The Virtual pARTy

Derby Week pARTy

2010-04-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

Lise Leblanc "Lucky 7" 9 x 12 oil on canvas

Okay, so our reference photo by Kim Santini was taken last summer at Saratoga, but this is Derby Week, so a racing theme is appropriate. In fact I believe Kim will be doing a horse instead of a dog-a-day to celebrate this week. Add to that the final week of my April Thirty Horses, Thirty Days, and there will be lots of daily ponies around! And that, my friends, is what we call shameless self-promotion by your pARTy hosts! :-D

We had another great turnout for our pARTy, having a go at a fairly challenging image.

Kim Santini, "Stirrup" 10 x 6 acrylic on multimedia artboard

Molly Poole, 5 x 7 watercolour on paper

Valarie Wolf, 6 x 6 oil on panel

Linda Shantz, "Expectation," 6 x 8 oil on canvas board

Terry d. Chacon, "Waiting to Ride" 6 x 8 oil on canvas

Sheona Hamiliton-Grant, pencil sketch

Deb Stonebraker, "Quarter Panel," 5 x 7 Prismacolor on Ultrasuede

Delia Pacheco, "Reflect," 5 x 7 acrylic

Miriam Hughes, 8 x 10 watercolour sketch

Mary Agarwal, Wait to Hurry No.7,"7.5 x 5.5 pastel

Lisa Guarino, 3.25 x 3.25 Pen and Ink/Markers

Linda Massey, 6 x 11 watercolour and ink

Linda L. Martin, "Number 7's Dance," 8 x 10 graphite

Kathy Roeth, "Ready To Run," 9 x 12 watercolour and gouache

Charlotte Tanner, Pen and marker on cardstock

Charlotte Mertz, "Saddled with a Seven," 5 x 7 watercolour on coldpress

Catherin McMillan, "No .7 On the Nose," 9 x 9 pastel

Byannick, "I See You," 9 x 7 oil on board

Melissa Shumard, 9 x 12 acrylic on watercolour paper

April 2010s Virtual pARTy

2010-04-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

Photo of Thoroughbreds in the paddock/saddling enclosure at Saratoga (NY), courtesy of Kimberly Kelly Santini, http://www.TurtledoveDesigns.com or http://www.PaintingaDogaDay.com.

Well, here goes - this is the image for the next pARTy, to take place this coming week, April 19th. All pARTy artwork must be emailed by midnite EST on Saturday the 24th.

How does a Virtual pARTy work? Using the chosen image (contact us -ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com - for a high res jpg) create a piece of artwork within a 24 hour period. Send a jpg of your artwork (4in wide at 72dpi please) to us - thevirtualparty77@yahoo.ca - by midnight on Saturday, April 24th, 2010. Include your name, the particulars of your piece, and your websites or blog address. When you visit the pARTy blog (http://the-virtual-party.blogspot.com/) the following week, you'll see your piece in the great company of other pARTy participants' various takes on the same reference.

However.... We do ask that if you post or publish your resulting pARTy artwork in any way, you give credit to the reference photographer and mention the Virtual pARTy event. We also ask that you refrain from entering pARTy artwork in exhibitions since there is always the possibility another pARTy artist could enter a piece very similar to yours.

Oh yeah !! Don't forget to visit the pARTy forum where artists can share their experiences and comment on each other's work. This forum is private (so theoretically no clients will see our true thoughts about any given piece!), and therefore you must register first in order to participate. Please register with your real name, and then fire off an email after registering so that you can be activated asap. Additional information can be found there.

Sharing is good. Know another artist who might want to participate? Please forward this note along with our advance thanks. The more, the merrier is what we say.

Y'all come back, you hear? We aim to have Virtual pARTys every 4-8 weeks, with the frequency relying entirely on our availability. Linda is at the mercy of her herd of Thoroughbreds and Kim gets pulled in 100 unpredictable directions (and merely wishes they were horse related!) - we do our best to maintain a relative frequency and appreciate your patience. Your best bet is to watch the pARTy blog and the pARTy forum for announcements - we do our best to give at least a week's notice prior to each new pARTy.

