Weekly Update

I added a layer of oils to this Vixen.

 I just started on this Finn. He's got one layer of airbrush color on him. He actually looks a little more pink than this picture shows. Somehow I always forget that Naples Yellow plus Burnt Sienna equals pink.

 Daffyd has another layer of oils.

I've been adding some details to the Bitty Bosco, but he's not ready for another picture yet, and the dapple grey Dinky Duke has several more layers on him, but I want to add some more detailing before I show another photo.

I plan on starting the roan work on the bay Swaps this week, and have been working on Jezebel's tail a little bit.

That's it for this week!

Update

I'm only working on these foals in between commissions, so haven't gotten very far on them. I went a little overboard on the white on the bay foal. I'm sure I will go over both of them with oils again before I'm done.

Here's the Daffyd NAN donation I'm doing, after a base layer of airbrush and one layer of oils. He's one of those dark palominos with the wild, really variegated dapples. I think palominos (real live ones) have the hardest dapples to paint, they're either crazy willy-nilly and all different sizes (like this one will be), or they seem to be really uniform and almost regimented.

I've added more red to Fenwick here, so he's more the color that I was envisioning in the first place. I may lighten him up slightly though.

Here's a Vixen that I've just started. On this one, I'm hand-painting the base coat instead of using the airbrush. No particular reason, I just felt like hand-painting this one.

I did a little touching up on Swaps, and now he's going to sit and dry for a few days before I start roaning him. I also worked some more on Jezebel's tail and did some other prepping and painting that I won't show you here.


I guess that's it for this week, I'm happy it was so productive. I'm tied up with a few meetings and miscellaneous things these next few days so may be behind by next week.

Update

Okay, I've got my head in the right place this week. I turned in my state sales taxes, so now I don't have to worry until I see the accountant in February or March. You'll probably hear some more kvetching then lol!

Swaps is looking pretty good. I'm very happy with his color. I have found a great color called Brown Madder (or Brownish Madder) this is kind of a cross between Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Umber. It's somewhat transparent and creates a nice rich saddle color. I think this is a color that is different depending on the manufacturer. I'm not really happy with the consistency of the tube that I've got (Sennelier), but it's a hard-to-find color so I will have to shop around if I want to change.

I had planned on this Fenwick being a slightly more red chestnut with flaxen mane/tail, but he's looking pretty palomino to me. I'll see how it goes with him.

I can't remember if I showed my original customizing of Jezebel's tail, but I have run into two snags. I had to re-arrange the angle of her tail because it was swishing too far to the right, and then I noticed yesterday that some of the Fixit Sculpt was crumbling, so I had to remove almost all of it. I must not have mixed it enough. I always try to be really careful about mixing properly (and I usually use a slight bit more hardener to it just in case), but sometimes this happens. She will have a slightly shorter tail than the original sculpture, but I want to keep it looking as much like Sarah's original style as possible.

I was invited to donate a piece to NAN this year, and at first I wasn't going to because of time constraints, but I've decided to go ahead and give it a try. I would really like more people to get a chance to see my work in person, I have so few pieces out there :-/ I will be donating a Daffyd resin, painted probably in a sooty, heavily dappled palomino with sabino markings. He's mostly prepped so I will probably start on him this week or next.

I'm also very busy with commissions (Swaps being one of them) and should be able to touch a couple of sales pieces this week, too. I'm dying to work some more on the dapple grey Dinky Duke.

That's all for this week! Hope you all stay warm and dry, it's been miserable here in the Northwest! My sump pump has been working nonstop 8-0

Update

Here is the Rosita commission piece, my first Eberl! Brigitte is an amazing talent as a sculptor, and I can't believe how prolific she is. If I could paint as much as she sculpts, my life would be so much better ;-)

Unfortunately, that's all I've got to show this week. I'm still prepping a couple of things, and I've had to do some organizing and paperwork in the studio so I don't have much to show. I have to do my state dept. of revenue taxes (I hate hate HATE doing taxes) and I also start getting last year's paperwork together for tax purposes. I have to start early because it stresses me out so much. I actually worry about taxes and my business almost every day. I can honestly say that I hate having a business license, I hate the pressure it puts on me to sell everything and constantly produce. I'm used to being successful at the things that I try, but I just can't paint fast enough, or sell enough to even make a modest profit. And facing my accountant every year with my paltry earnings is really squirm-inducing, let me tell ya. I know that I'm a good artist, it's just the business side of it that's really hard and stressful for me.  I don't know, maybe I'm just going through the mid-winter blahs! I need to get somewhere where it's sunny LOL! I always go into a kind of funk this time of year because of the weather, but this year it's extra-bad.