Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"Saratoga Stripes, #2," from the Saratoga Series, 6" x 8", acrylic equine painting on canvasboard depicting a racehorse in the paddock at Saratoga Race Track in New York, $349 to the first one under the wire. Inquiries may always come to me.

SOLD.

Last summer I was able to visit Saratoga with two great friends and fellow artists. We hung at the track, gallery hopped, and had a genuinely delightful weekend. They were reminescing last night, and it got me thinking about the energy we were a part of for those few days. The challenge I set for myself was to capture the excitement in a relatively static composition.

I'm pleased to no end with the results of this painting, which represents another breakthrough in my neverending search to better understanding of color and distance. I'm handicapped in this due to my heavy reliance on reference photos (because I prefer to paint animals, uncooperative as they may be). The camera treats everything in the viewfinder with an equal balance of color saturation and value assignment - but the human eye sees life very differently. Painting from life has helped me to add truer color and value ranges to my paintings, even when I'm working primarily from photographs.

It's starting to all come together. A wonderful way to start the New Year!

There are a few minor adjustments I will make to this piece - it never fails, once the painting is dry and scanned, I see something I want to tweek. The edge on the far haunch is a wee bit too sharp, that gate has to go back further and I want to soften the shadow on the breeches.

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

www.paintingadogaday.com

SHOP ORIGINALS & LIMITED EDITION GICLEES: at my Etsy shop

ORDER CUSTOMIZED NOTECARDS & REPRODUCTIONS: at Imagekind

COMMISSION A PET PORTRAIT: contact me

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE: contact me

READING MATERIAL: Preview and order each of the Dog a Day books at the publisher's website: The First Year (2006-2007) and That's 14 in Dog Years (2008). If you would like your copy personalized, order them through me.