What do you think? Feel free to chime in and share your ideas about how we might improve the pARTy experience.

Thanks so much for pARTy-ing with us!

Linda and Kim

All artwork included in pARTy blogs and forum, including reference photographs, is copyright protected by the individual artists. We ask that you extend them the same copyright respect and you demand others to extend in your direction. Courtesy goes a long way towards making this world a sunnier place. And who doesn't love a sunny day?

The Many Faces of Bellator

2010-03-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

Shanghai Spring, 4 x 6 watercolour and ink, Christine Trevino

We had our best turnout yet for a pARTy with this March edition - now you can see what took me so long getting them up! Thanks to all of our participants, and to our handsome model, Bellator. Hope you all had fun!

Artists - I included the "specs" on your piece and a link for those I had - I didn't have time to go searching this time. Send me an email and the pARTy address if yours is missing and you'd like me to add it. And if I've missed someone, please let me know!

Yvonne Todd, 6 x 2.5 oil

"Bellator in Winter," 14 x 10 watercolour on coldpress, Dora Sislian Themelis

"Why The Long Face?" 16 x 8 oil on canvas, Linda Massey

Sue Kroll, 10 x 8 acrylic

"Fuzzy Ears," 7 x 5 oil, Marilyn Sadler

Miriam Hughes

Mary Agarwal

Lisa Guarino, 4 x 3 watercolour pencil

Linda Ward, 3.5 x 2.5 (ACEO) pencil

"Vertical (Bellator)" 16 x 8 acrylic on canvas board, Kim Santini

Kathy Roeth, 14 x 10 gouache and watercolour on coldpress

Karen Thumm, 12 x 9 oil on canvas board

Karen Bowden

"Just a Bit of Blarney" 6 x 4 acrylic on coldpress watercolour paper, Linda Martin

Judy Johnson, 6 x 4 watercolour

"Nice 'N' Cozy", 6 x 6 acrylic, Elizabeth McCrindle

"Hay?" 11 x 4 oil on canvas, Diana Lancaster

Charlotte Tanner, acrylic on cardboard

"Bellator #2" 7 x 5 oil on shellaced masonite, Linda Shantz

Thanks For Your Patience!

2010-03-24T20:44:00.001-07:00

Do I sound like a TV station? My apologies for not having the chance to get the latest pARTy paintings up yet - unfortunately the demands of the work that pays the bills has to take precedence, and I've been busier than even what is usual in that department. That's not all bad for me, of course, because it means the bills will actually get paid! :-D

Please stay tuned!

~ Linda

Ready....Set...pARTy! March 2010

2010-03-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here's your image for the March pARTy. You have from midnight tonight until midnight March 20th to get your painting to us. Remember the idea is to complete your painting in a 24-hour span of time. Complete instructions are above. Email a low-res image (72 dpi, approx. 4 x 6 inches dimensionally) of your painting to us at thevirtualparty77@yahoo.ca - if you don't get a reply acknowledging receipt, that means something went awry!

This handsome boy is Bellator, a young Warmblood gelding that lives at Inish'Or Farm in Puslinch, Ontario. Please remember to give credit to the photographer - in this case, Linda Shantz.

PS - if you'd like a high-res file from which to work, just send a request to the address above.

March pARTy! March 15-20

2010-03-07T19:04:00.001-08:00

We're trying to keep up the momentum, so it's time to announce the next pARTy! We'll post the photo late Monday the 15th, and you'll have till midnight, your time on the 20th. Remember the idea is that your painting is completed in a 24-hour period within that stretch of days. The 'rules' haven't changed - see the top of the blog for more information! Just please remember, if you want to sign up for the forum, drop us an email to let us know you've done so, so that we can activate you, and please use your real name so that we can tell you apart from the spam!

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you all and what you come up with!

