All done!

And here he is: Cratic, a Dutch Warmblood gelding, my old bud. It's always fun to draw your friends, be they human or animal, but there is always that fear that we won't get that special look and character. We are so acustomed to looking at them we often don't truly see the features that are there and instead let our brain take over and "tell" us what it *thinks* is there.

It looks like I didn't need to worry about it this time. Cratic looks very much like his old self - a sweet, gentle soul with a touch of timidity in his eyes. He is 22 years old this year and I do hope he is enjoying a great retirement.

Things are going pretty well inspite of paper problems. This Canson MiTientes may be a great paper, but I'm using the wrong side. Or the right one... In other words, the side you are supposed to use (textured) is too darn textured for my liking and creates a lattice-like effect in the drawing that I definitely do NOT like! It's impossible to fill in all the little holes unless I want to sit and fill each one at a time while sharpening the pencil every 5 seconds. Nope. Luckily this is only a practice piece so it doesn't really matter, but I have definitely learned my lesson. Next time I'll use the smooth side!

Here is Cratic as he looks now.

IT'S TIME TO ADD SOME COLOUR!

Once the underpainting is done it's time to start adding real colour. This is the scary stage. The monochromatic drawing looks so good, I'm worried it will get screwed up. But here goes.

Most of the time I use Terra Cotta with some Dark Brown and Cream for hightlights occassionally adding some white to the brightest highlights. Once I put down a good layer, I blend it with a colorless blender and add more layers.

Colour my world!


New Projects!: I am currenlty working on a graphite portrait of a golden lab and in the middle of this portrait I realized I needed some colour in my life. So I started working on another piece simultaneously. It's a little practice portrait in colored pencils of an old friend Cratic - a very talented and beautiful Dutch Warmblood gelding, retired from competetive Dressage now, whom I used to work with many years ago. This will be a WIP (Work in Progress) type of post, so check back and see how Cratic goes.

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Here is the reference photo of Cratic and two updates to the drawing. Prismacolor pencils on Canson MiTientes paper, textured side.

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Starting the underpainting layer with only two pencils: Indigo Blue and White.

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Most of the face has been blocked in, but, as you can see in the photo, he has a halter on and it is throwing strange shadows on his face so I had to stop and look for some "naked" pictures of Cratic to figure out how the side of his face is structured. Come back for an update!

Sunday, December 4, 2005
Last day of racing at Woodbine Racetrack, Toronto, Ontario.

Some exciting news! Following the last race of the season, myself and three other artists (Linda Shantz, Dorothy Wintle and Debbie Goldring) will hold a small Art Exhibition at the Woodbine Club during the members' reception.
What can I say other than I am very much excited about this opportunity. What better location for equine art than one of the biggest race tracks in Canada?

There will be some beautiful art available for sale from all the ladies and I will feel very honoured to meet Dorothy and Debbie (I already know Linda and she is a super gal as well as an exceptional artist!). There will also be an opportunity to take photos of the last races, weather permitting. I will post some of them here and relay my experiences, so come back next week!

Margaret.

Welcome!

Many a time I find creating art also has other creative side-effects and often sparks interesting insights on human nature and psychology of creativity, procrastination and mental (or artistic) blocks. I often feel compelled to share these thoughts in hopes of helping other artists but lately I've realized these "musings" may also be helpful and interesting to the general public. Thus this blog was born.

It will not only contain my ideas on creativity but also up to date happenings and news in my artistic neck of the woods. I hope you enjoy reading this blog and I hope it will innitiate some interesting thoughts.

Thank you for visiting,

Margaret.