Day 23 - Maybe it's Neighbelline

Yes, I am one of those people who find satisfaction in a good pun.. and this one fits the bill.. 

I'm not sure if Maybelline, the cosmetic company, still uses the tag line "Maybe she's born with it... maybe it's Maybelline.." but, you can see where this pun came from :)  Made me laugh when I came across it and, well, frankly, all horses are beautiful creatures naturally, and white horses can be particularly stunning.. so, of course, this title was the one.

Titling my work:  Sometimes I am lucky and a title just comes to me as I'm painting the painting.  Other times, not so much.  When this happens, I will do some research on the animal or subject matter I am painting (which I do anyway) and as I read about it, a title often emerges. 

This is the companion painting to yesterday's half of a horse, "Horse sense".  I like to paint in twos, or threes (sometimes more..) because often one painting doesn't quite satisfy my desire to explore the subject.  With this one, I truly was wanting to hone my skills of painting a horse (not an easy animal to paint, I will admit) as well as experiment with this half of a horse composition.  Again, I am interested in the negative space around the horse, maybe not as much as, but in addition to the horse itself. :)

"Maybe It's Neighbelline", oil, 7"x7", click here for purchasing details

Day 23 - Horse Sense

 "Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people." - W.C.Fields

Fields may have been making a joke with this turn of words, and yet there is a bit to unpack here.. :) My thoughts about what he may have meant when he said this lean towards the often unpredictability and sometimes unreliability of human nature.. is it any surprise that animals are many people's best friends?  

On another topic, I am happy to announce that I have been invited to be an exhibiting artist in the Art Gallery at the Devon Horse Show :)  Growing up in Chester County, PA, I always knew when the Devon Horse Show was happening.  Surrounded by horse country, many of my classmates had horses and would go. I never had the chance to attend (or reason to at that time..) so I am excited that I'll be going this year, and have the chance to see it from an artist's perspective.  As one might expect, I've had horses on the brain lately...  

Today's painting is of a painted horse, focusing on his front half... I love how the negative space is emphasized by composing the design in this way. :)

"Horse Sense", oil, 7"x7", click here for purchasing details

Day 29 - Gabriel's Steed

Its the 2nd to last day of this challenge and I spent most of the day photographing and framing my work.. As the holiday season approaches, art galleries are refreshing their art and hanging new shows.. which means doing all of the finishing things to my paintings to get them ready! Pictures and labels of my work are due for 3 shows this weekend and then I have a few more after that, so I've got my work cut out for me.  But enough about that, because this is supposed to be a post about today's painting...

Today's painting is titled Gabriel's Steed. I took this picture when I was out plein air painting at the Derry Edain horse farm and met a beautiful white horse.  In fact, I took about 40 pictures of that horse.. so many that I considered doing a white horse painting series.. and still may.  So, this would be the 2nd in that series, I suppose.. the first being "Moment of Clarity" which I posted last week some time.  I decided to keep this one more of a study because I am still learning about horse anatomy.  I feel lucky that the white horse let me pet her so much... allowing me to explore her cheeks and down her nose and neck.. It's really the first time I was able to do that and I think it may help me in future paintings.  

The story about the title, it is said that God gave the arch angel Gabriel a white spirit horse as a gift at some point in cosmic history... that horse was named Haizum and had wings and could travel between the spiritual and physical realms, carrying Gabriel through so he could bring God's messages to mankind.  I kind of like that story, and as I've mentioned, I kind of liked that white horse.  So, I'll think of her as Haizum, Gabriel's steed.. :)

Gabriel's Steed, Oil, 8"x8", to purchase click here

Since I was messing around with frames earlier, I tried the steed out in a few.. 

settled on this one as my favorite.

Day 24 - Derry Edain Plein Air Day

 Good morning :)  Today's painting was done plein air of the Derry Edain horse farm in Cochranville.  It was a beauty of a day with the early Autumn colors just beginning to pop.  The highlight of the day was when the 2 horses who board on the property came galloping down to greet me and the white horse allowed me to pet her. She was such a gentle giant and not only that, but even bowed to me several times. I truly was honored to have been given this gift from such a beautiful and powerful animal.  White horse energy has been strong in my sphere for at least the past week. Yesterday's painting was one I created before the plein air expedition to the Derry Edain farm as I had the image galloping through my mind for several days..  Connecting with the beautiful white horse on Friday not only was an honor, but felt like an affirmation.  Later, I looked through my photos and realized that the sign flanking the driveway into Derry Edain has a woman in a dress riding on a white horse.  And, as I am writing this post, I looked up the address to the Derry Edain farm and just now realized that it is located onWhite Horse Road.  I do love when synchronicities like this pop up.. to me they are a reassuring nudge from the other side.. :) Scroll down to see pictures of the horses, the farm as well as some possible adjustments I could make to the painting..

Derry Edain, Oil, 11"x14", nfs

When you paint on location, you have to decide what you are going to include and what information is not necessary to your painting.  It is something that challenges me every time and this painting was no exception. After bringing it home and looking at it for awhile, I am thinking it may be better if I crop some of it off.  Since I paint on wood panel, this is something I can do relatively easily with my bandsaw, after the painting dries.  Below are 2 crops I could do. The first is a square and would measure 10"x10". The second is the painting cut directly in half and would measure 7"x11".  Something to ponder.. the question is, is the tree necessary to the story.  Is any of the right hand side of the painting necessary to the story?

Day 23 - A Moment of Clarity

Today's painting veers off the path a bit for me.. It is an image I had in my mind's eye for the past week and so I finally had to try to paint it.  I tried to stay loose and create a sense of movement outside of time.. but I think I still have a ways to go in that area.  I also tried some new color ideas out and a few new painting techniques.  All in all, this was an experimental painting. Coincidentally, I painted this one a few days ago, and yesterday, I had the good fortune of meeting a beautiful white horse while I was out plein air painting. I had a bonding moment with this horse when she bowed down to me and allowed me to pet her.. <3 That experience made this painting a bit more meaningful to me as I feel like it completes a circle.. :)

A Moment of Clarity, Oil, 12"x12", Click here for purchasing details