Horse Watercolor

16" x 20" watercolor/mixed media

Oh that's an imaginative title, "Horse Watercolor"....I should do better. Anyway, it's a 16" x 20" watercolor/mixed media on 300 lb Fabriano paper, a paper I just started using and I am probably going to switch to it permanently once my stock of Arches is used up. So goodbye France, hello Italy.

And did you notice I am doing some larger paintings? So many people have requested/wondered about larger works, and I don't blame them. I realize 16" x 20" is not large compared to some artists work, but I have been doing a lot of 9"x 12" and 11"x14", so 16"x20" is a step in the direction of meeting the needs of those with bigger walls to hang art on.

Horse Commission

16"x 20" watercolor and mixed media on 300 lb paper

This is a recent painting commission I completed that is going to Pueblo, Colorado. Thanks to Nancy, Karla and Gretchen!

Charlie Horse Commission

Charlie, 16" x 20" watercolor and mixed media on watercolor paper

This is a painting commission I did recently, it was commissioned as a wedding anniversary gift. The subject is Charlie, a really fine bay horse who lives in New York. It is 16" x 20", watercolor and mixed media. Contact me if you want me to paint your horse! caren16 at aol dot com

Grazing Horse Collage

9"x12" watercolor mixed media collage

I used collage paper to create texture in this simple composition. I love grazing horses, it is a peaceful subject. I like to visit my horse and watch him eat grass this time of year. Right now he is in hog heaven because the grass is fresh, green, and growing fast.

Bigger Rock Art

"Racing and Leaping"
16"x20" original watercolor mixed media

"I love your paintings, do you have any bigger ones?"

That's a frequent question I get. It's actually a goal of mine to produce larger works more often. I have so many ideas that I tend to do small paintings because I'm always experimenting and can do more in less time. But I admire large works and many homes have big wall space, so here is a 16" x 20". OK, that's not widely regarded as a large painting, but I promise to keep working upwards in scale.

Buy this painting on etsy.

The History Of Horse Racing

"The History Of Horse Racing" 11"x14" watercolor mixed media collage

I call this one "The History Of Horse Racing" because of the "then and now" juxtipositions. This is part of my Rock Art series inspired by ancient petroglyphs. When observing petroglyphs here in America, I was charmed to see riders depicted with their arms straight out so I picked up this idea for my own Rock Art series. That was "then"....the "now" is the collage element of contemporary racehorses and jockeys.

Earth Day 2009

Polar Bear 11x14 watercolor

In 1970 for the very first Earth Day, my friend and I plotted to ride our horses to school. Back then one of the big issues (especially in Los Angeles) was smog. So we were going to do our part and ride our horses instead of riding in an air polluting automobile or school bus. We did not ride our horses to school on Earth Day, but it was a fun idea.

Other big environmental issues in the 1970s were oil spills, pesticides, wildlife extinction, overpopulation, and "global cooling"! We used to call the whole movement "ecology". What ever happened to that term? Does anyone remember the ecology flag? I embroidered one on the back pocket of my jeans.

In the 1980s, there was a big focus on recycling. I don't remember what the issue was in the 1990s, maybe we were all too self absorbed that decade to worry about the environment.

In the current decade it's global warming. But I wonder, what ever happened to acid rain? Did we solve that problem? And what ever happened to Zero Population Growth? Nobody even talks about the population any more. I don't get that, as the Earth sagging under the ever increasing weight of new humans is the root of all environmental problems.

I guess it's a work in progress that will never quite be solved. So do something today, do what you can tomorrow, because really every day should be Earth Day.

Rock Art: Tax Revolt Day

"Tax Revolt" 9x12 original watercolor

Here is my artistic view of today, April 15th, which is Tax Revolt day. Attend a Tea Party near you if you can!

Wild Horse Watercolor

This one's on ebay.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Slipped Through On Rail

"Slipped Through On The Rail" 9x12 watercolor/mixed media

Continuing my rock art series inspired by ancient petroglyphs, this is another lighthearted look at horse racing. I used watercolor and collage elements.

collage detail

Blue Monday

9"x12" original watercolor/mixed media

It's actually sunny and warm here in Colorado today, but here's a horse I call "Blue Monday".

Rock Art: Dead Heat At Saratoga

"Dead Heat At Saratoga" original watercolor collage, 9" x 12"

Here is a dead heat at Saratoga, way back in the day before there was the photo finish camera. I think Marylou Whitney might have owned one of these horses.

