Cold and soggy

You might think this was going to be about my morning cereal, cold and soggy!
But it's the weather outside, which I LOVE! It's NOT snowing, which means I don't have to go out and use the snowblower. It means a good day for staying inside and working in the studio. The lighting on a day like today is so soft and beautiful because it's so even. We may have a few too many days like this in PA though for my liking as I do like to go outdoors.

Along with my slew of Appaloosa commissions (wait till you see the Orinocco I will be posing photos of soon!) I have a lovely Kentucky Reign I'm working on! His base color was quite orange as he is going to be a gold champagne tobiano. Well the reason I am mentioning the lighting is because my studio has very little natural light and I work under flourescents which throw a greenish cast, even though they are daylight bulbs. So KR looked a beautiful shade of gold in the studio and I had gone ahead and started his pinto markings. Then I brought him upstairs to where I moved my "white painting" bench to be closer and handier to my mother when she needs help. Well LO AND BEHOLD! HE looked VERY creamy *orange* and instantly reminded me of one of my favorite treats, a Dreamsicle! So that is his nickname while I am reworking his coat to be more natural golden. HA! Darn lighting! I'll be posting photos of him when I get some time.
Back to work!

Here he is now with his coat color reworked in oils.

Aline Ellis Clinkies!

Aline Ellis 1886-1971 was a clay modeller, potter, and animal artist,who studied at the School of Art in Bushey, Hertfordshire and lived and worked at Ebury Lodge, Little Hadham, Herts.

In the late 1940s, Muriel Jervis became the live-in companion of Aline Ellis,  who lived in Hertfordshire. Muriel continued to live with Aline Ellis until her death in the late 1960s. Aline is pictured on the left, Muriel on the right.

 

 These pieces I have were purchased by me from her estate in 2007 through Gorringes galleries UK. I was blessed to have been in touch with her great-nephew Francis Clark-Lowes who verified the pieces I have as he handled the dispersal of her estate and the last of her work.

What I don't know is if these are one of a kind works, tests or what. Most of them arrived to me in terrible condition, broken, firing cracks, glaze flaking. But the essence of the sculptures is so beautiful! My favorite is this Shire broodmare. She is huge, standing about 9 inches tall and over 10 inches long. I love her drooping lip and her peaceful demeanor. She also has a handsome colt who arrived in very good condition.

The mare arrived to me in about 10 pieces so in my spare time I have been reassembling her and am thrilled that she is now standing. She hasn't been on her feet in over three years and rebuilding a piece that is on a broken base is a real trick. She broke off her base and every leg was in about three pieces.

Her colt just makes me smile. He looks like a mischievious little devil, but you can sure see his quality. I love his colt "beard" hanging off his little chin.

Look at that face and those adorable big fuzzy ears.

Aline really had a great feel for the drafters. She could sculpt conformation and realism, and these horses looked like the good working horses of their day.

This lying cremello colt even has lovely blue eyes.

 I have quite a few more of her pieces which I will post when I get time and get them all photographed. If you have any of her work I would love to see it. All of these pieces were tin glazed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin-glazing  

Oil spots

Now that my commissions are winding down I am able to experiment on my own pieces again. This Wintersong was base coated in airbrush and I have finished his coat in oils and am adding pinto markings with cat tracks to make this nifty tovero pattern. Looking out my window reminds me of his color right now with the snow we have and brown patches of leaves and earth peeking through.

HIs mane and tail will be cool multi colored and he'll have some ermine spots stread through his feathers. He'll be for sale soon so stay tuned. I'll post him to the yahoogroup so members can have the first crack at him.

A lovely going to be palomino Jezebel in oils who will also be a tobiano when she is done.

My flat work has primarily been in oils so I'm enjoying the familiarity and love the ability to change and blend colors on the fly. But I miss the speed of airbrush, so I'll be using airbrush to do the base color and then build oils over that.

One of my projects I mentioned before is a medallion series of horses with their heads out of ther stall doors. I love barns and have seen and photographed some amazing places over the years. This first piece in the series is a horse with his head out of his stall door of a stone barn with rough cut lumber beams, headers, frames and doors.

So these are a few of the things I'm working on when I'm not working on commissions.

Finished commissions that left here recently are 2 Appaloosa Lancelot resins. So different in their patterns:

Well, that's that for now.