Challenge day 21

So here we are, day 21. I was preparing canvas and working on my Esty shop a bit so wanted something a bit simpler. Found this sunlight and stormy cloud sky picture to be a perfect fit. I think my next challenge will have to involve lots of sky studies. Clouds are so interesting, don't you agree?

Challenge day 20!

Okay, so day 20! And yet again with the chiaroscuro! I'm not sure what it is, but I just love the dark, black canvases with the horses just selectively reflecting the light. One of the purposes of this challenge was to enhance my ability to draw and paint horses. Another purpose was to experiment with compositions and color combinations to see what fit me best. As an artist it is often easy to become stuck (artist block anyone?) and through personal experience, I have found this often comes when I am overwhelmed with ideas with no clear starting point. This challenge gives me the opportunity to try many of the ideas in my head on a smaller scale to see what fits my artistic vision best. Interestingly these paintings that exploit the values of light and dark have become my favorites. Many of my horse chiaroscuro paintings are begging to become series of works on a much grander and larger scale. I hope you like these as well!

A little bit about this painting specifically. At the age of 14 I attended a show by the White Lipizzaner Stallions at a racetrack in Cleveland, OH on Kentucky Derby Day. Though watching the race simulcast at the racetrack was fun, the flying and dancing White Stallions were more amazing. This was the first time I actually saw the art of dressage and I've loved it ever since. Horses are such graceful and beautiful animals without humans mucking it up. However, the art of dressage and the dance of the horses with the rider is truly magical.

Again, one of my fellow DeviantArt members was gracious to provide stock photos, so special thanks to Starlit_Stock for this photo reference.

All of my paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy shop or you can contact me through email or Facebook to inquire about your favorites.

day 19

Okay,so here is day 19. This was inspired fairly quickly as I drove to Stewarts to pick up my iced coffee for the night! Is it bad when you go into a place like that and they already know exactly what you are going to say before you even get to the counter? Haha! I do believe my veins have flowed with a lot more coffee this month than blood!

I'm really happy with how the sky turned out on this one. I used to paint moons and night skies, but most of the time they were cloudy and somewhat stormy. This was a bit more interesting painting one that was more clear and putting the little star in the sky! The snow was also interesting, though I think this might have needed a few trees or something...

Day 19....to be continued!

Yes, day 19 was on hold yesterday while I took our little giggling toddler to ride the carousel in Syracuse. After riding 5 times and walking the mall (more like fighting people traffic) we both were pretty exhausted last night!
So, day 19 took a bit longer. It is complete and I should have pictures to post in the morning! So.....to be continued.....

challenge day 18

Okay, so here is day 18! Again with the darker painting, but this time shades of gray. Was thinking more like mist rather than darkness overall. Thought of a little white Arabian dancing in the mists :)

It is interesting as I work through this challenge how my specific tastes are starting to show through. How my attraction to the depth of values seen in the lights and darks of equine subjects are starting to emerge most profoundly. I guess I just love to see how the light plays off the bright sheen of a glossy coat. How many different colors are revealed in the sunlight.

All of my paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy shop or you can contact me through Facebook or email to inquire about your favorites!

Challenge day 17

Okay, so some technical difficulties and a new learning curve (on technology) prevented me from posting this last night, so here it is :) Day 17!

I'm finding that I have a strong pull towards these dark, somewhat mysterious type images. Like this one. Here the Friesian looks like he just stepped out of the darkness. A lot of my paintings have had a dark background with selective lighting. A friend mentioned that it resemble the Old Masters' concept of chiaroscuro where the light directs the eye through the darkness. I didn't have any concept of this when I first started (I knew what the term was, just didn't relate it to my art!), but I do know I have quite the fascination with light and dark.

A bit about this particular painting, this was referenced by another Deviant Art member's stock photos of a Friesian named Baron. Again I think Baron might have to reappear in my work later....possibly paint this again larger? I think he'd look great on 20x20 with a few others like it in similar poses. Series anyone!?

Remember, all of my paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy shop so keep checking for your favorites! Also you can contact me through Facebook or email to inquire about any paintings you see here.

Challenge day 16

Okay, so day 16! Yesterday when I submitted my artwork of the day I was questioning how I could get even better at this. What could I do to make it even more realistic, as if these horses would move and take off! Yes, I am quite the perfectionist, which tends to get annoying at times. However, striving for perfection also pushes me into doing and working harder; therefore sometimes achieving something I didn't think would be possible at the onset.

This painting for day 16 is a painting of a horse named Diesel. He is a shire horse and was photographed by Elaine (a fellow deviant on DeviantArt who is kind enough to provide stock photos to use). I had alot of fun painting him for he is not the typical "beauty" when people think of beautiful horses. Work/heavy horses are often the grunts in the horse world. Yet there is beauty in their strength and gentleness. I definately think we'll be painting him and horses like him again!