February pARTy Showcase

2010-02-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

February pARTy participant Linda Massey had a special challenge thrown her way in the days leading up to the pARTy deadline. Here's what she emailed along with her entry (pictured above):

"...I didn't think I would get you something as Friday morning while I was feeding in the barn.....my foot caught and (I) fell head over tea kettle onto the concrete aisle way onto my head... I wasn't able to drop feed buckets and get my hands down to block the fall so my hard head took the hit.... I spent the better part of the day getting checked for concussions, taking x-rays and CT scans and spent the night swelling up and turning B and B.... I have some whiplash but basically I was fine. But my body nerves were so shaken I couldn't stop my right hand from shaking... the doc said that was okay and would go away after a day or two... so this aft. I picked up a brush and sure enough I was fine. And painting was better medicine than the doctors prescribed for the pain. "

We would like to award Linda Massey the Gold Medal this time around!

Thanks, Linda, for playing, despite your injuries. We hope that you are continuing to feel better.

-Linda and Kim

February pARTy Paintings!

2010-02-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

We had a great turnout for our Feburary pARTy. Thanks again to Kim Santini for providing the reference image of the Curly horse! Artists - I have tried my best to include information for everyone with their image, but if yours is missing (or incorrect!), just send me an email or make a comment to the post and I'll make the changes.

Thanks so much to everyone who took part! Without further ado...your pARTy pARTicipants! (in no particular order!)

Kim Santini, "Up Close(Percy)" 6 x 8 acrylic on board

Catherin McMillan, 5 x 5 acrylic on canvas panel

Catherine Gillespie, "Percy"

Lois Primeau, 5 3/8 x 8 oil on gessoed masonite

Sue Kroll, acrylic

Lisa Ward-Guarino, pastel

Candy Simchik, "Hello" 5 x 7 acrylic on canvas board

Kate Dardine, "She Really Didn't Need a Man on Her Back" 6 x 6 oil on canvas

Kathy Roeth, 9 x 7.5 watercolour and gouache on coldpress archival watercolour paper

Linda Martin, "Snow Globe" 4 x 4 watercolour

Marilyn Sadler, "Snow Pony," 5 x 7 pastel

Linda Massey, "Winter Reflections" 3 x 20 oil on panel

Diana Lancaster, "Wild Dawn" 6 x 6 acrylic

Linda Ward, "Mardi Gras Pony!"

Linda Shantz, "Up Close and Personal with Percy" 10 x 10 oil on gallery wrap canvas

2010-02-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hey, you !! Consider yourself personally invited to participate in this month's Virtual pARTy.

How does a Virtual pARTy work? Using the image below (contact us -ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com - for a higher resolution of the same file) create a piece of artwork within a 24 hour period. Send a jpg of your artwork (4in wide at 72dpi please) to us - thevirtualparty77@yahoo.ca - by midnight on Saturday, February 20th 2010. Include your name, the particulars of your piece, and your websites or blog address. When you visit the pARTy blog (http://the-virtual-party.blogspot.com/) the following week, you'll see your piece in the great company of other pARTy participants' various takes on the same reference.

However.... We do ask that if you post or publish your resulting pARTy artwork in any way, you give credit to the reference photographer and mention the Virtual pARTy event. We also ask that you refrain from entering pARTy artwork in exhibitions since there is always the possibility another pARTy artist could enter a piece very similar to yours.

Oh yeah !! There's also a pARTy forum (http://www.lindashantz.com/party/index.php) where artists can share their experiences and comment on each other's work. This forum is private (so theoretically no clients will see our true thoughts about any given piece!), and therefore you must register first in order to participate. Please register with your real name, and then fire off an email after registering so that you can be activated asap. Additional information can be found here.

Sharing is good. Know another artist who might want to participate? Please forward this email along with our advance thanks. The more, the merrier is what we say.

Y'all come back, you hear? We aim to have Virtual pARTys every 4-8 weeks, with the frequency relying entirely on our availability. Linda is at the mercy of her herd of Thoroughbreds and Kim gets pulled in 100 unpredictable directions (and merely wishes they were horse related!) - we do our best to maintain a relative frequency and appreciate your patience. Your best bet is to watch the pARTy blog and this forum for announcements - we do our best to give at least a week's notice prior to each new pARTy.

What do you think? Feel free to chime in and share your ideas about how we might improve the pARTy experience.

Thanks so much for pARTy-ing with us!

