Sometimes I draw stuff other than horses. But mostly I draw horses.

I am in the process of working on an exhaustingly detailed (for me, anyway) graphite drawing of a Suffolk Punch team.  Draft horses have been very appealing to draw for me lately.  Their thicker, more muscular conformation allows me to diversify my equine portfolio, and I also don't want civilization to forget about these strong animals, without whom so much agricultural work was nigh impossible.  Also, war horses.  Do you really think anything but a big draft type could handle The Mountain That Rides?

"Suffolk Punch Team"- work in progress
graphite
11x13

 I really, really want this to be a great piece.  The reference photo is just gorgeous, and I want to do it justice.  However, I need to keep reminding myself that it doesn't have to be good at all, that I just have to try and all will be well.  Like so many others out there, I struggle with being far too harsh on myself, and I want art to keep being fun for me, after so long of it feeling like a chore.  For now, this is just a graphite piece, but I may add pen for some boldness.  It's about four hours in, and many more to go.  Just figuring out the contour lines was an excruciating two hours.   I unfortunately forgot my pencil on Thursday, so I did a sketch of my beagle, Brucie, instead.  This one took about two hours.  What is this?  She does stuff other than horses? I can hear you asking.  Why yes, yes I do.  But horses are my favorite.

"Brucie"
pen sketch
small leather sketchbook

Some sketches, and more thoughts on matting

Some quick internet searching has revealed the depth of my lack of knowledge on how to mat my prints.  However, my googling has also shown that this can easily be remedied, and now I have a few more items on my wish list: namely those supplies required to cut my own mat board.  I also saw some good ideas on picking up frames from Goodwill and the like, since places like Michael's will charge you a simply ridiculous amount of money.

I'm always a little nervous about using sharp edges and power tools (I walked in on The Machinist at a very scarring moment), which is one of the reasons why I only ever visited the wood shop at Mason Gross once to attempt making my own frame for a canvas.  If only somebody would cut the frames for me, then I would happily stretch my own canvas!  I do think that I can handle a mat cutter, though.  I want to be a serious artist, and a serious artist can and will cut her own mats.  I will start with simple archival-quality matboard until I have a little more recognition and funding, then I will look into the museum-quality stuff.

Meanwhile, here are some sketches for your amusement.

"Palomino"
colored pencil
small leather sketchbok

"I Love Snow"
EnerGel pen
small leather sketchbook

"Dappled Stud"
EnerGel pen
small leather sketchbook