Acadia Again

It might seem as though I am fixated with Acadia...........I am. I miss the old days when the four-in-hand drivers were coming up to Wildwood each fall to picnic and drive, all duded up with their grooms in full livery and their passengers with their fancy hats. It was a taste of a other time. A time when things were slower and full of tradition. I liked that.
This 11 x 14 casein is a scene often seen at the Wildwood barn as the grooms readied their charges..this time it is a Kladruby being groomed...what a lovely team they were stepping out on the carriage roads.
This work is being added onto my website.

Another coupe for me...I finally sent off an 'email newsletter' ...it was a learning experience for me...full of typos I am sure......but done, nevertheless. This is another way you can hear my news and you can sign up for it on my new website. Check it out!!


Now I am headed out to the barn while the warm weather stays...going down to paint the barn doors.....yellow to match the Tamarack trees that dot our forest line.

A BIT OF COLOR , HEH!!?

Sketch of Victoria

I was thinking that maybe I could post another version of our Trevallion Victoria. This charcoal sketch was done in 2006 ...I can't get over her eyes.......and sometimes I am sure she is looking at me with disdain. After all she is a queen or at least is named after one!

Now back to the painting of two grays from Acadia!

Trevallion Victoria , our Welsh Cob mare, imported from Great Britain as a yearling, is 22 years old now. It is hard to realize that some many years have gone by...I first met Ms Vicky when she was a 3 year old, fresh and not very well behaved. She and her sister, Trevallion Fergie, where paired and then put together in a four in hand driven by Mr Stacy Lloyd of Berryville, VA. I groomed for the Lloyd's each summer as they drove their Cobs on the Carriage Roads of Acadia National Park. The horses were boarded at Wildwood Stable. We drove every day...and Stacy [as he asked me to call him] taught me the intricacies of carriage driving and Auchenbach.....the German discipline of handling the reins of driving horses. That era is past.

Victoria now lives on our small Maine farm and teaches her daughter, Thistle Mead Margaret, how to behave.......in her queenly manner. For me lately , the ages of our horses [ one at 28 yrs, two at 22 years and the youngster coming 5] have made me sad. Time goes so fast..too quickly... but oh, the good memories we have!

When I haven't been thinking so much about the past, I have been busy in the studio...working on updating my website and trying to get an email newsletter written. I have new works done, but haven't uploaded them to my site........... I have started another watercolor of our Ms Maggie. She always inspires me to paint!

Today was cold and windy out..clouds raced across the dark sky and the sun peeked in and out....a taste of what is to come....winter in full gear.....and I spent time painting our barn doors. I know I should have done it earlier when the weather was warm and sunny. The story of my life I guess!!!

Being an Artist

Today I heard about a new film titled "Who Does She Think She Is ?" , that has just come out about being a woman in the arts. I am hoping that I can actually see the film some time soon, but for now I just wanted to alert my blogging visitors about the new film and how it might explain a bit how I feel being a woman artist. In my artistic life I can attest to the fact that there is a different standard for male and female artists. [I guess as there is in all aspects of career endeavor.]

I am not a feminist ...but where art is concerned ...now and throughout history...women have had a hard row to hoe to make it to the top in what is seemingly a man's world.



OK.......that being said.....take a gander at the film's website........and I would be interested in hearing how others feel about this subject?!




On another note:

My sister has been with me for two awesome weeks of bonding and talking about old times. She lives in California..and we haven't been together for two years. When she came over two years ago to spend time with me ...I had a stroke......and so Sonia, my sister, spent her vacation here in Maine taking care of my house and pets while I was in hospital in Portland, Maine. It wasn't a very good time for either of us! But this time we have spent time driving around Maine and reveling in the fall colors and eating lobster and talking, talking, talking!

I haven't been working in the studio at all...but that's good too....Now I am looking forward to getting back to the paint and canvas. I have a refreshened "brain".

Can It Get Any Better Than This??

This is one of the nicest days weather wise .......the fall colors are a blaze and the sun is shinning. I just ate my lunch by the garden fish pond, listing to the running water and the rustling of the leaves as the squirrels and Corgi play in the woods. I am delaying going up to the studio..because some hornets took up house-keeping in the studio while I had the deck sliding-doors open to let in the warm fresh air. Good excuse, huh?

But I do have to post that this watercolor is done...........12 x 12" on watercolor board....it was fun painting it and I had a neat photo as reference from a Peruvian Horse Farm in Texas. JyW Coyote Creek Ranch. They breed the beautiful Peruvian Paso Horse on their farm.... and this is a painting of Three Peruvian Paso Horses.. full of 'brio' !!! Love doing portraits like this! I am calling it "Trio Brio"...neat huh?

I guess I have to get to work today. My sister arrives this week and I will be having fun and visiting with her over the next weeks.....But it won't be all playtime...I am sure I will get some work done!!! Not!

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"......

Morning Excercises

I have to admit I am not into morning exercises..or doing exercises anytime during the day! But when I was at Keeneland Race track I got some great shots of the horses being exercised and I did this study today from a reference shot that I might want to paint again but bigger. This painting is 9 x 12" on Colorfix paper done in casein.
I picked up my caseins today for a break from watercolor work. I think every once in a while it is good to take a break....and I am happy with what I came up with!