Time to get going

"Ready to Go" is the title of this painting. The "time to get going" comment was for me. I took a good portion of the summer off, spending time with my daughter before she went off to college. We took her there (Washington State University), last week, and she started her classes this week. My future vet is doing her undergrad in Biochemistry, with a minor in genetics.

But now it's time for me to bring my productivity back up. I'm anxious to get painting. The paint painting above is one of my newest paintings. Don't know which gallery it's going to yet, have to get busy on the business end of my career again also. Everything took a holiday while I was spending some extra time with my daughter.

"Ready to Go" is 30" x 15" oil on canvas.

working western

I'm still painting western! Getting ready for the event next month in Ellensburg, WA. Here's one of my most recent fellows checking things out. The size is 24" x 24" oil on canvas (framed of course). If you're interested drop me a line --I have no problem selling it before the show LOL!

The Jockeys

Come up to the lab and see what's on the slab . . . er easel. I have to confess I was playing that soundtrack the other day when working on my new series. While the jockeys may be tan there is no blonde hair ;-).

This is the first in a new series I'm working on. They'll be shown at Parklane gallery in May. I have been enjoying painting the bright colorful silks immensely. I've chosen to do almost all of the jockeys from the back with the exception of a couple of side views. I made this decision on purpose because if I were doing them from the front, their faces would automatically be the focal point, which is not what I was going for. To me it's all about the posture, and the beautiful silks. What are they doing? What are they thinking? I find I am really drawn the to mystery of figures from the back. They capture my interest. B.C. Nolan, a fine artist who also paints many figures from the back expresses it much more eloquently -- but naturally I can't find that article when I want to. So I'll just have to leave it by saying it was a conscience decision.

This painting is done except for the signature, which I'll get done this week. So in the meantime I've got the copyright mark across the bottom.

They are for sale, each painting in the series is 16" x 8" and they are framed. The price for each one is $250.00 (plus shipping). Plus they do not need to be purchased as a set. I will probably have prints made of them, but do not have a final decision on that yet.

If you wish to purchase one of these fellows you can contact me directly until they are at the gallery (in May). After that they maybe purchased by contacting Parklane via their website at www.parklanegallery.com.

The start of "Salute"

Finally getting a chance to start blogging again. I've been exceedingly busy the last couple of months. Parklane Gallery in Kirkland, (www.parklanegallery.com) where I hang my work announced that in January they would be hanging "salon" style. Which means artwork floor to ceiling. I thought instead of hanging a lot of different pieces, would it be fun to hang floor to ceiling, one image made up of many different canvases.

What a project it turned out to be. I had never tackled anything like that before. I knew in my mind what I wanted to do. I had a eight foot high by four foot wide area to work with and I wanted to do a horse and rider. My first thought was a jumping image, but the width made me think of a horse and rider more from the front doing a dressage halt and salute. My next problem was I was really short on time to try to get out and take a reference photo. I really prefer to take my own, and of course I'm very careful about copyright. I saw a photo I was interested in taken by a wonderful equine photographer named Karen Lietz (karenlietz.com). We came to an arrangement and the photograph was mine to use as a reference for my Salute painting.

Next was to divide up the image into the different canvas sizes. I started figuring it out using different standard gallery wrapped canvas sizes, with 1 1/2 inches between the canvases. Having done that (it was either 10 or ll canvaes, I made my trip to the art supply store. Well they didn't have all the sizes I wanted in stock. And because I was working up against the clock I didn't have time to special order the canvases. So I started redesigning my layout in the store, pulling canvases off the shelf. I ended up working it out and it turned out to be 14 canvases.

Back to the computer to lay out the image some more. Making it very accurate with the canvas size and the 1 1/2 spacing. After that the next stage was drawing the image onto the canvas. Now I had planned to do some photographing for my blog as this project went along. Since I'd never tackled anything like this before. That went down the road of "best laid plans". When I'm working I just never think to stop and take photos. Plus the fact that I would forget to take my camera to my studio.

My next step was to gesso the fourteen canvases to get them ready for painting. Obviously the finished paintings were to be hung without frames, as they would ruin the image, which is why I chose the deep gallery wrapped canvas.

Then I made a step that is not normally done until after the painting is complete. I wired the backs of the canvas for hanging. And actually hung them unpaintined, getting that 1 1/2 spacing correct on the wall in my gallery.

Next was to start the painting, but I'm going to save that for my next blog entry. At the top of this entry you will see the finish "Salute" as it is currently hanging in Parklane Gallery (size 3 1/2 ft wide, 7 ft. high, price $3,900), and I'll post how it got to that stage in my next entry. Bye for now, Karen

Another Green Ball

I thought I'd posted this image already, but after directing someone to the site for viewing, I see it was the square one in an earlier post. So here is the second "green ball" painting of this fellow pushing his ball around in the sand. Again I experimented with the linen canvas with the clear gesso, so that I could let the color of the natural linen canvas show through.

I've enjoyed the results of working this way, and may do a few more in the future. While this was not a commission piece, working this way and in
this style, (which for me has

The Green Ball 2" Oil on canvas
24" x 12" for sale $650.00

a different approach and thought process to it), I feel lends itself really well for commission work.

This painting is for sale, the canvas is a deep gallery wrap, and although it could have a floater frame on it and look nice, I am offering it for sale unframed. The size is 24" x 12" $650.00.

Morning Workout

Recently my daughter's pony club made a field trip to the race track. We had a blast watching everything, including the morning workouts, and I took pictures like mad. As you folks have seen before I like to crop my images close. I really like the visual interest and tension it gives to a piece. Much less static than having horse and rider centered in the middle of the canvas, with a lot of space around.

This painting is all about the rider, not the horse. Earlier in this blog when I did "Andalusian Dressage" it was the opposite, about the horse not the rider. "Working Out" is entered in an art show next month, therefore it is not available for purchase right now. But I can always do something similar if you're interested, or contact me in the end of July, and I can tell you if this piece is available.

This painting really shows the size of the horse, versus the size of the jockey. Later I'll post another of the pieces headed for the show next month. It's that green ball and the young stallion again, he was just too much fun to paint.

Working Out 18" x 36" oil on canvas