Today’s painting was another one born by struggle. None of the usual subject m
atter seemed to hit the spot today, and it’s an odd little dance I do while trying to birth an idea that seems in sync with the season and how I’m feeling about it. Somehow painting petunias just doesn’t cut it these days!
Eventually, this one came about….2 wise guys and a star.
Category Archives: cowboy
We’re Up Next-beginning stages
This is a piece I’ve been working on all week. It’s large…30″ X 20″ and it’s been a challenge to draw. However, we’re off and running now!
This was from a photo I took at the Ranch Horse Competition this summer, and I loved the body language of both cowboy and horse. Though they are still, you can feel the intensity of the horseman as they wait their turn. The horse though, seems to be saying “We’ll be fine man; just chill!”
Will post the finished product when it’s ready.
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The Long View @ Longview
If you’ve never been down the Cowboy Trail, this won’t look familiar. This is the iconic Alberta scene that one sees over and over in our ads and promos of the province. Prairie gives way to foothills, which rise up to towering Rockies. Nowhere is this transition more dramatic than at the aptly named “Longview”. Just north of that little town there is this incredible depth-of-field which defies pen and paint, but I had to try anyway. Those who haven’t been there, it’s time for a road trip!
f you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Tee’s New Romels
My friend Trent, a working cowboy and family man who loves competing at Ranch Rodeos, is also a rawhide braider. Check out this incredible romel rein he just traded to his friend Tee, in exchange for a border collie pup! If you’re unfamiliar with rawhide braiding, take my word for it, it is an incredibly complicated and difficult art form. These reins are built of about 12 strands of finely cut rawhide strips (even this much of the process is difficult and time-consuming!) which are then tightly and beautifully woven into this exquisite heavy , yet lively on your horses mouth, rein. The added knots, loops and popper on the end are all of themselves a challenge that not many people care to even try. All I can say is….there must be a pretty special pedigree on that pup!
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Broncs, Dust & Light
Well this makes day 2 with no painting, and I’m going through withdrawal!! Tomorrow doesn’t look a whole lot better. SUCH a busy week, and I have new plans to show my work at Calgary during the last week of Stampede, at the Hyatt Hotel downtown, so am scrambling to get my work ready for that.It’ll be fun and exciting.
In honour of that, here’s a photo from a day at Stampede Ranch last fall, with cowboy, Cole Neely.
Progress
OK, I thought I was nearly finished drawing yesterday, but I spent half of today again. I need to know where the light hits the figures and it has to be right, so there was a bit of erasing and fussing. Did get started with the paint, but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow…that is if it doesn’t land in the trash!
“Backlit”…so far
Back to my bigger work…..here’s what I did so far on a 9 X 14″ painting. I’ve drawn it on a piece of illustration board, which I somehow acquired accidentally. This is just an experiment; because the board is hard to deal with, I thought I’d do a silhouette-y piece that I could splash around in the paint with. If it doesn’t work, no big loss.
I did the drawing and then slopped in a bunch of paint. Next I’ll paint the horses & rider….who knows how it’ll turn out!
Paul
Here I go with the portraits again. I have some really great friends, and this guy is one of them…..hopefully he still will be after he sees this blog entry!
Does he not have the best face ever? Happy is he, whenever I see him, mainly because it’s on a trail ride, at a Ranch Rodeo, or something to do with horses and a western lifestyle. As an artist I couldn’t resist that impish grin, those twinkly eyes and especially the magnificent moustache!
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
New Moon Romance
Thought it was time for a little romance in my blog! That element has been neglected I think. Everywhere I look, I see artists romanticising the west, so today it’s my turn to take a stab at it.
Silhouettes are tricky with watercolour, and I like the feel of them, so once in awhile I have to paint one. Played with the sky for a supernatural effect…. to add to the romance! Now all we need is a manuscript.
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Robin
This is my friend Robin Burwash, from a photo I took of him at the trail ride in August. Such a great face, has Robin…the quintessential cowboy’s face. And a cowboy he is. Robin is a 4 times Canadian Champion Bareback rider, a Guy Weadick Award winner, businessman, husband and father, not necessarily in that order.
As if all that isn’t enough, he’s a true gentleman in every sense of the word.
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.