Having Studio Fun And Learning

With new ink and pens sitting waiting for some time for me... I toot a few days for doing fun things with them. One work done was a 9 1/2 x 9 1/2" sketch of my granddaughter Jackie. If she lived closer, I would love to have her as a model more often. But this was done from a photo and that had to do. It is a work closer to works what I did years ago when I lived in Italy. It is fun and loose. I need to do these more often. I promised myself that I would!

Then when I was looking through old photos for inspiration for new paintings , I came across a scene I wanted to sketch. It was a photo of a statue that had intrigued me on one of our trips to Saratoga Springs, NY ,  where I had work with Equidae Gallery. I loved the statue's up held arm with the fingers bend and one finger missing. I loved the flowers clutched to her breast. So another  pen and ink came to life.

It was enlightening to get back into pen and ink...and it has me exciting about some new ideas I have for future works.....

But now ......back to painting!

Plein Air With A Friend

 We had a plan. Renee Lammers and I met at a local farm to paint together. When I arrived Renee was there before me and already into her paint. It was such a beautiful day out...very bright and very windy. But we were able to find a spot out of the wind, protected by the house and barn behind us. We choice different angles to approach our paintings from... of the farm's chicken house. The local hen-ladies pecked and scratched around us...and gave their approval of our work! A resident kitten was fascinated with my pens as I sketched my paper..and kept leaping into my lap singing a spring song and waiting my full attention! My finished work has muddy kitten paw prints added into the mixed media!!

I started out working on a pen and ink sketch, and then thought I would like to add some color....it was a good thought, but not very well thought out, as I had drawn on drawing paper and so my finished painting is a bit buckled...but I had fun! ...got out into the fresh air and sun....and got wind burnt!! Renee is determined she will make a plein air painter out of me yet!

"The Hen's House"  watercolor and pen and muddy paw prints   8 x11"

Renee's oil came out a lot better than mine! No cat paws included.

Renee's oil, above.... with the sun kind of bouncing off it in this shot. 

Check her blog to get a better shot of the finished product!!

Okay, Renee....where are we going tomorrow???

Taking The 20 Minute Challenge

I am taking the plunge and am devoting 20 minutes of each day to doing some pen and ink drawing. Pen and ink sketching has always been fun for me..and it is something I can do... and used to do.... while watching TV or in a doctor's waiting room, etc. I don't know what I am going to do with these quick works ...but may find a place for them. Maybe I will add a page on this Cob Cottage Studio blog for them.

 So be on the look out for them. They will not all be about horses or dogs........but also just fun, illustration type works. 

They  might even be like this...........

self portrait          pen and ink 

Now back to the work at hand...moving my studio downstairs....it is not always about paint!

From My Window

Thanksgiving has come and gone and life is getting back to normal [ a bit] at Cob Cottage. We picked up a 10 week old Jack Russell Terrier [or is that terrorist?] on Thanksgiving day to extend our family. Little Xiaolin Nell has won our hearts and even Addie , our 8 year old Welsh Corgi has accepted the new baby. I can't speak for our cat, Mittens.
So because I am having to 'mind the store" so to speak while Little Nell acts like a bull in a china shop....I am having to do my artwork on the first floor living space..and so I am doing pen and ink sketches ...something easy to pick up and lay down at a moments notice! Nell's given name is Xiaolin ...a Chinese name meaning bamboo forest...we have added Nell to her name as it is easier for me to say and remember. And she looks like a Nell.

This pen and ink sketch is 13 by 10 and is done on Strathmore paper. I am putting it up on my website in the Landscapes and Still Lifes Collection.

I will get some pics up on my blog of Miss Nell....but right now I need to rescue the cat!

Fence To The Pond

"Fence To The Pond " is done and the two small pen and inks [ 8 x 9"] will be put on my website in the Sketches and Studies Collection.....

Today the rain is falling and the wind blowing something fierce, so I am headed out to clean stalls and put the horses in. They are not happy campers at this point.

The Tree Line

Our pastures are surrounded by forest...spruce, pine, cedar and fir..and tamarack trees..and some hard wood too. But it is the tall spruce and pine that captures my muse ..tall like sentinels they stand protecting our farm. They dance and sway in the wind, are clothed in white robes when it snows...and the air smells of their sweetness on damp days.

This is one of two pen and ink I have done of the fortress around our farm. They are both sized at 8 x 9" and are on watercolor board. I love doing pen and ink. I used to do a lot of them, mostly landscapes ore figurative works...and am thinking I will do more in the future.

They will be on my website in my Sketches and Studies Collection.

Table For Two

I finished this 9 x 12" sketch the other evening, but we have had a busy two days and evenings and I have not had time to work in my studio or catch up on projects. I love doing pen and inks..line and shadow. As a child I would read Charles Dickens' novels and was in love with the etchings portraying the stories. Simple, clean and how they drew you into the story. A big crunchy apple..a Dickens' novel on a rainy day and I was off into a world of my own for an entire afternoon. Anyway..this sketch was fun and different from what I do every other day . But it does show bit of my life and surroundings here at Cob Cottage.

Now to get back to commissions..............

Table for Two

I sketched it out in pencil lightly and have started a 9 x 12" pen and ink..I need to get more shading and prospective into it....but I am having fun. I might just keep it a pen and ink drawing. I am working on some watercolors that I need to get done. There are only so many hours in a day.
I have to pick my battles!
But I am enjoying this interior landscape and it's small detour from doing equine work.