Linda and Kim

All artwork included in pARTy blogs and forum, including reference photographs, is copyright protected by the individual artists. We ask that you extend them the same copyright respect and you demand others to extend in your direction. Courtesy goes a long way towards making this world a sunnier place. And who doesn't love a sunny day?

Heads Up! Next pARTy Coming!

2010-02-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, let's try to keep the momentum going with another pARTy for February. This one will be run during February 16th through the 20th. I think this time around I'll be looking for a snow photo. Snow is challenging to paint, and maybe we'll get some International participants this time who might not otherwise have the chance to paint snow!

Mark your calendars! And the same 'rules' apply. I think the header, above, is up-to-date on the information. Feel free to share, too! The more the merrier!

January pARTy Paintings - Mares and Foals

2010-01-24T06:12:00.000-08:00

Well, here are the paintings from the latest pARTy! We had good participation, and some great work. I always like to see what different artists come up with.

Though are pursuits as artists are often solitary, a recent comment by friend and fine art photographer Juliet Harrison was a good reminder that we don't, however, create in a vacuum. We can't help but be influenced by each other, and that's not a bad thing, as long as we continue to develop and maintain our own style and individuality. These pARTies are a good example of that - even though some of us went with a very similar crop of the reference photo, our styles remain unique.

In the same vein, these pARTies began as a fun challenge of sorts, between myself and Kim Santini, last year. When other artists began to show interest and we opened it up, what developed was not a novel concept. My first exposure to this sort of exercise was on Wet Canvas, with the weekly Weekend Drawing Events. As a result of that, our own Equine Art Guild has done similar projects. And a great blog with a weekly drawing/painting challenge is Karen Jurik's Different Strokes From Different Folks.

Okay - enough yaking! Here are the paintings.

First, from your pARTy hosts:

Kim Santini, 4 x 16 acrylic on Raymar panel (above, top of post)

Linda Shantz, 6 x 8 oil on Raymar panel

Now, our participants, below. If I have any latecomers, I will edit the post and add them later! Thanks to all who played.

Delia Pacheo, "The Foal" 4 x 6 acrylic

Judy Johnson, 8 x 8 watercolour

Lisa Ward-Guarino, pastel

Linda Snider-Ward, prismacolor on Stonehenge

Linda Massey, "Playground Encounter" 11 x 14 oil on board

Kathy Roeth, 5 x 7 watercolour and gouache on 140lb watercolour paper

Linda L. Martin, "Afternoon Pasture," 9 x 12 watercolour

pARTy Image, January 19-23

2010-01-18T17:36:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. I chose this one because it gives the artist a few options. You're free to crop how you like, include/exclude what you want. If you're posting your finished painting to your blog, please be sure to credit the photographer - in this case it's Linda Shantz (me!). A reciprocal link is always a nice gesture.

While you are free to sell your painting, we ask that you don't enter it into any juried shows or exhibitions. The main reason for this is that many of you are working from the same image, and it will save you some embarrassment - it's quite possible that two or more artists may submit from the same reference, which is just not a good thing, as it will possibly discredit you with the jury.

If you would like a higher res image of this, please email me at thevirtualparty77@yahoo.ca and I will send it to you. Likewise, when you're finished your painting, please email me a jpeg at the same address, along with your name, size of your paining, and medium. Feel free to include the link to your own website or blog, and I will try to post it all in a follow-up blog post, here.

The rest of the instructions can be found above, near the header. Any questions, please ask!

Have fun, and happy painting! Looking forward to seeing everyone's work!

New Year's pARTy!

2010-01-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we're a little late. This week we'll be hosting the first pARTy of the New Year. I bet you all thought we'd dropped off the face of the earth!

The pARTy will run from Tuesday, January 19th, through to Saturday, January 23. Remember the idea is to complete your painting within a 24-hour period. I will try to get the photo posted tonight, so that our overseas participants can get going if they choose. At that point I'll review the 'rules' and things will be set in motion!

Hope lots of you are able to play!

August pARTy Image

2009-08-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Here is your image.

You may modify it however suits your working methods, but please, wherever you post your resulting work, give credit to the photographer Linda Shantz (www.lindashantz.com).

