Daily Images by M. Art

Patients

Ok I have a funny story to tell about these horses. I got a reference photo from a friend of a pair of his wonderful draft horses which I painted last week. See below. The photo he sent via e-mail was tiny and the horses had a yellowish tent to them so I assumed that they were his American Belgians, since I knew he had a pair, so I painted them accordingly. (They only come in one color.) Wrong! Never assume anything. Those were his Puncheons which are born black and turn white as they mature. OOPS – I’m sorry Peter. So here are his REAL American Belgians.

Last Minute Show Tweeks

A serious word about painting. I am trying to become consistently loose while not loosing the correctness and freshness of my chosen subject and composition. I feel like I am passing a milestone in my painting right now and it sure feels GOOD! Perhaps the most recent subjects I have chosen are helpful since I am well acquainted with the equine form. I would love to get to the point where every brush stroke I put down is exactly the one I want and I do not have to touch it again. Yummmmm this is FUN! **SOLD

This Is The Life

Eric my buddy Anneke’s husband has a lovely sailing vessel that he races in the Harvest Moon Regatta every year. This year, Fred another painter buddy of mine crewed with him in that race. This is a painting of a scene from that race. What a beautiful sky but don’t let it fool you. I understand the weather was terrible a great deal of time and the race was a rough one. We joined them for the fun part, the party after and a drink of rum or two! Fred’s wife Shay bought this little painting, the very height of complements! Thank you Shay. **Sold

Santa Fe Skyscape

This dramatic Santa Fe skyscape was just begging to be painted so I indulged my desires as soon as I got home and had a paintbrush in my hand. Fortunately I had a camera with me though sadly I did not have my paints on the trip. What was I thinking? I tried something new as the drama and brilliance of the color called for a new approach. I used mixed media applying an orange almost iridescent water based pigment before I laid in the darks with oil and worked in my usual way. It’s a 24X36 and went very quickly. Please let me know what you think.

Early Morning Santa Fe

I just got back from a quick trip to Santa Fe. The trip did not go as planned because my poor favorite auntie who flew with us fell down a flight of stairs, broke her rib which punctured her lung. We are all safely home now after spending several days in the hospital. Santa Fe is a beautiful place which I plan a return visit to see more of soon. I got up at 5:30 and walked every morning to watch the sun strike the distant mountains, creep across the desert and roof tops – spectacular! This is a little study I did yesterday for my students.

Shrim Boats & Buckets

Yesterday I went painting with my buddies, Kim, Fred, & Joe (Kim calls us her Peeps) near Galveston in the bay area. We had a great time finding places “no man should go” at least not alone. We got some strange looks from the fishermen at first but they warmed to us after a bit. They became curious and came over to see what we were doing. I think plein air painters bring out the best in people, well most of the time. We had some great food and lots of good camaraderie. Here is one of the studies I did while I was there. Hope you like it.

Oyster Boats

This Oyster Boat was docked along side some shrimp boats and had some strange features (at least to me.) There was a helm at both the stern and the bow. And there were boards along the sides with spaces in-between them. The owner of the boats came up while we were painting and we found out from him that the boats go in both directions sweeping up their catch from the bottom. The boards are there to keep as much catch in the boat as possible. They rent the beds from day to day and are allowed to keep as much as the boats can hold. So the make them like big boxes. Ingenious isn’t it?