....so much for control of gardens!

Still Working On The Biggers

Today really feels like Fall..a cloud covered day where the air has a different feel to it...a different rhythm to the breeze and bird songs. Hard to describe, but a feel of nostalgia permeates the morning. I covered my tomatoes and basil again last night, as I have the last few nights. Trying to grab the last sun filled days to grow the tomatoes bigger, redder and to keep the basil for more spaghetti pesto before a frost hits them. I picked the last of my green beans...the few that the deer have left for us....and will gather in the last of the summer squash and cukes today. Now it seems that life will be about cozy-ing in and not growing.


I work in my studio listening to classical music on the radio and the birds singing in the crab apple tree outside my studio's east window. I have been working on the big casein of the Belgian horses...and is finally pulling together and pleasing me. The image above is where it stands at this moment. That will change by this afternoon, if I get to stick with it.


BUT....Right now the dogs need walking and I am headed out to watch Les work with one of his mares. To soon the weather will change and the snow will blow. I need to savor every moment of fall's beauty.

From The Loft Series On Going

This morning I had a chance to get this painting really going. This is a view of our Cob mare Trevillion Victoria as seen from our loft, as I sat on the hay piled up to the high loft window. The sun was drenching the new fallen snow with purple and blue shadows thrown by the forest trees that fence our mares' winter paddock. It all begged to be painted!

I started this painting on a burgundy toned ground that I applied to the already gessoed canvas ..and sketched the mare with white pastel to get my composition correct. Then I started the painting with casein....

With Ultramarine Blue Deep and Shiva Violet, I figured out where I wanted my blue and purple shadows. The casein then needed to dry and that takes a while..so I worked on my newsletter and made some calls to clients...then back I went over the casein with acrylic...Titanium white....and the acrylic always picks up some of then casein ..blending and creating a glaze that I couldn't get with straight casein. The acrylic drys quickly and creates a skin over the casein...so for the next phase I won't be picking up so much of the dark blue and purple of the casein.

At this point the paint is mixing with the toned background and the casein... and so starts this 30 x 40" canvas for the "From The Loft" series.

The other two paintings in this series can been seen on my website in the Equine and Domestic Animals Collection . While this Loft painting dries, about 24 hours, I will be working on a commission that is all casein.....and it will be handled differently.

Wet Paint Or Almost Finished

With the icy rain and snow coming down outside, today is a great day to get some painting done and I am hoping to finish off this 18 x18" casein on canvas today. This is how it stands so far...and I am close to finishing. SO I consider my time in the studio a success today. Time well spent!
This scene of a young eventer starting out on a new morning ..her whole world in front of her...limitless horizons... methaphorically speaks to me of the new year ahead...!

Earlier I did the stalls, walked the dogs and then put the horses back into their stalls with hay, and I think they appreciated it. The snow was building up on their backs and starting to ice.....warm dry stalls are preferred, I am sure!

Here's Looking at You!

The quick watercolor of 'Wizard Kitty' is done..........and here it is! I went in with some pen and ink and gouache for fun. Done.....so now I need to get back to work on the new caseins and two papercuts that are ready to be cut.

Last evening UPS stopped with a package for me...I love getting packages!.. and wasn't I surprised to see it was a complementary copy of Vicky Moon's new book sent from Random House. How exciting! And I stand corrected as just my paper cut made 'the cut'........but I am 'over the moon' about it!!! It is book full of lovely photographs of horses, the people who love them and the homes and life styles they enjoy. Brilliant!

Good thing I am back doing a few cuttings again!!

The cutting that was chosen for "Equestrian Style" will be at Gallery B in Lexington, KY during the book signing in July. I should be there too!!!
We will have to see about that??!!