Merry Christmas

Untitled (Morgan Horse)

12.5" x 7.5" Coloured Pencil

I don’t know about you but I always seem to be stressed and tired out in the run up to Christmas, and this year is no different. Thankfully, with 2 days left to go, I only have a few bits and pieces left to get – the downside is I need to brave the shops with millions of others.

Despite all the Christmas chaos, I have managed to finish my drawing of a Morgan horse and this will now sit over the holidays while I decide if there is anything more I need to add or change. I’ll also spend this time thinking of a title for it – not my strong point unfortunately, so would welcome any ideas you might have. Please.

Next up on my easel is another horse although at this stage I’m undecided as to whether it will be in pencil or coloured pencil and probably wont decide until the very last minute. I seem to be very indecisive about everything these days almost to the point of it being annoying and blame it all on the stress of Christmas. I'm hoping I'll be able to relax over the holidays and come back totally refreshed and ready for the new year ahead.

I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Some progress

A Work in Progress

I managed to spend a few uninterrupted, pleasurable hours on this yesterday, working mostly on the shoulder/chest area trying to portray all these beautiful muscles. Will be turning my attention to the mane next which incidentally is my least favourite part – strange I know considering I love drawing hair.

The pencils are out

A Work in Progress

I’d like to start this post by saying a big thank you to everyone for their kind words of support, both on and off my blog, all of which have been really comforting to me at this difficult time. I hadn’t realised there were so many artists whose work I have great admiration for followed my blog, so really chuffed about that:)

Following on from my last post I am happy to say my desk is now in place, built I might add all by my little self – not easy but at least now I have somewhere I can draw. Unfortunately it is also home to my computer so space is tight. I must take a photo sometime to show you exactly how tight, but I have to think positively and be thankful I can now draw.

I have had this picture of a horse on my easel waiting to be done for a while now, and thought it about time I made a start on it. My reference photo for this piece is courtesy of Heather Abounader, a photographer whose work I admire (and envy). From the state of Kentucky she tells me there are horse shows going on around there constantly giving her lots of wonderful photo opportunities – I definitely turned a shade of green while typing that last sentence.

I love drawing horses but unfortunately don’t have the opportunity to take many photos of them so I’m always on the lookout for good reference material. The photos I have managed to take myself are either not clear enough, uninspiring or I delete them by accident (a long story). I am however, always with my camera, looking for that perfect shot. You can view more of Heathers beautiful horse photos here.

This is very much a work in progress as you can see but have to admit it’s good working with my pencils again, if only for a bit here and there when the mood takes me. Apologies for the scan and the blue cast over it - I now have Photoshop CS3 which replaced my Elements 4 naively thinking it would be similar but with more features. Why it doesn't have the 'remove colour cast' button is beyond me, although I am sure there is a way to do this that is highly complicated.