Big and Blue

God is so good ... constantly amazed at his mercies and grace in our lives!!

March Green

Painted for a good friend's birthday.
:)

Fun and whimsical ...

About Time!

I am settling in, after making a giant move from Oregon to Austin, TX. Biggest move of my adult life.

I finally, finally, went and bought some more canvas and paints. I have a back log of ideas I want to paint and I argued with myself, regarding which to take on first ...  deciding on my fantasy horse; the horse I'd like to watch gallop the heroine across the big screen, all crazy mane and animated gates ... Andalusian like.

Like the Wind

Photos of paintings don't convey some of the detail, and over-expose some of the detail . . . making it seem different than what I stare at everyday.

This is on 19x20, or something like that, size canvas. This is the most proportionate and my favorite colored one . . . very patriotic. :0)

It's a fun one. This is what I like doing the most . . . simply wild backgrounds and horses in motion. But I want to learn so much more!

Blessings!

The Embarrassing Ones

I painted this. I admit it. I actually was taking photos of all my paintings, since I would like to eventually give them away . . . family seem to be the only interested parties at this point. I love my family for their supportiveness. :0)

I painted it. As bad as it appears to me, it's still a reflection of me. Wild horses; in color and appearance. I love horses but I always want to put crazy colors on them, with colored pencils and pastels, to paint . . . I love color and it can never be rich enough or wild enough. The haze on the desert hills doesn't seem to be that at all . . . and the painting didn't quite turn out (obviously) like I pictured in my pea-brain. But, I won't get rid of it or paint over it. Being my 3rd painting of all time, it's one my favorites and it hangs in my hallway. :0)

I, on the other hand, will be perfecting it and bringing some much needed details and clarity. I'll see if I can do something more with it. Maybe.

Oh man, it's rough . .  .

A week before the one above . . . I painted this . . .

Alkhal Tekes are my favorite breed of horse. Something about their long, elegant necks and Arabian-likeness just appeals to me. I grew up riding Arabians and love the hot-blooded and elegant horses. The Alkhal Teke is just exotic to me. I captured a bit of their essence in the painting. I'm not much for realistic stuff but it turned out alright. Second painting of mine . . . I'm emphasizing the number of painting because it's important to me to express I'm just getting started . . . I have SO SO much to learn! I always will, but even in the basics of basics there is much to be learned.

Another that the horse itself didn't quite turn out the way I intentioned, but still one that I like. Yet, not one I'm excited about sharing.

So, I'm sharing them all . . . even the ones I'm not so proud of.

Blessings!

I think I'm pretty much done messing around with this one. 36 x 24" canvas. The horse turned out a bit more purple than I intended but I think I like it. I might add more white . . . not really a light purple kinda gal, but it doesn't look too bad. Biggest canvas I've done so far . . . I would love to get a 52"x52" and paint an amazing sunset colored background with a horse standing in the wind in the foreground. When I can afford more paint (currently out of white and running low on blue and green), and a giant canvas, I will move forward on that. :0)

Another . . . I finished this one November of last year. Of the first half dozen paintings I had ever done.

Just having fun and figuring out shadows . . . obviously didn't get it perfect but I was still pretty proud of myself . . . hey, you can tell its a horse, right? :0)

So, that's it for now . . . not painting a whole lot of canvases at the moment due to a giant move, from Oregon to Texas in June of this year . . . that is sucking up any extra funds we have. Once moved, I hope to obtain the necessary paraphernalia to delve into Lesley Humphrey's site and learn all I can . . . also hoping to set up lessons with Laurie Pace, if I can manage more than a grunt of awe in her presence. :0)

Blessings!

There's a First Time for Everything

First post ever. 

I am nearly 35 years old and, in the past 6 months, have just figured out that painting is a passion I was not aware existed in my being. I draw a lot and doodle horses and flowers on everything but I had not a clue painting would be such a joy to me. 

With a full schedule, including part time work and fully time family (two young boys and my husband), I cannot afford, financially or time-wise, any kind of formal training. I would love to, but there are priorities that take precedence. 

I have been tipped off to Lesley Humphry's site, where she gives free lessons online and I plan to delve into that deeper when I have the funds to purchase more product, including oil paints, canvas and more brushes . . . 

Currently I'm painting with acrylic, mostly on cheap stretched canvas from Michael's craft, since that's what I can afford; cheap Michael's craft acrylic paint and any brush I can afford and find (even the large,very nice, house painting brushes my husband has stored away . . . I only managed to get away with that with two of his brushes before he caught me). :0) I also bought 140 lb watercolor paper, so I could just mess around and practice, but it is not my favorite to paint on. It takes a lot of water to make the paint useable on the paper . . . kind of like, well, watercolor. :) 

The first painting is on on paper. I don't care for my backgrounds, or nature stuff yet . . . but I like the color contrasts and the wind-swept feeling of it. I would love to replicate this on huge canvas . . . 50+ inches by 50+ inches . . . I think I would love that. :0) 

The second one is on stretched, cheap, canvas (22 in x 19 in, I believe) and I love the silver tone the background took on . . . as well as the freeness of the mane and mellow expression the horse possesses. I need to work on eyeballs and the detail of the face, but . . . its the 3rd painting I've ever done, ever. So, onward ho. 

I'm going to get good photos of the few more that I have and just keep a running blog on paintings as I paint them and finish them . . . the things I learn as I go, from trial and error, as well as from Lesley Humphry's site and other sources. My husband has informed me I cannot throw out any paintings or cover them up, to just keep them and learn from them . . . I had been getting disgruntled with one and just painting over it and starting over. Just for practice. :0)

I don't know what else to do with paintings, except share them, so here I go. :0)

Blessings!