For Melissa ~~ by Kimberly Kelly Santini

"For Melissa," 10" x 14", portrait of Silver, a pony belonging to a special friend, done in acrylics on a museum quality panel. Collection of the artist.   In process pics of Silver's portrait are also on the studio Facebook page. Feel free to check in over there and comment on my process or art in general.   Reproductions may be ordered here.

This week the world lost a shining star when my friend Melissa passed away. Melissa was a client turned friend, compassionate, generous of spirit, always read to laugh, with the ability to find extraordinary beauty in the most commonplace objects and situations.   I hope Melissa's heaven is full of gray ponies and lots of critters to love on. And I look forward to walking alongside her one day.   Cancer so sucks.   In honor of Melissa, I will donate 100% of the proceeds from giclee and notecard sales of this painting through June 1st to The American Cancer Society via The Wonder Kids (see below). You can order here. And thank you for allowing me to pay tribute to my friend's memory in this way.   Hoping you are spending your weekend with those you love, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

Journalling student and Wonder Kid team captain Anna D with her puppets made at our last journalling class. The one on the left reads "fight back."   The Wonder Kids   Here's some amazing kids who refuse to wait until they are grown up to make a difference.   Led by the unflappable 3rd grader Anna D, The Wonder Kids had a friend's life touched by cancer, and decided to do something about it.   They set a goal of raising $500 for cancer research (they are nearly half way there!). They also will be participating in the Lake Orion leg of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life the first weekend in June.   I look forward to the day when we have a cure for cancer, all due to efforts of people like The Wonder Kids.   What if the money they raise is what does it?   (If you want to support The Wonder Kids, click here - and on their behalf, thank you!)

A Gentle Breeze ~~ Painting a Dog a Day by Kimberly Kelly Santini

NEARLY FINISHED: "Gentle Breeze (Nitro)," from the "Black and Whites" series, 8" x 10", portrait of a horse, done in Golden Open Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard. Almost completed - and can be pre-purchased for $469. Please send your inquiries to me. Those of you who follow the studio on Facebook heard me bragging last week about an ambitious piece I started. Monday had me lamenting about a painting that was giving me problems. They were one and the same, the piece I'm sharing with you today. First it sunk deep into "The Uglies" - that stage where the artist is still working things out, and nothing quite yet meshes or works visually. Every piece goes through this phase - it's just that some linger longer than others. And Nitro refused to budge from "The Uglies." And I didn't know how to fix him. Over multiple days, I studied the piece in a mirror, upside down, and from my periphery. I used red cellophane to work out issues with values (laying a piece of red cellophane overtop a painting reduces it immediately to a value study, enabling you to see any problematic areas). I imported a jpg to Photoshop and experimented with other choices. I thought a lot about the depth I was hoping to achieve and visualized the color theory and practices that would make it work. I closed my eyes and painted it, over and over, in my head until I had the confidence for another try. This morning I tackled things immediately. Within 10 minutes there was an incredible shift in the painting, and I had my mojo back! I thought I was done, but now see some subtle shifts to make that will shift the mane towards translucency and better connect the shadowed barrel to the head. But that can wait! For now I want to celebrate the completion of this one and bask for a bit in all that I've learned via "Gentle Breeze." Thanks so very much for following along with my artwork! Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com PS I painted Nitro already before - you can see his first painting, "Freedom," on the Painting a Dog a Day blog and onFineArtAmerica. My winter herb garden, compliments of my sister-in-law, enjoying the sunshine filled kitchen. Early Spring?? Michigan has been blessed with several gorgeous, entirely unseasonal days this week. I've never done winter well - I pretty much bundle up and hibernate until May. But this week has been very pleasant. We've enjoyed long walks, thrown 1000 snowballs for the dog (it sure felt like 1000!), gotten re-acquainted with the sun, and even gone for a bike ride. The bunny hutch got a good scrape down yesterday, which made Lily and Clover happy. And the crocus-es and wild iris already peeking up got a good feeding of bunny poo, which made them happy as well. This is February! In Michigan! I just might have to fire up the Bar-B-Q tonite! Hoping wherever you live that you are enjoying your days equally as well as the Santinis!

Starlight by moonlight

I've got a bit more time to play with than I usually do these days since my saddle is off being refitted and I'm not riding. I still go to the boarding stable most days to visit my horse and check on him, but it certainly doesn't take up my whole afternoon the way it does when I ride. 

This being the case, I've been doing some Photoshop work with my bank of images. I'm currently working on a "mystical" theme and this is the first one of a set of variations I've done featuring this white horse. His name is Starlight, so the title "Starlight by Moonlight" seems like the right one. I've done a couple of other versions of this, both a little stranger, with my "ghost child" and crows and a black cat. You can check them out on my home website

if you'd like to see them. I'm just getting going on this series and other related ones, so stay tuned and see what develops. 

Starlight (barn name Sparky) is a favorite model of mine, and you can see war pony versions of him on my website in the "War Ponies" gallery. He makes a great "ghost" horse.