Artwork is due Saturday, August 22nd. You have one 24 hour period to complete your artwork, and all jpgs must be submitted via the pARTy forum.

More complete rules and details appear in the header of this blog and on the pARTy forum.

Happy creating!! Kim

Potential New pARTy Participants ~ Please Read!

2009-08-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Just to add to Kim's announcement, anyone who is registering for the first time on the Forum, please be sure to provide me with your email address for purposes of confirmation. I've been receiving a lot of spam registrations which I will not process, so if you don't give me some way of confirming you are indeed a real person, I won't approve the registration. If you've tried to register in the last couple of days and haven't been approved, please take a moment and drop me a line and I'll make sure your registration gets completed!

Thanks! Looking forward to you all playing along with us next week!

Linda

August's Virtual pARTy

2009-08-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

CALLING ALL ARTISTS!!

The next Virtual pARTy will be held August 19th through the 22nd. This window of time is to allow participants the opportunity to allocate a 24 hour period for completing a piece of art inspired by the reference photo chosen by pARTy host Linda Shantz.

Linda will be choosing something from her recent trip to Saratoga Race Course opening weekend.

New pARTy participants are encouraged to visit the pARTy forum and register prior to submitting their artwork. If you've registered for a previous pARTy, there is no need to do so a second time.

pARTy followers may also check out the pARTy forum to see who's RSVPed and their corresponding artwork.

Stay tuned. Image to come shortly!

Happy creating!

Decorations Are Up! Come Take A Look!

2009-07-03T18:25:00.001-07:00

Our participants this time around have been joining in on a forum we've set up for the pARTy. This is your invitation to come over and see what's going on! We've had some great work posted so far - check out pARTy Central to see them, and you can also learn a little about our Participating Artists in another section.

If you'd like to comment, you'll have to register. Artists and non-artists are welcome to join. Here's the link:

The Virtual pARTy Forum

There's still one more day left to play, so check back! Or if you're an artist and still want to take part, dive on in!

July pARTy!!

2009-07-01T11:37:00.001-07:00

It's that time again! The July pARTy has begun. You have between now and midnight July 4th 2009 (EST) to create and submit your artwork using the above photo. Keep in mind you have only 24 hours allocated to cover the creation process.

New this time around is the pARTy forum, a place where you can introduce yourself, read up on pARTy rules, download a higher resolution file of the reference and ultimately submit your pARTy image for sharing with the public. Please take a moment to register on the forum and say a quick hello - it is Linda's and my hope that this will add tremendously to the pARTy experience.

Should you publish your pARTy entry somewhere, please give credit to the reference photo photographer. The July pARTy's photographer is Kimberly Kelly Santini (www.turtledovedesigns.com).

Thanks so much - happy creating! Kim

The Belmont pARTy "Field"!

2009-06-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

We had great participation for our first pARTy. I know there were others who were unable to take part this time, for one reason or another, so I hope you'll join us next time! If any of you decide to do this on your own time, please feel free to email me the image and I'll try to get it up on the blog here. We are trying to keep some sort of structure, but well, it's more about the fun and less about that, so we can be flexible until things really get rolling!

Thanks again to our photographer, Juliet Harrison, for donating the reference image, and to all of our participating artists. And stay tuned for the next pARTy announcement!

Now, without further ado (and in no particular order!) here we go! Just a quick note to the artists - if I have made any errors, please let me know so that I can correct them.

Donna Pooley ~ 11 x 15 Watercolour

Sheila Wedegis ~ 20 x 7 Oil

Delia Pacheco ~ 4 x 6 Acrylic

Debbie Flood ~ 5 x 7 Watercolour

Elizabeth McCrindle ~ 7 x 5 Acrylic

Sheona Hamilton-Grant ~ 14 x 18 Graphite

Catherin McMillan ~ 6 x 8.5 Pastel

Sue Kroll ~ 5 x 7 Watercolour

Linda Massey ~ 16 x 20 Oil

The Chase

2009-06-07T18:24:00.001-07:00

I'm a bit late posting my own pARTy painting, and I'll be following immediately with all our wonderful participants! I loved seeing Kim's take on the reference.

