Acrylic painting- "Ancestor"

"Ancestor"
acrylic paint
4"x5"; 3/1/15

My high school was unique in that it offered a lot of art classes, which included ceramics, video, drawing, and painting.  In fact, it was during my senior year of high school that I took painting for my homeroom class, and it was the peace and focus which I felt during this class that guided me to choose visual arts for my college education.  Some brushes, canvas, and acrylic paint (BASIC brand) was provided.  The rest was up to us.

I broke out my acrylic paints to do a very small painting, and I had a blast.  With a relaxing playlist featuring such artists as Nightmares on Wax and Air, I was able to become fully absorbed in the creative process.  I began by layering blue and white paint in an atmospheric blend for my background.  Then I took a fine brush and, without any reference, freehand painted the outline of the horse figure.  Then I added the pattern in blue.  When I finished with that, the horse looked a little flat and just "blah" to me, so I went over the lines with white highlights.  This added some great highlights and needed visual interest.

I'm looking forward to doing some more painting.  My technical skills, like everything else, need refining, but it's very easy for me to embrace my creativity when wielding brush and paint.  It's always smart to learn from your mistakes, but when painting, it can be a lot of fun to learn from imperfection.

Spiral Skylarks

"Spiral Skylarks"
graphite
small leather sketchbook

Wednesday Sketch

Untitled graphite sketch
small leather sketchbook

Tovero Dream: combining old and new styles

"Tovero Dream" partial
graphite sketch
small leather sketchbook

Today I decided to combine a more realistic style with my recent experimentation in abstraction, and this sketch was the result.  I used a photo of a tovero stallion as my template for non-abstract conformation, and his patches as a map for my topography-like lines.  His mane originally hung over his neck and chest, but as I find myself fond of a Roman or Trojan horse look, I decided to change that.  This is a graphite sketch, but I feel that this would have the most impact in ink or a clear crisp paint such as gouache.

Leaping the Moon- graphite sketch

"Leaping the Moon"
graphite
small leather sketchbook

Today I was looking at videos of some eventing horses.  Cross country jumping is always impressive to look at, and the bold spirit of these horses in soaring over solid obstacles served as my inspiration.  Proudly arched necks, neatly tucked forelegs, grace and athletic power- all this I hope to capture.

It's been freeing moving away from realism, yet having a grasp of equine anatomy lends authenticity to these drawings.  On a deeper level, they are symbolic of the lines of power and life in our own bodies.  They express my journey towards finding balance in life and connection with my inner spirit.

I'm mentally turning over how to execute one of these style figures into a color painting.  Should each line be a different color?  Should I fill in the in between spaces?  One color family?  Complementary colors?  Acrylic?  Gouache?  Oil pastels?  I imagine that I'll try everything at least once to see what looks best and what works on a practical level.

More primitive op art ponies

"Spirit Pony"
pen
small leather sketchbook

I'm still on the subject of these primitive op art ponies, as you can see.  Drawing them has a therapeutic effect for me.  They are not overly taxing to draw and have strong visual interest.  "Spirit Pony" was inspired by a painting I found online called "Navajo Dreams" by one Shellby Young.  My crappy ballpoint pen blotted all over, but I still like it, and it is just a sketch.  I enjoy the expressive quality of this style, and look forward to trying it out with paint and brushes.

"Pinwheel Pony"
graphite
small leather sketchbook

Primitive Op Art- trying a new style

Leaping the Wave
graphite
small leather sketchbook

As I was drinking my tea yesterday morning, my brain said to itself, "Today, you will draw an abstract horse with exaggerated features and many contour lines."  I needed a break from improving my realistic work, and from working from photos.  I wanted to tap into that inner creative child who was inspired by Disney's hand drawn Fantasia.

Traveling has been on my mind lately; a trip to the Caribbean or southern hemisphere sounds very appealing with the cold days of January and February ahead.  I was thinking of all the nontraditional art I had been exposed to in my art history classes from around the world, and also of a children's book I used to own called The Desert is Theirs.  I always loved the austere and line dominated illustrations by Peter Parnall.  While drawing these horses, line after line, my mind entered a Zen like peace.  I began with an outline of a horse figure and worked within its body afterward.  I purposely exaggerated some features, such as the above horse's neck being so broad and arched, and went for a geometric yet natural feel to the drawings.

I might do a painting with this sort of theme in mind; I would use warm subtle earth tones like those found in the cave paintings of Lascaux.

War Cry
graphite
small leather sketchbook