"The Horse in Art" Exhibit in April

I've been working as show chair for the upcoming equine art exhibit "The Horse in Art" at the Seippel Center for the Arts. The exhibit will run from April 17 through June 5, 2011 with receptions on April 17 and May 1. The show will be featuring equine photographer Polly Knoll. Invites have been sent out to selected artists. This is starting to shape up as a very nice show. We will have artists from across the US making the show a top notch collection of horse art.

I am trying to spend more time in the studio, I have 4 paintings in process. This winter has been long, snowy and cold. Time for spring and a bit a sunshine. It seems to have been a very cloudy winter. The last few days are blue skies but subzero temps. Only 39 more days until spring, there is hope.

Art work and Other Thoughts

Last month the annual Christmas art show at the Seippel Center was hung. The center is in Beaver Dam and will display the show until the end of this month. I have a few things on display, mostly small paintings and some cards. Next year I plan to have much more. I am steadily trying to get more paintings finished. I have a tendency to start 4 or 5 and then get hung up with one, go to the next, become inspired with another. Its a process and with the year of working of the house, the move and making sure Jack stays well.. there is little time. I need a New Year's resolution on focusing. I have a wonderful studio space upstairs and after the holidays I will be posting some new images on here. I have decided to change medium for my larger compositions. I will be painting them in oil, not colored pencil. I started out an oil painter in the 70's and gave it up because I got cancer after exposure to silk screen solvents in a poorly ventilated studio at the UW of Whitewater. 4 students got cancer that had worked in that studio, 2 died. Thankfully there is more awareness now on how dangerous the chemicals we work with are. Artists tend to take risks for the sake of art. I did also. Unfortunately it scared me away from painting. I never did like the feel of acrylics. The pencils were fun until I realized the hours of burnishing the pencil layers was becoming painful for my hands and wrists. I love the pencil, line the sharpness of it. But I also love the paint. I have 5 large paintings in process and am very excited about posting the finished work soon. I also am having fun painting my old farm animals and some landscapes. These are more painterly and really a lot of fun.
I will try to update more often. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Duck Creek Art Show

Finally, I just hung a show at the Cambria Library for the Duck Creek Art Guild. The show is up until October 30. We had a wonderful opening with lots of guests and great food. Next is the Seippel Center Christmas Gallery show coming up in November. I hope to have a number of new pieces in the show at the center. New paintings of sheep and chickens and more. Glad to be back and in the studio daily. Will be posting the paintings as soon as I get some photos..

Solo Show at the Seippel Center for the Arts in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

I was recently invited to exhibit my artwork at the Seippel Center for the Arts in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The exhibit will be up throughout the summer. The center is opening their current theme show, Native American Art today with an art fundraiser on the lawn. I will be demonstrating drawing horses for the children this afternoon. This is a lovely old homestead in the middle of town and a wonderful venue for displaying art. Check it out. http://www.bdaaa.org/index.php
Check out my lists of links for a quick link to the Seippel Center for the Arts website.

AAEA Mackinac Island Invitational Exhibit

I submitted these 3 drawings to the American Academy of Equine Art Invitational show,"Pulling Their Weight-Draft and Carriage Horses in Fine Art". The exhibition will be on display from July 1 through July 31, 2009 at The Mackinac Public Library in Mackinac, Island, Michigan. This is that great little island that does not allow any type of motor vehicle. Its all horse drawn carriages or bicycles. Also the site of the Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour movie, Somewhere in Time. Jack and I made a short stop on the island the weekend of his brother Thom's wedding. Was lots of fun taking the ferry over and enjoying the Grand Hotel. Its a gorgeous place to spend some time. Maybe we will get up there for the opening. Maybe we will go dancing....last night Jack said he had the urge to take me out dancing. ??????never in 35 years of marriage has he wanted to dance...ever...We are wondering if his new liver came from a guy who loved to dance. Hey this could be fun..I love dancing.

Chicken Drawing revisited and reworked, renamed......

I love this chicken drawing, its from a photo I took of one of my hens. Actually its a combination of two different hens. She was coming out of the little chicken door on a sunny morning in March. I had to get rid of my chickens when we moved, I still miss them dearly. I didn't like the foreground in the drawing, so put in more darks and removed some of the bright light source. Redid the hen and hopefully made more sense of her feathers. I renamed the drawing "Alpha", doesn't she look like she could rule the roost? I am entering it again in the Birds in Art show hoping the the reworking does make it a better drawing.

New Drawing Finished

This is a graphite drawing on Strathmore Bristol Paper. Its one of my entries for the Birds in Art exhibit at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wi. I totally redid the drawing on different paper a week before the deadline. Glad I did, I made a mess of the Fabriano paper I had been using. I like the way it turned out. I wonder if the composition is a bit too simple, but then I do tend to go overboard with "stuff" in my drawings. Its called "Storm on the Rise". Its a Red Crowned Crane and the lake is the view from my window on Fox Lake. I love watching the full moon rise on the lake.