As I contemplated what I was going to do with the reference image, I thought I was going to go larger, about 11 x 14. Then I spotted a small piece of heavy linen I'd taped to a board some time ago - all toned and ready - and it was just the right proportions for what I wanted to do. It was a challenge to work this small - 3 x 7.25 inches. This particular linen is a very loose weave, so it was comparatively rough, but it readily grabbed the paint – which was handy for my limited time frame! Friday was a busy day, and I didn't have a lot of time to paint!

It was a lot of fun seeing the pARTy images come in - I had a private screening, so to speak! Now, to reveal them to the rest of you!

Gallop I and Gallop II

2009-06-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

FROM TOP: "Gallop I (Gray)" and "Gallop II (Dark Bay)," from the 2009 Belmont pARTy, both 6" x 12", equine paintings in acrylic on canvasboard, $249 each or $479 for both. Inquiries may come to me.

Today's pARTy reference photo was provided by equine photographer Juliet Harrison. I'd like to thank Juliet for sharing her imagery with us on our first open invitation pARTy. Juliet's photography portfolio is wonderful, her book exquisite eye candy, and she also provides reference photos for artists.

The reference photo (which you can see here), from Saratoga, depicts two Thoroughbreds in full gallop, complete with jockeys and the track scene as a backdrop. Initially I planned on painting each horse on his own panel, with the gray one pulling away and the dark horse digging in. Somewhere along the line, however, I began liking the idea of them running free, and never added the jockeys, rail, or background sheds. I'm debating still whether I should leave the dirt/track surface in the foreground or carry the grass to the lower edge of the canvas.

The idea of diptych's has always fascinated me. I've done it on a couple other occasions (Pounce is one), and really enjoy the challenge painting companion pieces provides. It's even more challenging to get those works completed within the course of a day that also included delivering artwork to a gallery and the end-of-school-year carnival.

I haven't seen Linda Shantz's painting yet, nor any of the Belmont pARTy participants. I understand Linda would like to have them all posted by Monday. You can review all the artwork on the Virtual pARTy blog.

Meanwhile, here's to a safe trip and a good race.

Enjoy your weekend!

Kim Santini

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

The Belmont pARTy!!

2009-06-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

It's that time again - but this Virtual pARTy has a twist. All of you are invited!

The above image is our reference photo, kindly provided by equine photographer Juliet Harrison. We ask that you kindly provide her credit should you choose to publish your resulting pARTy artwork.

If you right click on the image and open it in a new window, you should have a high enough resolution file to download and work from.

Should you need a higher resolution image still, please contact Juliet directly or Kim.

pARTy rules are at the header of this page. Painting time starts tomorrow - we wish you well!!

Happy creating! Kim and Linda

Eye on the Prize

2009-05-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

I think the first challenge with this image was the biggest one, for me. I do a lot of racehorse paintings, and I'd recently done a very similar image to this one, so I wanted to take something different from the reference. Add to that, I had a potentially crazy day today, with the vet scheduled to come out to check a couple of mares for breeding, and the likelihood of having to make arrangements for said breedings. That meant coming up with something I could realistically complete today. It's that old saying, about working smarter, rather than working harder! The crop was the first way to do that.

Next - I indulged myself by working on a 10 x 16 piece of stretched Artfix portrait linen, a very luxurious surface that works really well for alla prima in oils. The limited palette I often use went out the window for this one. Above, you see the result! It wasn't until about 8pm that I decided it was all going to work out. It was a bit of a relief, with the way my day was going when I started!

The painting will be available for sale, once dry ~ $750.00 plus shipping. If you're interested, feel free to drop me an email. Now, to clean my brushes - I used an awful lot of them today!

The Second Jewel: Preakness pARTy!

2009-05-15T17:56:00.001-07:00

Two weeks sure flies by between races, doesn't it? We're at it again for the Preakness Stakes! Will The Bird defy his naysayers and take the next leg, or will Rachel show the boys how it's done? Or...will somebody else jump up and steal the show?