Rock Art: The 5th Race at Saratoga

"The 5th Race At Saratoga" 9"x12" original watercolor collage

The primitive rock art horses are off to the races. I was going through my stuff the other day and ran across a program from the '08 Saratoga race meet. I was getting ready to toss it then decided to use pieces of the program in a collage. So the new horse racing series of rock art is born with this painting.

Rock Art Horses

This is a fun one. I've been studying the art on Newspaper Rock in Utah and the horse and rider in this one was inspired by some of the ancient drawings there.

Which One Of Us Is Purtier?

"Which One Of Us Is Purtier?"

11x14 original watercolor

I made an Art For Sale photo folder on my Facebook page. I will be posting some original paintings there, just as an occasional alternative to selling on ebay and etsy. If you want to be my Facebook friend, please look me up. This painting is currently in the For Sale folder. I won't be slamming a lot of art there, probably just a couple a week.

Double Duty

Warm and Cool Horses. 11" x 14" each.

I painted a warm and cool version of the same horse, worked on both of them at the same time. This is one of my ideas for getting more painting done in a day. Do a two-fer.

Painting Faster

"Appaloosa Rising" 9"x12" original watercolor

Since my last posting, I took a trip to Florida, very enjoyable but did not get any painting done during that time. So I'm back and here's another rock art painting inspired by ancient petroglyphs. The title to my blog entry is "Painting Faster", which is wishful thinking on my part as I really do want to produce more paintings than my current pace and have been thinking about ways to ramp it up a bit. Since these rock art paintings have become a familiar process for me, I think I can increase my output on these as I use similar colors every time, and don't have to think too long and hard about what colors to use or how to get started.

A Look Back: Manatee

I painted this back in 2003. I just did a new manatee painting and didn't like it, so I decided to post the one I did years ago instead.

Another Primitive Rock Art

9" x 12" Rock Art Watercolor

Another primitive rock art painting. Despite it's free form fun, I do get anxious when painting these as the first two I ever did are my favorites, and I fear future rock art paintings will never be able to live up to my expectations.

My concerns include:

-Having a pleasing composition with a focal point and range of values.

- The horses should look primitive without being too cartoon-like.

-I add dashes of color (purples, etc.) beyond my brown rock colors but don't want to deviate too much from the earthtone browns.

-I also fear I'll never be able to "find" any more of those horse shapes I seek after the first paint wash has dried, because these paintings are only partly planned beforehand. A lot of the imagery develops after the first paint application.

-Oh, and with all that in mind, I need not forget to have fun and enjoy the process, and hopefully the paintings will look as if they just "happened"!

Buckskin Blues

"Buckskin Blues"
11" x 14" watercolor

I don't often have good (or any) titles to my paintings, but in this case I thought of the title first and then proceeded to do a painting that lived up to it. Hmmm...this could spark a title-inspired series.

Rock Art Horses

9" x 12" watercolor

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. Don't be superstitious, it's just nonsense.

More rock art today. I can't tell you how much fun these are to do. I lightly sketch in where my main horse is going to go, then proceed to paint with a limited palette of colors. After the paint is dry, I develop the main horse focal point and then "find" more horses in the surrounding area. Some of these paintings come out better than others, but it's always fun and always surprising.

I am building up a supply of these rock art paintings then I'll put a few on ebay and etsy.

A Fine Day

watercolor 5" x 7"

It's a fine sunny day and I'm going skiing. Spring is in the air, I feel good, like this horse rolling in the grass.

Blackbird Winter

Blackbird Winter 4" x 6"

The past few weeks there has been a flock of red winged blackbirds around my neighborhood. They sit up in a giant spruce tree, singing their off-key songs. That's normal in the summer, but I have never seen blackbirds here in the Colorado high country during January and February. There are also robins, too, another unusual thing for this time of year.

Anyway, I'm not sure why they are here this time of year, but they lifted my winter weary spirits and I did this little watercolor tribute.

I also made some blackbird polymer clay beads, you can see them over at my polymer blog, beadbunny.blogspot.com. Its funny how a flock of birds can set me in motion, I've always liked red winged blackbirds and have been wanting to make blackbird beads for awhile now.

Wild Horse Watercolor

9"x12" original watercolor

Here is today's painting. I'm working on several art pieces at once, and haven't posted anything new in a few days, so here is one I just completed. I will list it on ebay soon.

I have found an interesting third party ebay tool called seller circle. It puts a "floating gallery" at the bottom of each of your ebay listing pages. There's also a separate page that is created with all your ebay listings. (Mine is http://www.sellercircle.com/caren) If you have a Mac, the cool look will be familiar to you. If you don't have a Mac, you might wonder why you don't.