Orange You Glad I Like Purple

Orange You Glad I Like Purple is a beautiful treasury featuring my print Afternoon Storm. Takea look at these wonderful shops.

Mystery Album Treasury

Long Shadows has been featured in this very interesting Mystery Album treasury.

Sundown

Sundown

11x30

available at Lancaster Art

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

Surprises and Secrets

I had one of my longtime customers emailed me about how much she liked one of my paintings. A few minutes later it sold. I almost emailed her and thanked her for her purchase but I noticed it was her husbands email not hers.
 And I got to thinking....
Gosh that thinking stuff comes in handy sometimes.
So instead I just thanked her for liking it.
Sure enough I heard from him and it was a surprise. Whew, that was close.

I have been involved in many surprises and secrets over all the years I have been an artist. Many of them have been from husbands.

One time I  had to call a husband and had his wife answer the phone. She was suspicious of a woman she didn't know wanting to talk to her husband.
 "Who are you and why do you want to speak to him?"
I could hear the fear and sharpness in her voice but did not want to spill the beans or cause any problems.
I had to think fast and answer very carefully.
Her husband had commissioned me to do a portrait of their children
"Your anniversary is coming up and I can't say anything else. You don't want to spoil the surprise do you?"
I could hear a big sigh and I swear a smile.
 She softly said "No, I'll get him for you."
In this case I said just enough to keep a smile on her face for the weeks leading up to her anniversary and still keep it a big secret.
And most importantly she wasn't worried.
She cried and was totally surprised when she received this very thoughtful gift.
Being an artist is tricky sometimes.


***Update on Missy***
She is feeling much better.

The Paintings at the Virtual pARTy

All the paintings have been posted at the Virtual pARTy.
It was fascinating to see all the different styles at work from this one photo. Really lovely work from talented artists. Be sure and head over there and check it out.

Heavenly Gold and My Heavenly Horse Missy

Heavenly Gold

The spirit horses keep traveling across the sky while my heavenly mare Missy is not feeling well.

Missy is an amazing horse. The grand kids love riding and spoiling her. She very trustworthy, calm and has allot of get up and go especially for her 26 years.

Last winter she did so poorly I had my doubts about her making through another year. But she has done great until the last few days and it seems her arthritis has kicked in with a vengeance.

 She has ulcers along with arthritis. She gets  two daily medications and three supplements. I thought I had everything balanced out and going well for her and now.....I just don't know.
I put liniment on all her leg joints last night and increased her pain meds. This morning she was still not moving like she should be and seemed to still be in some pain. The cool damp weather is not helping.
I'm heading out to check on her again and tell her to hang in there for a few more weeks.

The Virtual Party painting Wild Dawn

Wild Dawn

6x6

Available at Lancaster Art

I painted Wild Dawn for the The Virtual pARTy challenge. It was so much fun to paint from Kimberly Santini's amazing photo. It's been even more fun to see the paintings from other artists.

The challenge for me was to do a small, textured painting of a very close view and still stay loose. The curly mane proved to be the most difficult. I wanted parts of it to really pop out. I used dashes of warm red/orange over the predomitantly cool lavender horse to make it happen.

A big thanks to Linda Shantz and Kimberly Santini for this pARTy.

You can go to The Virtual pARTy to see all the other paintings in this challenge.

A Wonderful Surprise From Art Threads

I am so excited I just had to share this with yall.

My friend Alice called and said she had made something just for me.

It was this awesome tote bag with horses!!!

It is a great size, big enough for my sketchbook and all my other essentials.

What a great friend.

Art Threads is her brand new shop on Etsy.

The Heart Tote is adorable.

Love this one too.

This one is my favorite (besides mine) and what a great bag for a trip to the lake or the beach.

Please head on over to Art Threads and show her some love.

Longing For Spring

Long Shadows

6x6

available at Lancaster Art

"Loud are the thunder drums in the tents of the mountains.

Oh, long, long

Have we eaten chia seeds

and dried deer's flesh of the summer killing.

We are tired of our huts

and the smoky smell of our clothing.

We are sick with the desire for the sun

And the grass on the mountain."

- Paiute Late Winter Song

All the Pretty Horses

The Night Walks Down with the Moon is featured in this beautiful treasury called Let's Ride.

I truly enjoyed seeing all these pretty ponies by very talented Etsy artists.

A big thank you to Sophie Originals for putting together such a rockin collection.

Dark Sun and MORE Snow

Dark Sun

5x5 canvas available at Lancaster Art

This adorable painting is one of the beautiful horses featured at The Raven's Caw.

It's snowing again here today.

It's getting harder for me to drag myself out in the morning to feed the horses.

They are cheering me on....

or trying to hurry me along.

It's frostbit fingers, frozen water, grouchy horses and hyperactive dogs.

What happened to our average 50 degree temps?

Did someone move the mason dixon line?

This is like living in Canada without the health care.

Felicia over at Another Bright Idea is having I'd Rather be in Hawaii Week. Just thinking about a sunny beach without snow warms me up. (Or maybe it's this heater sitting under my desk.)

And bathing suits, remember those?

 I may just have mine on under these 14 layers of clothes.

The Night Walks Down the Sky with the Moon

The Night Walks Down the Sky with the Moon

20x20

Available at LancasterArt

I got it finished but was delayed in photographing it due to the rain.

It was light enough to day today barely to get some good shots.

Rain, rain go, but please don't turn to snow.

I do love this painting.

The Process of Painting The Night Walks Down With the Moon

Today I thought I would share with you the process of painting The Night Walks Down With the Moon.
It starts out from a quote I found and wrote down in my idea notebook.

The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hands.
                                                                                           Frederick Knowles
My brain starts making that clicking sound.

I paint the 20x20 canvas red. I like to start with bright colors. Since this horse painting will be predominately purple the red will give it a nice little glow.

I do several small sketches then go at the canvas with charcoal.

I mix a nice dark purple start painting the horse. The red underpainting makes it look even darker.

I want to make the milky way cross the night sky.

I lighten the purple for the galaxy and paint the moon.

The stars start to appear and The Night Walks Down With The Moon starts to look like its illuminated.

Hopefully it will be finished tomorrow.

Selling Majestic and The Giveaway

sold

Majestic has been listed as one of the choices for my giveaway. But I sold it.

My bad.

My reasons.

* A valued collector wanted to but it.
* I did another painting for the other chioce.
* I wanted to donate more to the Haiti relief.
* My horses went over budget again this month.

So I sold it, donated the money and had a little talk with the horses.

I did a new panting for the giveaway. It's fairly similar to Majestic.

The new painting is called Heavenly Breeze.
I hope yall like it as well.

When I reach 100 followers one of these ponies will be galloping to it's new home and I hope it's yours.

We are almost there so be sure and enter today.

To read all about the ways you can enter (and it's not hard) go here.