Here's our image for this pARTy, taken by photographer Juliet Harrison last summer at Saratoga. I think you'll find this time Kim and I took very different approaches to this challenge!

Warming Up

2009-05-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

I cropped the photo a bit - one, to eliminate the sliver of negative space near the lower hind, and two, to accent the forward motion of the horse and the relationship with the jockey. My original intent was to include all of the jockey, but I couldn't find my proportional wheel and chose the wrong size board. I do like the energy that's still caught, despite the jockey's decapitation - but in many instances the painting would be ruined due to lack of proper planning. I just lucked out today.

So I began with a wash of ultramarine blue, bleeding to a pthalo blue red at the bottom. The ultra is a cooler blue, and the pthalo a warmer one. Cooler colors = distance, and I wanted that balance from the get go.

Then I started roughly blocking in the shape of the horse and jockey. I'm not worried about nit-pickey details, just rough forms, and beginning to establish values. It's not important to even have the right colors down now, because so many more layers will go overtop.

I modified the tree line from the reference photo. I needed a diagonal to sort of intercept the trajectory of the horse. Too many horizontals can overwhelm an object that is moving in that same direction, so I wanted to break it up.

Now I'm adding broader strokes of color - more realistic or correct in both tint/hue/value - and paying closer attention to details and proper drawing. I do a lot of relational measuring at this stage - I'll compare the head's length (usually the first thing I firm up drawing wise) to the rider's forearms to the thigh to the neck - and just continue on building their relationships based on size.

I'm trying to build up the entire surface of the canvas simultaneously at this point. I don't want to end up with a halo-effect background (you know those ones where you can tell the background was corrected/finished after the foreground/middle of the painting). I am continuing to model the shapes and make drawing adjustments, too - like I noticed the horse's head was too small. Notice also that I've only indicated the placement of the bridle and reins - they will be the last pieces to get painted, so as to allow for smooth and loose brushwork underneath.

I'm also setting the reference photo aside mostly by now, and trying to imagine the scene in front of me. What is my time of day and how does that impact the sunlight? How will the light glance off spots? what other colors will collect in the shadows? I squint at my painting from across the studio - does it have the proper sense of depth?

I step back and use my thumb/hand to block out different areas of the painting from across the room. Does it all work well together? that's what I'm trying to determine.

The biggest test is if the shapes balance each other out. This is a totally different concern than questioning if the subject looks like the reference - I'm studying instead the relationship of the forms in the painting, and looking for adjustments that will make for a better composition. I'm never so concerned with creating an exact replica of the photograph - we already have a nice photo, so why try to recreate it? I am using the photo as a starting point to create a moment in paint that is tangible. For instance, I made the horse's face the brightest point in the painting because the piece is about him (not the jockey's pants or the blanket number, which were equally bright in the photograph).

I continue to lay down paint, working from a large brush to a smaller one in the final layers. I also am mixing my colors using the same palette - pulling from pools mixed in a prior layer. This retains harmony throughout the painting and makes it easier to go back and touch up or modify previous marks.

And now the piece is done. Working title "#3 Warming Up," 8" x 16", acrylic on canvasboard, $529. Inquiries may come to me.

Thanks for following along with today's Preakness pARTy,

Here's to a safe trip for all,

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

Announcing the Preakness pARTy

2009-05-14T18:44:00.001-07:00

On Friday May 15th Linda and I will each paint from the same reference photo.

Juliet Harrison has chosen the image for us again, this time from one of her racing shots.

Here's the premise - we each have a day to complete our painting, cropping, altering, or modifying the reference photo in any way we choose.

The finished paintings will be shared on this blog. I plan to photograph mine as I progress, and will build a little mini-art lesson to go along with it.

Thanks for following along!

Kim Santini

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

Wait Right There!

2009-05-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I said I'd be done by 8pm, and it was shortly after that when I finished the Derby pARTy painting. Took a little longer for me to make it here! I made myself wait to look at Kim's painting, because I knew she'd be done much earlier than I. I found it interesting how we chose different sides of the canvas, and picked a similar size to work with! Once again, this is 16 x 12 oil on canvas, available for $565.00 (plus shipping). If you're interested, just email me. A portion of the sale will go to LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement, which finds new homes for retired racehorses.

