February's I can Spot That

 

Well keeping up with this blog is a lot harder than I thought it might be. However, if we don't ever challenge ourselves we'll never know what we are capable of. So with that, I'll show you want pieces I have not talked about yet for February.

 

The first one is February's "I can Spot That" painting (reference Shi_stock on Deviant Art). This was my first piece after my week of playing nurse to two little girls that were down with some sort of bug (the littlest one had a fever for almost the whole week and really stressed us out a bit). So honestly I forgot all about the whole purple theme. I really just wanted to get some paint thrown. Therefore this guy is a bit more impressionistic and looser than what I normally do. Some may like it, some may not. To me painting like this helps me just get back into the groove. It is a great relief to not stress about the tiniest details and instead look for the shadows, highlights and presence of color.

 

If you follow the link http://www.ebay.com/itm/201295822269?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 you will come to the auction for this appaloosa painting.

 

The other piece that I did not get to show you is my seasonal piece. The auction for this one is over, but to keep with the themes of the month I wanted to still show it to you.

 

 

Obvious purple here! I found this picture (reference Misty of my Heart on Deviant Art) of this pretty chestnut having fun in the snow. Since we are still buried in snow, I don't think we'll ever get out, horses frolicking in the snow seems to be something I still see. They certainly don't seem sick of all this cold and snow. Our purple is clear here in the background and the shadows on the snow.

 

I could go on and on about these pieces, but the end of the month is swiftly approaching and I have so many more to do and share! Therefore, since the easel is calling, I best answer it.... Till next posting! Stay safe and warm!

 

Remember, any of these (the seasonal one is over already) are posted on eBay starting at a $0.99 bid. Follow the link above to bid on the Appaloosa!

 

 

 

 

February's purple skies

 

Purple Skies! One of the joys of doing these challenges is that I get to paint and work on things that I've been putting off. When I first started out painting (back when I was a teenager) I used Bob Ross's method to painting with oil paints. Bob Ross was mainly a landscape guy and so that is what I learned first, how to paint landscapes. After awhile though I wanted to do my own thing and started working on different subjects like flowers and animals. However, I never felt like I had "mastered" the art of landscapes either. So occasionally I go back and see what I can do with just the world as it is around me.

 

This painting is actually of the sun setting in our backyard last spring. My mother in law lives next door, as my daughter and I walked home from her house I snapped a few pictures of the setting sun. I have a few of these sunsets and some sunrises in my reference folders, but this one was perfect for my February challenge in how the sky was pleasantly purple. The sky was one color, the clouds another shade, and the field was all dark too. The purple and the yellow light from the setting sun makes for a very bright and strong impression.

 

I can't say that I have perfected the art of landscapes, which is why skies are part of my challenge. I want to focus at least one day a month on the art of cloud forming and creating realistic skies so that one day my backgrounds for my horses might include some great skies. Maybe even a sunset or two! We don't improve unless we devote time to it. Maybe one day I'll master the art of landscapes....as long as they have a horse or two in them!

 

Next piece for February is our Seasonal piece. It may or may not be snowing still where you are, but here we are still laden down with the white stuff. Therefore, we are going to see a winter chestnut horse enjoying his time in the snow. Check in tomorrow to see him!

 

Remember, most of the paintings here are listed on eBay starting at the $0.99 bid. If you see something that would make a great gift to a friend or family member, or maybe just a special gift to yourself for your own collection, don't forget to follow the link and place your bids!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201289820362?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

February Purple On the Farm

 

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend! I know I did. We hibernated (because the temperatures were below zero) and I got to paint a bit.

 

Speaking of painting, here we are! Working with purple highlights! The last post I showed how I am starting to add in purple to deepen some of the shadows. Now we can see how light lavenders can add some interesting colors and depth as highlights. This horse was perfect for pulling out those purple highlights. So often we see bays as just brown horses with black manes and tails, but in reality their coats can be quite the range of colors. This guy was standing in the morning sun (or maybe it was evening, not sure what time of the day Jin_K Stock captured him) and the light was perfect for revealing a range of color.

