The Willcox Hotel Exhibit

A few photos from the Willcox Hotel exhibit in Aiken, South Carolina. The hotel has graciously asked if I will extend the exhibit of my steeplechase paintings through the month of March which is the heart of their steeplechase season. I said, yes!

Chaos Theory Two

18x24 oil on canvas panel

I love painting horse anatomy and this composition certainly presented a challenge!

Marketing Cards and Sheepish Feelings

I wonder if any artist in the world loves their gallery like I love mine! Jeanne Chisholm of Chisholm Gallery is a marketing goddess and ever since I met her last October she has presented my paintings to the world so enthusiastically and in such high style. I am so grateful to her for her energy and unflagging efforts. This is the marketing card she has developed for the Aiken Willcox Inn exhibit. I love it! I adore it! I think it is absolutley perfect. But I must say I feel ever so slightly sheepish. Upon seeing this I suddenly realized I am the featured  painter in this exhibit - I had no idea! In any case, I am extremely thrilled and  can only say that I was so focused in getting ready for this show - framing and shipping and getting a decent portfolio pulled together - that I must not have been paying quite enough attention. Anyway, there is also a sculptor in the exhibit, Patsy Davis,  and you can find her lovely whimsical bronze sculptures on the Chisholm Gallery site as well.  I hope some of my readers and blog followers who live close by will get a chance to visit the Willcox Inn during this exhibit. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Look Out Aiken, South Carolina - Here I Come!

Quantum Poetry 24x36 oil on stretched canvas

I spent this past weekend framing and printing out marketing materials for the exhibition hosted by the Chisholm Gallery next month at the Willcox Inn. Its a GORGEOUS place and has a pretty interesting early American history. Apparently notables like  Winston Churchill, Harold Vanderbilt, Elizabeth Arden and Count Bernadotte of Sweden have all stayed there at one time or another - how fun is that! I am so thrilled to have my steeplechase series hanging out there for a while! Tomorrow I will take a grand total of 11 paintings to be crated and shipped off. This has been a real learning experience for me and I am super excited about it.
In between all this hectic preparation, I had a little time to paint and what I did was take a painting I thought I had finished a couple of weeks ago and repaint the entire thing! I dont think I have ever done that before.  I liked some things about the painting but the color was not working for me - which was odd because I loved it at first. I changed pretty much everything about it and like it much better now - it feels right. I still have a few final highlights before I will call it done but its 99% there now.

Work in Progress

I spent today working on this 24x18 piece. I think its about 80% done now - needs refinement here and there. I really like the composition, the subject (unusual as it is) and the hint of the jockey rolling free. I will post the next update when its done. I call it Chaos Theory! All comments are appreciated!

Santa's Wild Ride!

My Santa made it onto the banner for the Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound website this week! Thank you to Norman Fine for choosing my art for his incredible  site and thank you to Jeanne Chisholm for her unwavering support and belief in my art. Click here to go to the site.

Sporting Art With Punch-Article by Norm Fine of FoxHunting Life

You can find the article here: http://www.foxhuntinglife.com/. Scroll down a bit to see - there is a slide show of some of my steelechase paintings. Unfortunately, you need a subscription to the site in order to see the entire article and the slide show! But please don't feel bad - I am not able to access it either and have only seen a copy of the article! Next week my Santa and his zebra will appear as the heading banner for the site! Many thanks to Jeanne Chisholm of Chisholm Gallery for  arranging this and to Norman Fine of FoxHunting Life for his wonderful article.

Quantum Poetry

Oh, I am loving the color in this - glorious color! The sky is a mixture of Winsor and Newton Vermilion (a pinkish red) and Rembrandt Vermilion ( an orange red) with buff titanium to lighten and a dash of white for good measure. This one  I have titled Quantum Poetry. 36x24 oli on stretched canvas. Please click on the photo to view it larger - I am sure you will enjoy it more!

The Principle of Uncertainty - Finished

I added a few details, tweaked the shadows, added some warms and I am calling this done now. Oil on canvas panel 24 x 18

The Principle of Uncertainty

Continuing with my steeplechase series - my imagination is on fire from this subject! This one needs a few final adjustments yet but is close to being done. 24 x 18 oil on canvas.

Steeplechase Series - Quantum Leap

I have been working on re-writing my artists' statement as my  inner voice and my creative thinking have undergone a recent transformation. With paintbrush and canvas, with oil paint and a sense of unrestrained energy, I hope to evoke a sense of wonder and enchantment that transcends the subject and goes beyond the limit of human senses. My goal is to paint representations of nature that are harmonious and beautiful and, simultaneously, to engage the viewer in a reality that is beyond perceptual appearances and expectations.

I have always been inspired by horse and rider and the relationship between the power of the magnificent beast and the intellect of the rider. In my Steeplechase Series I have drawn upon this inspiration to paint dramatic, rhythmic renderings of an instant in time, in space and in emotional gravity. My desire is to move beyond the complexity of the subject alone and to advance toward a representation of that which is not perceived by the senses but is intellectually known. In my artistic eye, I am conceiving my subject not only as the harmony of horse and rider but as recognition of their connection to the intricately woven unseen forces of time and space.

I feel that I have moved a little closer to that goal with this painting and I would love to hear your reactions to it as you view it on my blog.

Feynmans Flight

Final adjustments made and I am considering Feynmans Flight done now.

I changed a few things and will add the suggestion of reins when the paint is dry and consider it done.

 36x24 oil on canvas.

Perhaps a few final tweaks and this will be done. I will put it away and take a look at it in a few days. I am trying to capture with paint and brushstrokes something that is beyond normal human perception. I am longing to show a connectedness of not only the objects, but of the moment in time to the unseen forces of the universe.  Complex objects are obeying the laws of nature as we perceive them while the tiny unseen objects of the universe are obeying quite a different set of rules.

American Art Collector Magazine

Be sure to check out page 95 in the October issue of American Art Collector magazine. My painting  group 10 Everyday Painters  has a beautiful full page ad! I am so thrilled to be part of this wonderful group. Here is the link to our web page in case you missed it: http://teneverydaypainters.com/

Touch Down

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures." Henry Ward Beecher

Back to the steeplechase subject. This one is 10x20 oil on canvas panel. I decided to play with color today and this is what it led to.

Takeoff

"To ride a horse is to ride the sky" - author unknown. Oil on canvas panel 24 x18.

Arabian Horse Show-Training the Quarter Horse

Several weeks ago I went to the Arabian Horse Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds here in San Diego. There were dressage competitions in the main ring but I was lucky enough to photograph this young cowgirl giving her horse a workout in an adjoining ring.

Zebra Baby

I love painting horses and lately have been working on a series of steeplechase paintings. I wanted to do something a little different today and this little guy just begged to be painted! It was quite a challenge to paint the light effect across the pattern of stripes. He is 12x 12 oil on canvas. I am continuing to try out the new Escoda brushes and am afraid I am becoming addicted to them. I really like the mix of natural bristle and synthetic, they clean up well and are holding their shape beautifully.

WAOW - Women Artists of the West - is holding their 40th National Exhibiton called "WAOWing the Golden State" at the Olaf Wieghorst Museum in El Cajon, CA, this year. I am so fortunate to have had 5 paintings accepted into this show and am very exicted! Three of the pieces are the result of a day spent at the Del Mar Racetrack. This one is 16x20 and is called In the Paddock. I have a wonderful frame for it and it is one of the paintings in the show.