I take in-progress shots of my work by habit now - it's just part of how I work through things. I'll include a couple of them below. You saw the first stage - after that I worked a bit more on establishing some basic tones before I started with the colour. I often work from a limited palette of Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Medium, Yellow Ochre and Titanium White; for this painting I also used a bit of Naples Yellow, and some Unbleached Titanium. I work backwards sometimes from how you're "supposed" to work in oils; I got the filly well on her way before I started blocking any colour into the background. After that, I went back into her and worked up the detail a bit, and the last thing I did was add more colour and contrast to the background to give the painting a bit of drama.

I thought *I* had a bit of an advantage, as this is one of my photos, and I know this Thoroughbred filly very well, raising her from birth to about 18 months. Her name is Clever Peaks, and from day one she was very friendly and inquisitive. If she saw people approach the fence, she'd come right over, so this was a very familiar site to me!

Preakness pARTy? Absolutely!

Snowy Greetings

2009-05-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

"Snowy Greetings," 12" square, chestnut Thoroughbred filly portrait, acrylic on canvasboard, $529 to the first taker. This is a tough piece to photograph - with the amped contrast and saturated complimentary colors, my camera didn't know what to do. I may try to scan portions of the painting and piece it together in photoshop, but meanwhile inquiries may come to me.

My apologies - I didn't think to take progress shots of my painting. Well, I did, but was promptly distracted by the puddles of paint, and never had a chance to follow-up on that thought.

How did this piece come together? Well I started out with a violet underpainting (the compliment of orange), and pretty much had the drifts and swaths of snow painted in the first pass. It was lots of wet-on-wet brushwork, with the darkest violet concentrated in the space where the filly now is.

Then I sketched in her rough shape, and working from general to specific, gradually laid down smaller and smaller layers of paint.

I'm excited to see Linda's version. She is at a distinct disadvantage because she's got actual stalls to muck - I only have to ignore the sunshine illuminating all the dust bunnies in the studio.

Good times, though! Are you up for it again, Linda? I wanna throw a Preakness pARTy!!

Oh, the Pressure!

2009-05-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm intentionally posting this before I even look at Kim's start to this project, lest I throw mine in the swamp or something. I laughed when I glanced at the easel first thing this morning, and took a photo, because I think many artists would agree, this is one of the scariest parts of a painting, if not *the* scariest - that blank canvas! In this case it's 16 x 12, and it's been toned with raw sienna. I printed out the reference image last night. I don't always print them this large, but as I'm going to be working a bit bigger than I have been this past month, I figured I could use all the help I can get!

Next I looked at the image on the computer to decide how I was going to place our pretty filly on the canvas. I didn't really want to place her dead centre...so you'll see what I went with. I cropped a bit, not because I'm afraid of painting feet, but because I thought they might be a little confusing. I either had to take them out, or paint them in, not the in-between of the photo! Of course flying snow can be used to great advantage in a painting! We're artists; artistic license is our friend!

Anti-climactic, I know - this probably looks like a whole lot of nothing, but this is the basic "drawing" in burnt umber. I actually like this stage, when it looks all muddy like this. Fun to see how it evolves from here.

Now, I need to get some stalls mucked before I carry on. I know Kim will be done much sooner than I am, so I'm trying to take just the right amount of pressure from that! See you in a bit!

Kentucky Derby pARTy!

2009-04-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

You never know where great ideas will come from. Kim gets the credit for this one, no doubt inspired by Derby week at Painting a Dog a Day, which happened to land at the end of my April Thirty Horses, Thirty Days, where I spent the month doing daily horse paintings. I'm always game for a pARTy (definition in the column at right!) so I dove right in and selected ten potential reference photos, and suggested we enlist our photographer friend Juliet Harrison to choose one for us.

Above is the photo Juliet has selected for us - a bold chestnut yearling coming over to say hello on a chilly winter morning - an enticing enough image to help overcome the fear of the challenges it presents! As we would say at the racetrack...I hope you're tied on!