All of my paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy site, or you can contact me through email or Facebook to inquire about your favorites!

Challenge day 15!

Day 15....wow! Halfway through this month. It is strange because as I do these daily paintings I can see my growth and become less satisfied when I don't see enough! Funny how when we find we have the ability to jump over super high hurdles how we want to go even farther!

Okay, but for a little information behind this painting. I found this photo of an interesting arabian or quarter horse (it looked a bit muscular for an arab...). It had such an interesting bay color that was so dark in places it looked black, yet had these light golden highlights. I'm hoping I captured his unique color here. I know I want to do more with similar coloring because of how interesting it is! 

All of my paintings are eventually listed for sale on my Etsy site or you can message me through Facebook or email to inquire of your favorites!  

Challenge day 14

Day 14! Almost halfway through! Okay, so remember yesterday's revelation that the gesso might be the cause for some variances I was unhappy with in some previous paintings? Well this painting was done with the new gesso...and on paper! Which makes me extremely excited for now I can use up all this paper I have sitting around!

Okay so more on a story behind this painting itself, I really am in love with the Friesian horses. They just remind me of knights in shining armor, the black stallion, and all that hair!! I had the privilage to personally meet one of these glorious beasts at Equine Affair in Columbus, Ohio back in 2007. The photos and paintings of these animals really do not do them justice. They are just majestic! Can you tell I'm in love with them? Haha....

Remember all of my paintings I complete as daily paintings will be listed on my Etsy shop or you can contact me through Facebook or email to inquire about your favorites!

Challenge day 13

Okay day 13! This painting itself was an experiment. On many of my previous paintings for this challenge I started with a few coats of acrylic gesso to give the surface more "tooth". This tooth makes it easier to move the paint around on the canvas without creating what alot of artist call mud (where the colors just blend into one muddy color). The gesso made the surfaces of my paintings easier to paint essentially. However, some of the colors were not working well painted directly on the gesso. Therefore I had imperfections that were bugging me. After trying to figure out what was going on (and asking around if anyone else had this problem before) I decided to experiment. This painting for day 13 was painted without the preprep of gesso coats.
This is probably why the glare is so horrible on this photo...well that and the sunlight at that moment! The background of this painting came out beautifully. The horse looks as though it stepped out of the shadows for there are no imperfections in the background this time! Which makes me very happy. However....the horse itself was quite a challenge to paint for my paints wanted to muck up alot.
Sooo...more experiments! Going to try a different brand of gesso and see how that works for me. Check in tomorrow to see how well day 14's painting comes out!

All of my paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy shop. You can also contact me through Facebook or email to inquire about your favorites!

Challenge Day 12

Okay, think this is day 12! Painted these for our North Country Crafters meeting today! Little deviation from the oils and the horses, but fun nevertheless!

These are watercolor cards, one an iris and the other snapdragons. I was making and selling alot of these around Christmas, but thinking I'm going to make cards out of my oil paintings instead. That way I can spend less time in watercolors and more on oils, my true passion! That is until I want to play with something new for a change. Then the watercolors might come back out of the closet!

All of the other paintings for my 30 day challenge are listed on my Etsy site or you can message me through Facebook or email for more information. These cards were gifted to Jen King!

Challenge day 11

Okay, day 11. I consider this a personal challenge that I am commited to, yet I don't want to push myself out of the fun/learning category into the torture/work category. Most of these are completed late into the night, so this week (because of my infected tooth) I took a bit more time to sleep and took two nights to complete day 11. But, my tooth is now better and we shall get back to painting!

This painting I intended to see how much I have learned thus far. Compared to my first painting, this horse has a bit more defination to his face and his mane looks more like hair without mudding it all up. What do we think? Making progress?

Delay

Okay, so my wisdom tooth has decided to swell my face up and make sure I want nothing more than to stay in bed all day! Since this is a personal challange, I'm going to stretch out my paintings. They will still be coming along, just maybe one every two days for the rest of the week! We'll keep them coming, so keep checking back! I'm not giving up :)

Challenge day 10

Since this challenge is supposed to give me the opportunity to focus on my equestrian artwork, I thought it time to get back to working on parts of the horse that challenge me. One part of that would be getting the mane correct. So for this painting I chose a horse with lots of wavy hair, an Andalusian. This was also the first time I've done teeth. Definately a learning experience and one I hope you enjoy!

All of my challenge paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy shop or you can contact me to inquire about any posted here.