 

Honestly I think this is one thing that I am really attracted to when it comes to art, how light plays with color. This horse is brown, but the way the lighting was during that time his coat actually ranges from yellow to red to purple to dark brown. In a different time of the day or in a different lighting situation (maybe under fluorescents in an arena) this horse might look almost black with how dark his coat might get. Learning to see and work with color to reveal how beautiful life is around us sure is fun!

 

Next post we get to see how God paints with purple in a beautiful sunset. The colors in the sky during a sunset are often the most vibrant and varied colors. If watching a sunset change the sky a rainbow of colors doesn't inspire the artist inside us all, I'm not sure what ever will!

 

Remember, each of these paintings are listed on eBay starting at the $0.99 bid. If you see something you simply must have in your collection, just follow the link at the bottom of the post to place your bids!

 

Stay safe and warm!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201287650932?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Feburary Purple Close Encounter

 

Valentine's Day is over, and I'm finally getting around to posting this! I'm actually really loving this piece. Some of my other "eye" pieces have not turned out so compelling. One of the reasons I wanted to do these close encounter pieces is to narrow my focus in on one specific spot and see if I can get as much of the detail as I can. When I am working on a larger piece I often get so excited to see it complete that I don't fulfill my own expectations on the detail. Its quite a conundrum because I love doing detailed work, but I also hate waiting to see it complete.

 

Okay, I know the real question we are all thinking is where is the purple of the month? Alright, maybe you weren't really thinking it, but now you are! Purple is the color of the week, and yes this piece has very minimal purple. However, splashing everything with pretty purple was not really the point of this challenge. Instead I wanted to just add the color and see where the color actually works to enhance my paintings. With this one purple actually is seen more in the shadows. So often artists start out just making shadows with either black or just a darker value of the other colors. But shadows are more than that. They have their own color palette and often purple is one of those colors. With this painting adding a touch or two of purple into the shadows helped define the shadows as different than the black of the pupil. I really wonder if this might be why I enjoy this piece....hmm...

 

So with a little touch of purple, we can enhance our shadows! A new technique added to my list that I know I will be using more often. I hope you can find some purple in the world around you where you least expect it. Color is all around us, we just have to look for it!

 

Next post is about how purple can also be used to highlight! Whoa....shadows and highlights?? What can't purple do?! We have the rest of the month to find out.

 

Remember each of these paintings posted here are listed on eBay starting at the $0.99 bid. Just follow the link at the end of the post to place your bids. This one ends Thursday night at 9pm EST.

 

Be safe and warm this weekend!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201285768446?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

February's Standing out From the Crowd

 

This month's focus is the color purple. Purple and horses you say? How could that work without actually painting just fantasy purple horses? Well actually it works because though horses are more earthy tones (browns, tans, etc.) light and shadows reflect different colors. A perfect example of this is with either a white or black horse.

 

Take our Friesian here. Friesians are solid black horses, yet in the sunlight their coats reflect different colors from blue, brown, gray, red and even purple. Much of the highlights on this guy's back are done in purple. A light lavender or a light blue actually looks more correct than simply using white to make your highlights. Horses are not monochromatic (all one color), rather their coats reflect different colors around them.

 

This is actually why I chose the color purple for this month. So often I get wrapped up in the earth tones that I forget about the other colors in the rainbow. Depth and light can be created much more realistically by using color. This month I wanted to see what depth and light I could create by using the color purple. Honestly once I started looking for places where purple might be, I found so many great references! Purple as highlights, purple as shadows, purple everywhere! This should definitely be a fun and interesting month of color!

 

Next on the easel is our Close Encounter for the month. So keep your eyes peeled for more purple!

 

Remember, all of these pieces I list for the month will also be listed on eBay starting at the $0.99 bid. If there is anything that must be in your collection, just follow the link at the bottom of the page to place you bids!

 

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/201284182723?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

January Backlog

I had these paintings sketched out for January and with the craziness here around the end of the month, I never got to them! However, these inspirations were simply calling to me to finish them. This little barn owl was practically screaming at me from the easel. When a painting calls, it behooves the artist to answer.

