Sunday, August 31, 2008

Return of the Muse


I'm fortunate to have a number of great models on my farm, but the one I have painted the most is my own Thoroughbred mare, affectionately known as Monster. Standing out in the field, under her fly "armour" she looks quite remarkable, but she's very photogenic, and if I limited myself to my reference photos of her, I'd still be busy for a long time to come.

This painting is a 24 x 20 oil on canvas, and it's called "Emerging." The original is available, but I'll also be doing giclée reproductions. If you're interested, let me know! As always, you can see what else I'm doing on my own blog. Hope you'll come over and have a look!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Full Circle




With another beautiful August day stretched out before me, I have just finished a new papercut, I have already cleaned the stalls, mowed the orchard and then weeded a bit in the veggie garden. I have also started sketching out a new cutting and I am watering the front gardens with the dragonfly sprinkler. [It cuts a wide swath of water over the thirsty flowers....but a different type of cut than my cutting paper!]This circle isn't actually round, but it is hard to cut a perfect round. I feel I have done a good job when the final image does not leave a horse with one leg missing or no ears! "Full Circle" is sized about 9 x 9" ........ a good size, and it depicts a sidesaddle rider and her mount.This image was inspired by one of the exhibitions at the Kentucky Horse Park when I went to KY. A lot of my new works will be coming from inspirations from that trip!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Shadows


This shot harks back to a shot I originally did many years ago, of my first horse, a grey, in his stall  with the long light of winter slanting in the door. At that time I had no idea what I was doing and was surprised but pleased with the result. That shot (still framed and on my dining room wall all these years later) was called "Simon Thinking About Becoming a Zebra".
I've been riding in the evenings of late rather than my usual mid-afternoon since the weather has been so hot. I often take my camera with me as the sunsets on the road  home can be spectacular. One evening a week or so ago I went to the west end of the stables to check on my friend's gelding, and realized that the play of light and shadow on the grey mare in this photo was giving me a chance to re-work the idea of zebra shadows on a horse. I now have dozens of variations on this theme, and will doubtless get a lot more yet before the sun has gone too far south for this kind of shot to be possible. 
Prints of this or any of my photo art can be ordered by emailing me for information judywood@sasktel.net  Original plans for my photo website have fallen through, but  I'm working on plan B now, and it will happen, just not sure when!! More photos of various sorts to be viewed on my home blog  http://judywoodartphotography.blogspot.com  Thanks for looking. 

Thursday, August 7, 2008

New horses, photo shoot.






We had a great time taking photos of horses playing in the water. I did wish their mud puddle had been further from the road, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes! They still make great reference photos of horses in action, being horses....

These are a sampling of the photos we took and I'll be adding them to my reference photo blog for artists to use. If you're interested in using any of these photos before they're added on the other website, just contact me.
Donna Ridgway

Tuesday, August 5, 2008