Two minute sketch

In school we always started life drawing class with one minute poses.  Sometimes up to forty of them. It is an excellent way to sharpen your drawing skills.  

Now I make it a point to do warm up sketches before I start oil painting.

However this is a little difficult if you want to sketch horses,  they just will not hold still!

But if there is a will there is a way,  I set the slide show on my computer for 60 seconds .

If I am sketching a horse and rider,   like the one above I will set the slide show for two minutes.  It works great!

I still  find it very help-full to do oil sketches out in the pasture for the color and value information,  but I believe the photo's work better for shape information.

This is a quick oil sketch is of my mare "a Hollywood Duchess " and a local trainer Zeek Zacharias.  

The photo shoot went really well,  they look great together and the lighting was perfect.

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video from customer at Wilderness Walk

Rachel- Thanks again for the caricature drawing at the Wilderness Walk! Here is a link to the Time Lapse video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsM8fAsW9VE I also included a link to your blogsite :) Thanks again! Miss Kelly http://www.youtube.com/misskellyoj

This September I joined Kate Lehman, Jana Lehman and Barb Larson on a riding trip in North Dakota.
We rode the Maah Daah Hey trail. It is a little over one hundred miles long, we where gone ten days.
It was very rugged, adventurous and fun.
We used my horse Summer as a pack horse. She is carrying only about 120 pounds that's less then the other horses.
It looks like more because of all the sleeping bags in the top pack.
I have never gone so long without hot water!

Studio Ranch Video

This video is of three of my four horses, I put it together in iMovie. I absolutely love the energy in the music!
My goals with the Studio Ranch is to raise good looking reining horses, that will also be my oil painting models.
I hope to sell one or two foals a year I am expecting two this spring.

Drawing Caricatures at the MN State fair was great. Its long hours but well worth it .

It's so much fun to work with other artist. All of us have been drawing caricatures for at least ten years. It's a very talented group.

From left to right is Van Jackson, Jason Anhorn, Paul Dimaria, Me, Steve Bateman and Chris Rommel.

We are doing some very fast work, you have to especially when you are drawing kids and impatient adults.

With a lot of coffee my color doubles where taking about twelve minutes.

Ironically the faster I draw the better likeness I usually get.

Art Beat of Hayward

Art Beat of Hayward has accepted six of my plein air paintings. They are all 6 X 8.

My husband made the frames, I think the simple wood frames really look nice on the landscape paintings.

This is a small 6 x 8 of white pines. The farmer stopped by to see what I was doing.

That's cool, it happens all the time. I just accept it as part of outdoor painting.

Plus it's a great way to meet your neighbors.

Cow's, I love painting cows, I just wish they would stand still!

I assumed that the laying down cow would be a safe bet, and it was for awhile until another cow came and stood right in front of it. I took some photos and tried to add in a few cows later but it looked odd, so this will remain a large practice study 12 x 24.

All in all it was fun and will make my next 6 x 8 of non moving objects seem easy.

This is a painting of a mare I own "Hollywood Duchess" she is a great horse and is really fun to ride.

I love primary colors in a landscape! This spring I was drawing caricatures at an outdoor party when I looked over and saw these boys playing with the trucks. I had my camera with me and quickly took some photos in between drawings.

This painting was started on location and finished in the studio.

The top painting is a very quick oil of the Wisconsin Point Lighthouse, near Superior WI. The wind coming off of Lake Superior was freezing! This was finished in less then two hours.

The middle picture is a watercolor my mother, Marion Walker, did. Mom was smart and painted this in the comfort of her car and as she is eighty-two years of age she certainly deserves to paint in the car if she wants!

The bottom picture is an oil painting I did of my Mom this winter. It's a quick painting under three hours

This is a small plein air I did last Friday of Minnehaha Falls,

near Mpls MN.

I was painting with Bob Upton. It's always fun painting with other artist. This was a little more challenging then I assumed it would be, but it was just great to be out there.

I have been taking a life drawing class on Thursdays. It is a great way to keep you're drawing skills sharp. The women is a forty minute sketch the guy is five minutes, both are done in charcoal.

Two years ago I took photos for this painting at a reining show in Spooner, Wisconsin, where I met Kate Layman, a talented young trainer Kate was taking her niece for a ride before the show. I had my camera and was sure they would make a wonderful painting.

My husband is making original western frames that compliment the painting nicely.

Band Girls

These are some caricatures I did from photos last week. It was a fun piece to work on; I love the boots!

Drawing from photos usually works out well, particularly if I have many different angles of the person.

I love working from digital photos that people e-mail me. I can zoom in until their head is almost life size and work directly from the monitor.

This painting is huge 24 X48 . It is mostly done from a photo, however I did paint a small 6X 8 on site. I started this painting about a year ago and just finished it today. It was difficult to finish because I did not have enough information down on my study, about halfway through I heard something in the woods behind me. It was probably just a porcupine but all I could imagine was a bear, so I quickly packed up and went home.

About a week later I was riding my horse on the same trail and saw the largest black bear I have ever seen. Now I always carry bear spray with me when I paint in the woods.

I Finally did an outdoor painting this week. My mother Marion joined me. She did a wonderful little watercolor. I did a small oil. What a mess! I am not used to painting in the car there was paint everywhere, but we were warm and had fun.

Finished this one up today. It was an enjoyable piece to do, the shine posed the most challenge.

Oil Painting sketch

Finally got some time in the studio today, about five hours. The shine on this horse has been challenging but enjoyable.

Oil painting sketch

This is a oil sketch I did a few week ago.

Sketches at the airport in Tampa

We where stuck at the Tampa airport on Saturday.

Good thing I had my sketchbook along.

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Sketches at the airport in Tampa

Morgan Yearling for sale. Double click for full size

Riding Video

Catalina Artist

This Painting was started on a trip to Catalina in 2008. I did a small plein air on site and finished it in the studio.
It's always enjoyable to paint other artist, you know they will be there for a couple of hours.

Mc Way Falls