Completed piece for friend of mine. Probably took around 50 hours. Lots of learning and trial and error since this was the first horse for me. Hung it tonight at the gallery in preparation for the Waukesha Art Crawl Saturday.

Fridgid Plein Air

Last Saturday I went out in Menomonee Falls to paint with the WIPAPA local plein air group. OMG was it cold! The paint got real stiff and my fingers were numb after an hour. Thank God a coffee shop was a mere 200 yds away. But, I did paint! Two versions, same subject, photos taken back in my (warm) studio.

Horse in Progress

I finally took a deep breath and put a bunch of paint on the palette and said "let's do this." Over the next 3 hours I got most of the first layers done. There's a lot of purple & blue in this horse?

Except for the use of Burnt Sienna, all the browns are mixed from RYBG. Trying to limit my use of black, but Paynes Gray with blue seems to make a nice dark vs black. Repositioned the ears as they were pointing off to the sides and back. The client requested this change.

Lots of Wet Paint

Got to put down a lot of paint today on a portrait that I should have done weeks ago. Never did a horse before so it was a bit daunting. Sketched it all up and put in the background in one session. A friend of mine commissioned this to give to a friend of hers, who owns this horse and is the rider.

Sand In Our Toes, Maui

$300

Pastel, 16x20"

Fresh off the easel, the first of many to come from my trip to Hawaii. We'd just got done exploring the West side of Maui...and too many shops. It was hot and sunny (a rarity during our trip) so I had to pull over at one of the many roadside beaches. Got out of the car, kicked off our shoes and dipped our feet in the ocean to cool off. These huge trees hugged the sand and draped over this couple off in the distance. What a great way to spend an afternoon!

Back from Hawaii

Just got back from a week in Hawaii with my family. Plenty of awesome sights with hundreds of photos to work from. Stay tuned.

Contributors Oil, 24x30 $500

Finally back at the easel. Found God and inspiration long enough to bang this out (in 2 hours). Worth a click on the image to see the details. Cross between frustration, fear and worry. On 3x primed gallery wrap canvas. I'm sick of buying frames!