Seeing Spots-Its Whats In Progress

Working away on many commissions and repairs, but wanted to share this one. This is a Lynn Fraley "Rayne" resin whose owner has been a complete gem to work with and has been so very patient. To all my customers and clients, especially the ones who patiently wait while I work on your piece in between whatever life throws at me, thank you for being there and being so patient.

Now, back to work.

Rayne resin in appaloosa.

"Because while life harasses us, love is
only a wave taller than the other waves...."

~Pablo Neruda

What Day Is It?

It's now day 15 into the international art movement "Inktober" and exactly 12 days since I dropped out. Yes, sadly I'm a drop out for "Inktober". I quickly became overwhelmed with other work and was reminded how I came to be more of a painter than an inker. That is, I really dislike using ink on my drawings. I really don't wish to revisit ink any time soon unless I'm penning a very fancy letter with a crow quill and calligraphy nib.

In the meantime, here is what transpired in the studio in place of "Inktober."

Caldero Resin in buckskin going grey.
Recently finished commission.
My commission books are open.











Majorific resin in blue roan Appaloosa.
Recently Finished Commission






Perhaps in November I'll paint little landscapes and still life's during the month. Now, that is something I know I can keep up with cause painting is just an absolute joy for me. Thinking....

Day 3...A Fascination

#inktober Day 3: Pelikan ink on Strathmore Bristol
Day three into Inktober and I was reminded of my fascination with drawing dead things. I know, that sounds terrible, but it's truth. I love to study all sorts of botanicals and biological things, esp when they aren't moving and I can really focus. Even horticulture samples fascinate me as they decay. Plain and simple, the shapes and colors and changes that happen intrigue my artist eye.

Last night at some point my little hamster Raphiella passed away and this morning I decided to make a drawing of her the third in my series of 31 drawings for my participation in #inktober. I decided not to ruin the original pencil drawing too much and just wash some ink about and have found that I like this method of working with ink much better than how I handled it on day one and day two. I believe I'll handle the rest of the month with simple ink renderings and washes.

On the horse front, the Punjabi is finally complete. I'm letting my eyes rest for the weekend and then will revisit him on Monday to see if I still like him.

Punjabi resin in roan.
A commission. My books are open.

October Means Inktober

Day 1 Ink Drawing for Inktober
It's October already! Happy October! It's hard to believe that we are already in the 10th month of this new year. Didn't the new year JUST start?

Every year in October many artists throughout the world participate in what they call, "Inktober". They produce one ink drawing every day for 31 days and then share that drawing through various social media outlets. I remember seeing this event happening last year and thinking what fun it would be to join in. Well, this year, I decided to bite the bullet and join in.

Now, ink was a beloved medium for me long, long ago when I worked at Marvel Comics. I have since been wooed by the lusciousness of acrylic paint (even on the model horses) and I must confess I'm having a difficult time switching my brain to "see" things in ink again. Part of "seeing" in ink is being able to mentally strip away color and just see in black and white and then reproduce that on paper with a pen....one that bleeds, blops ink puddles randomly, scratches your paper up and covers your beautiful pencil drawing with lines that look nothing like what you drew 15 minutes ago. There is a lot of preplanning that happens when one works in ink which is radically different than how I work when I paint with acrylics.

All in all, I'm into day two and I'm already having difficulties and it's a huge challenge for me. Never the less, presented here on the blog today is day one and day two into inktober. #inktober

Day 2 Ink Drawing for Inktober 2014