Challenge day 9

Okay so here is day 9. This is a bit outside of my comfort zone, but was extremely fun! It was such a nice day outside that I couldn't help but want to go outside to paint. So I set up my easel and directed it at my neighbor's house. Its abandoned so didn't think anyone would really mind too much!

Okay, first thing I have to say about painting outside, especially with this much snow still hanging around, is it takes a bit for your eyes to adjust! The white canvas and the white snow blinded me for a good 10 mins! Second thing is, the sunshine was absolutely heavenly!! I was actually a bit sad to go inside when it was done!

Anyways, as you can see this painting is not only unconventional for me because it was painted outside, but also because it is a bit more "loose" than I traditionally do. I was trying to quickly put the scene to canvas and not worry about so much of the tiny details. Think it came out fairly well for it being a first in many ways!
Definately think I'll be doing more plain aire paintings!

All of my paintings shown for these daily challenges are eventually posted on my Etsy site. You can also email or Facebook message me to inquire about them!

Challenge day 8

Okay, so this is a day off. Coffee was not working is magic and I needed sleep! But, back on track now! I had intended on working on an Andalusian for this day, but after driving around town, I changed my mind. Living in northern New York, Spring seems to sometimes take its good ol' time arriving here. The Spring before last we actually still had snow in May! Yet often mid-February brings that feeling of spring. The sun feels a bit warmer and you can smell it in the air. This year, however, it has taken forever to even "feel" Spring! Yet finally yesterday it has started to feel like Spring. So we had to do something that spoke Spring and this little guy seemed to do that. Foals are always a welcome sign of new life! Hope you enjoy him!

All of my paintings are eventually listed on my Etsy shop or you can contact me through Facebook or email!

Challenge Day 7!

So the first week is complete! Here is the painting for the 7th day! The muscle tone on the horses is getting better I believe. I found this photo of a bright chestnut Arabian and couldn't help but try to capture his color here. Hope you enjoy! One week down and 3 more to go!

All of my paintings completed for this daily challenge are eventually listed on my Etsy site!

Challenge day 6

Okay day 6 is complete! Pretty satisfied with this one! The photograph does not do this painting justice. For some reason my camera doesn't want to pick up the subtle tones in the highlights on his face and legs.
I was inspired by the ideas of toning down photographs and brightening the whites to make it somewhat abstract. Yet, to avoid a completely abstract painting, I thought more about a horse dancing in the dark with only a touch of natural light to reveal his movements. Its as if he is dancing in the moonlight coming in from a high window!

Reminder, all of my paintings are listed on my Etsy shop and are for sale! Listings are posted a few days after completion due to drying times of oil paints.

Challenge Day 5!

Day 5! I am back with the horses and thought I'd do a paint this time! This guy turned out alot better than I originally thought he would. Which again reminds me of how continuing to work on it can help, to perservere instead of giving up.

All of my paintings for sale are listed on my Etsy site or you can email or message me!

Challenge Day 4

Day 4. I deviated from the horses today. This picture was taken last summer at the local park. When I woke up this morning (hubby let me sleep in, yea!) the sunlight was streaming into our room and just beautiful. I remembered this photo I had taken of the sunlight and thought it would be a good exercise in capturing light. Hope you enjoy!

Remember, all of my paintings can be found on my Etsy shop, or you can email or message me to purchase!

Challenge day 3!

Okay day 3! This was a combination of concepts, one originating on Pinterest! I found a painting of a Friesian horse done in shades of gray, blue, and purple on Pinterest a while back and loved it. So I thought I'd try my own! Black horses are always complicated because they are not just black. The color black is not the void of color but the abundence of color. Therefore, colors show through alot more in the blacks than they do in the whites. It is completely realistic to have a jet black horse show subtle reflections of purple, lavender, blue, etc. Maybe not to this extreme, but it was still a learning experience!

All of my paintings are for sale at my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/ArtReflectionsStudio

Challenge day 2

Okay, so day 2 is done. After the painting from yesterday I thought I'd focus a bit more on one specific spot and try to recreate that realism I love so much. So thought I'd focus on the head and face of a horse. I thought about doing another bay, but then this palomino jumped out at me and I couldn't resist.

Second thing I've learned...how photographs actually create distortion that is quite a challenge to remove. This guy didn't look right until I added in the halter that the reference photo had. Another thing to work on!
I hope you enjoy!

This painting was done on 8x10 stretched canvas and will be available for sale through my Etsy shop or wherever Artistic Reflections Studio is represented.

Challenge day 1

Okay, day one is done! This is done on an 8x10 stretched canvas. First thing I've learned already is, just because it's small doesn't mean it takes less time!! I do believe this took just as long to complete as one of my 16x20 paintings! Tried to experiment a bit with the coloring and light. Anyways here is the beginning and we shall see where I go from here!