Here's a quick peek at the latest arrivals. Check this page frequently to see what's new!
"Sue" is a draft breed mix, probably part Clydesdale and part "unknown"--she was a rescued horse at the Hooved Animal Humane Society in Woodstock, Illinois who in March found her "forever home". I painted her portrait as part of the Art for Shelter Animals project, in which artists donate portraits of rescued animals to the rescue organization to use for fund-raising or simply to give to the person who adopts the animal. Sue's portrait is scheduled to be auctioned at a fundraising event in May.
"Creek at Lawless Park" -- T.K. Lawless Park is a wonderful hiking, biking, skiing and sports facility in Vandalia, Michigan. I love to go cross-country skiing there, as the terrain ranges from easy to very challenging. The longest of the seven ski trails (hiking trails in the summer) crosses this little creek three times providing an interesting and different view each time. This is the first of most likely three watercolors that I will do from photographs I took while skiing in early March. I'm waiting to see how the colors change as I progress from one view to the next. This painting is fairly close to actual colors, but I like to change things up a bit when painting a series of the same subject to keep it interesting.
"Castaways Surrender" comes from a photo I took last autumn of an evocative wood-sided structure in Cassopolis, Michigan. This one originally caught my eye because of the brilliant foliage behind it. It was only later that I noticed the intriguing shadows crawling over the roof. And even later till I noticed the curtain trying to escape through one of the tiny windows. I thought, there must be a story here somewhere! I gave the painting a purposely vague title to encourage viewers to make up their own stories. Let me know if you come up with a good one!
YB Blue, known simply as "Blue" to his friends and family, is a grand prix jumping horse. I encountered him out in a large paddock on a windy spring day. He was busy circling his paddock, frequently changing direction. My camera caught him in one of those graceful changes, which became the idea for this painting.
Elvis is another lovely grand-prix level jumper, stable mate of Blue. I photographed him on the same windy spring day as Blue, but got a totally different look. He definitely had his eye on something in the distance, but only he knows what it was.
This is the derelict remnants of the Marlowe Feed building in
Huntley, Illinois. I had driven by it several times without even
noticing it, and then all of a sudden its lovely angles and textures
almost hit me in the face. The sky on the day I photographed it was
completely calm, but as is my usual custom I could not paint it that
way. There must be drama!
Mickey and Nellie are two show mares with long careers--only Nellie is still alive. Their owner's daughter won many ribbons with them, and now Nellie is so old she isn't expected to live much longer. The mom wanted to commemorate them together in a portrait, but didn't have photos of them together. So the project became the challenge of combining basic poses and then details from four different photos, then creating an original background to with it. The client wanted a sunny day, so I chose a bright blue sky with sunlight softly glowing over the vegetation on hills in the background.
"Longmeadow at Dawn" is a scene I composed from two photographs by Mike Bizelli of Bizelli Photography in St. Louis, Missouri. It is another of my occasional donations to horse rescue organizations which they can use for any fundraising purposes they wish. The Humane Society of Missouri runs Longmeadow Rescue Ranch, which takes in a variety of large animals--horses, yes, but also goats, cattle, pigs, and other assorted farm animals. The folks at the Humane Society decided they would like a painting to auction off at a fundraiser, and they felt their donors would be more interested in something that portrayed the spirit of Longmeadow rather than a portrait of any one animal. I was happy to oblige.
"Sue" is a draft breed mix, probably part Clydesdale and part "unknown"--she was a rescued horse at the Hooved Animal Humane Society in Woodstock, Illinois who in March found her "forever home". I painted her portrait as part of the Art for Shelter Animals project, in which artists donate portraits of rescued animals to the rescue organization to use for fund-raising or simply to give to the person who adopts the animal. Sue's portrait is scheduled to be auctioned at a fundraising event in May.
"Creek at Lawless Park" -- T.K. Lawless Park is a wonderful hiking, biking, skiing and sports facility in Vandalia, Michigan. I love to go cross-country skiing there, as the terrain ranges from easy to very challenging. The longest of the seven ski trails (hiking trails in the summer) crosses this little creek three times providing an interesting and different view each time. This is the first of most likely three watercolors that I will do from photographs I took while skiing in early March. I'm waiting to see how the colors change as I progress from one view to the next. This painting is fairly close to actual colors, but I like to change things up a bit when painting a series of the same subject to keep it interesting.
"Castaways Surrender" comes from a photo I took last autumn of an evocative wood-sided structure in Cassopolis, Michigan. This one originally caught my eye because of the brilliant foliage behind it. It was only later that I noticed the intriguing shadows crawling over the roof. And even later till I noticed the curtain trying to escape through one of the tiny windows. I thought, there must be a story here somewhere! I gave the painting a purposely vague title to encourage viewers to make up their own stories. Let me know if you come up with a good one!
YB Blue, known simply as "Blue" to his friends and family, is a grand prix jumping horse. I encountered him out in a large paddock on a windy spring day. He was busy circling his paddock, frequently changing direction. My camera caught him in one of those graceful changes, which became the idea for this painting.
Elvis is another lovely grand-prix level jumper, stable mate of Blue. I photographed him on the same windy spring day as Blue, but got a totally different look. He definitely had his eye on something in the distance, but only he knows what it was.
"Longmeadow at Dawn" is a scene I composed from two photographs by Mike Bizelli of Bizelli Photography in St. Louis, Missouri. It is another of my occasional donations to horse rescue organizations which they can use for any fundraising purposes they wish. The Humane Society of Missouri runs Longmeadow Rescue Ranch, which takes in a variety of large animals--horses, yes, but also goats, cattle, pigs, and other assorted farm animals. The folks at the Humane Society decided they would like a painting to auction off at a fundraiser, and they felt their donors would be more interested in something that portrayed the spirit of Longmeadow rather than a portrait of any one animal. I was happy to oblige.