I really can't tell you how much I love this piece. I want to paint him again but on a much larger scale. The colors in the feathers are simply gorgeous. I'm not really much of an owl person, but after seeing the snowy owls around us recently, I am starting to appreciate their appeal. This barn owl I actually got to meet while I was taking my daughter to the Strawberry Festival in Adams, NY. It was a spur of the moment trip for the day just to get out of the house. This "bird guy" was exhibiting some exotic birds (well birds that are not simply a parakeet or a chickadee). He had with him this owl and a red tailed hawk. I had to get some pictures of them, if only to reference some of their beautiful markings. This one just posed so perfectly!

Here I am going on and on about this owl, when really you are wondering where the Appaloosa is that I promised you. Well, I did get the horse done....the rider is still a work in progress. But since I told you I'd be posting it, I am sharing my progress! We'll finish up the rider tonight and get it listed on eBay tomorrow night. It is another one that just had to be finished.

 

I do occasionally sketch out paintings to do and then get uninspired to finish them. When that happens the sketch is erased and I'll sketch out something else. These two pieces were destined to not be erased. I certainly am a much happier artist when I can complete an inspired piece.

Tonight is sketch night! I've got the references picked out, the canvases prepped and hopefully I can get February's lineup ready to go! Remember, most of the pieces listed on my blog are also listed on eBay. If you see something that simply must be part of your collection (or is needed for a special gift) just follow the link at the bottom to place your bid! The link for tonight is the owl, tomorrow's listing will showcase the Appaloosa!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nicole-Smith-Artist-Bird-Art-Owl-Oil-painting-black-Barn-Owls-Night-Original-/201281657637?

February's purple "still life"

 

We are into February! Which means the color focus has changed! Though I am trying to stick to horses mainly, I am going to work with different colors and this month is purple/lavender!

 

I know its been a week since I posted last, this whole posting 4-5 times a week commitment is really hard! But I think I can get back on track here now that my class ended (and paper is done) along with relatively healthy kiddos now (they were both under the weather earlier this week). So without further ado, lets get started on the month.

 

Alright I know, what you are really wanting to know is why is there a painting of a purple pony posted here.  You might have the purple part figured out (I did just say that was the color of the month) but maybe not the pony part. One of my goals for this year is to do a bit more observation of life and paint a bit more without a lot of prep work. I chose to do a still life for each month. January's got pushed to the side, but I'm still going to do one this weekend for it. To keep it fun I thought I'd do toys....and what toys do I have tons of? That is right, ponies! My Little Ponies to be exact. I had quite the collection when I was younger (and even a bit older than I care to admit). I thought they might be fun with all the colors I could play with. I don't get to experiment with bright green, lemon yellow, hot pink and purple all that often.

 

Now for the artistic reason, flexing those observational skills. Painting from a photo takes a certain set of skills. You have to make a 2-dimensional figure look 3-dimesional on a 2-dimensional surface. Painting from life allows you to work your mind in a different way. You are going 3D to 3D on a 2D surface. Still life pieces allow the artist to experiment with lighting, shadows, reflections, etc. Painting horses from life would be ideal, but at least these ponies don't move!

Also, one of my biggest handicaps (or just different method I suppose) is that I sketch out everything prior to painting. My sketches onto the canvas are done completely by hand and are not immaculately detailed, but they are more of a guide than a blank canvas. I don't want to ever find myself in a position where I am intimidated by that blank canvas. Instead I want to be able to say that I too can conquer that canvas with simply a brush and paint if I desire. Yes, my first horse painting ever was done this way. It took me a whole year to try again because I thought I couldn't paint horses. I don't want to feel like that again.

 

So this piece was done simply with my brush and paints, observing how the 3D pony looked in the lighting I had set up as my still life for the month. To say I am happy with it would be an understatement! Sometimes you just don't know what you can do until you try....and sometimes try again and again until it happens!

 

I told you I was going to do that spunky little Appaloosa and I am. In fact he'll be done tonight and ready for posting tomorrow! Till then enjoy my little toy pony piece.

 

Remember, most of these pieces are listed on eBay starting at the $0.99 bid. If you see something that must be in your collection or you want to start a collection, don't forget to follow the link at the bottom of the page and place your bids!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201280988585?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649