Spring Lambs 3

This is how the painting started. My rough in is establishing the large blocks of color and a basic profile of the lambs.

The finished painting is still in keeping with the basic design.

6 x 6 Oil on Raymar panel.

Single Spring Lamb

This lamb was probably the youngest one there. They had not bobbed it's tail yet. I did it in the picture because it just seemed "natural".

6 x 6 oil on Raymar panel.

Spring Lambs 2

I took three lambs from three different photos and put them together. This is out of my comfort zone and I don't know if this final image works for me. I may try it again or just keep the lamb in front, he works for me. If I do I will repost this.

I Photoshopped this compostition for a painting. I thought I would try to

Spring Lambs

Another of the series of lambs. These are the very young, less than a month old.

4.5 x 10.5

Black sheep White Sheep

A had the opportunity to take pictures of the spring lambs at a local sheep farm. I have not painted many sheep and after evaluating this painting think I need to define the woolly fur better.

6x8 Oil on Raymar panel.

White Horse in Winter

The horse was added because I thought it needed something there. I contemplated putting a cow there. Now that I look at it, there needs to be a fence somewhere. Maybe one of those snow fences.

Grazing Horses

I have tried this composition several times. I want to make paint it in a larger format but so far I have not been able to pull it together. The two horses each came from different reference material and the background was edited to work with the composition. In this version I reversed the white horse.

8x6 Oil on Raymar panel.

Swan no 3

I often go back to this subject. Working with white is always fun to add any color to the subject.

8x6 oil on Raymar panel.

Australian Shepherd

The photo reference for this one was a commission I did years ago in watercolor. It was difficult for me to paint the merl coat in watercolor with out making mud but it works great in oil. I think merl is the term for the spotted coat. I am told that these dogs make great pets, highly intelligent.

8 x 6 Oil on Raymar panel.

Arabian no 10

This is another painting painted over a failed one. Just a quick painting if it turns out fine if not maybe the next painting will be a painting using a pallette knife.

6x6 oil on Clayboard.

Canadian Geese Reflection

This painting was done for the Daily Paintworks Challenge to paint a reflection. The geese gather at Starker Lake in Crapo Park. When the kids were young we would go there with bread and feed them.

6x6 Oil on Raymar Panel Buy

American Saddlebred

SOLD

I was walking around the Rodeo grounds taking pictures when two young girls came riding up, riding bareback on this horse and politely posed for me. As you can see I left them out. Digital pictures let you drop them in Photoshop and retreive details lost in the dark shadows, but this was taken before digital. I just guessed at the dark side of this horse and don't trust myself on the gir'ls details. The profile was just great and I couldn't resist painting it. It probably would be better with a landscape behind it, but this is one of those days I don't want to think too much. For me this painting was just fun and easy. I think this is an American Saddlebred but could it be an Arabian? I took some liberties with the tail, in the actual photo it was down and since the girls were riding on the back I created the profile of her back. Most of the paintings I have done were of Arabians with a few quarter horses thrown in. I have photos of Paso Finos which I have not used yet. When I was growing up I received the book, "An Album of Horses" and drew every horse in that book at least once. 

6x6 Oil on Raymar panel. $50

Kitty Kitty Kitty

My sister has several cats and last time I stopped by I took a photo. I admit I don't have much experience painting cats so this did take some editing. The original photo had them under the porch which was also edited out of the painting. I also experimented with the pallette knife on this one. Sometimes I need to paint out of my comfort zone.

6x6 Oil on Raymar panel.

Don't Push Me

I got a little bolder yesterday with this scene. I did have to edit the background, since the original photo was taken in a feed lot.

6x6 Oil on Raymar Panel.

Three Big Pigs

SOLD

This is my entry for the latest Daily Paintworks Challenge which is to paint a pig. It could be a cartoon, toy or ceramic pig. That would be the best ideas, because pigs are not that photogenic. They don't look at you unless they think you have food. They don't have that cute face like a calf or fluffy fur and who likes looking straight into a nostril. Years ago I wanted to enter a local contest, Pigcasso art contest, which required a picture of a pig in some form or shape. I took many pictures of these uncooperative animals. None of the pictures had a ready made composition and I never did enter the competition. So when the challenge came up I decided to suck it up and try. This is a composite of three different pictures, and a made up background.

6x6 Oil on Raymar panel.

Sliding Stop

I would often go to the local Rodeo for reference shots. This is a sliding stop and I seemed to have gotten the photo at the right moment. This is another example of a challengeing subject matter. I had to scrap the horse's head off two times and move it up to get the right length on the neck. Also the hat another tough one had to be scraped and repainted. Again I will come back to this one and reevaluate it.

6x6 Oil on Raymar Panel.

Trail Riders

This is one of the those paintings that I will do to really challenge myself. Painting the front view of horses is something I don't do enough of, note the back legs of the last horse on the right. Also cowboy hats are tough, mine sometimes look sort of like Stan Laurel's(was he the skinny one?). This is a painting in progress, I had corrected it too much and now have to wait for the paint to dry to fix it. I also need to walk away for a day and come back to it.

Grayscale Rabbits

SOLD

The ideal for this painting came from the last one where I added color to black. The original photo for this was three rabbits rangeing in color from black to light gray. The center of interest is to appear in various shades of black and gray and the background various shades of bright colors and still make the painting work together.

6x6 Oil on Raymar Panel.

Black Cat

I added the palette knife painting method to the background when the original compostion drew your eye to the left side of the cat and the tail. I like to add colors to white and this is my attempt to add colors to black. I learn from other artists on the internet and both the palette knife technique and the colors in the black came from looking at others successful paintings.

6x6 Oil on Raymar Panel

Camouflage Cow

SOLD

One of the things that attracted me to this scene was the challenge of the cow against the white barn.

6x6 Oil on Raymar Panel.