Old Buckskin Mare

[kcortese]

Hi Everyone!

Finished up a few rustic signs and took them down to the store for sale.

I started working on the buckskin mare acrylic 16 x 20 painting. I took this picture in our field a couple weeks ago. She has her winter coat which if very shaggy. Her ears are really cute when alert the tips touch.

I call her beautiful,sweet heart, or sweetie and give her hugs. My husband calls her "tiny dancer" because when we clean her stall she goes in and out, then has to turn all the way around with you in there.

He also calls her muffins, or schmookums making fun of me.

She is a starvation rescue that I adopted and is over 30 years old she is enjoying retired life on our property. I think this should be completed today. (maybe)

Started working on it again this morning, got sick and had to stop for a while. Feel better now and will continue working.

Next painting is of our old dark bay gelding Roman. I have a pic of him from inside our barn looking out the door. The light hitting his face as the rest fades into the darkness should make a very nice painting.

Till next time.

Later

Karen

[kcortese]

Worked a little on this and started adding some light.

Not too crazy about how it looks so far. I think this one is going to have some major changes to it along the way until I'm happy.

Wish I had a good summer picture with the coat shinny and sleek.

Lets see where this one goes from here. I'm beginning to think that I should have used my oil paints.

Oh well, I'll paint Roman in oils.

Later

Karen

[meili_darmasetiawan]

hi karen,

i like your work here. this is a pretty horse.. look nice and friendly... and i like the hair on her body.

i m waiting for your next progress / final...
hope you get well soon...





meili darmasetiawan

[kcortese]

meili

Thank you for your encouraging words. I'll work on this painting today and hopefully get some good results.

Have a great day!

Karen

[kcortese]

Here is the latest pic. Will update tomorrow. Will finish some time today with final details and color.

I'm thinking of sending this to, Rebeca, my niece whom I purchased this horse for. She is the only person who ever rode her, and she takes care of Arrow when she visits. I think she would love this painting. I'll purchase a frame and package it up for her.

Thanks for viewing.

Karen

[BYart]

Hi Karen.
Nice job on this one! Love the fur rendering!
So wonderful to hear her story as well! Nothing more heartwarming than hearing a rescue case with such a wonderful outcome. She must feel so loved and special!
The only thing that jumps out a me are her ears, are they a bit wide at the base? Maybe not, as i know all horses are a bit different, but in proportion to her head, they look a bit too wide at the base.
Still a lovely portrait!
On a side note, can you please tell me what settings you are using on your camera? i am having such a heck of a time with mine, and i noticed yours are so crisp and in focus, so i hope you don't mind my question.

[kcortese]

Hi Barb

Thanks for viewing and reading my rambling in the previous post.

I think it may have been the angle I held my camera, in looking at the actual painting, the ears look OK. I may have them a little off though,

Arrow has a wide head, and the tip of her ears touch in the middle which may make them look wide at the base also. Anyway, it looks like the photo. I think it's just her.

Arrow is such a gentle soul, and I think I captured it in this painting. Those big
own cow eyes are beautiful as is the rest of her.

And I think she is spending the rest of her days happy and safe which she deserves.

I use anti-shake setting with no flash, then play with the lighting and color correction in my photo software. Heaven knows that if I didn't have the ant-shake feature on my camera, all my pics would be blurry because my hands shake all the time.

Couldn't paint a straight line if my life depended on it.

Here is an updated pic, I'm done working on this for today, because I keep screwing it up and not making any real progress with it.

Later

Karen

[oilpainter2247]

hello karen ,, this is nice painting that is for sure ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the eyes in this are done very well and the hair ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,also the blending of the colors of the horse

you no karen it just does not get much better then this ........have a wonderful day now and please dont stop .mike

[bergina]

I hope you realize how good this is,
Al

[kcortese]

Mike,

Thank you for the very kind remark. You sure boost my moral because I get so disappointing with the outcome of my work. I know that I have a lot to learn and some day, maybe I'll actually catch on and not struggle so much.

I really need some instructional books on some techniques for painting animals. I don't have any problems with pastels which comes easy for me, but the technique for pastels just doesn't work with paints.

Many days, I say to myself "Who am I kidding, this stuff is real crap" but other people seem to like it.

Al,

I feel very privileged when you take time from your busy day to comment on my work. It is very "kindergarten" compared to yours. And I rarely ever "Like" my work.

Usually, I want to throw it away or can't wait until it's out of my house. I get tired of looking at it and see too many mistakes in it that could be corrected but don't want to continue working on the piece. I should put the work away for a few months then pull it back out with fresh eyes.

Someday I'll catch on.

Thanks again for your kind comments.

Karen

[kcortese]

Finished this one up today and posted it in Be Gentle. Here is the last pic.

Thanks for following and commenting on this.

Karen

[meili_darmasetiawan]

hi karen,

i really like your painting. this horse is nice. so, i hope you just don't ever give up. ART is make with your heart. i know you have a kind and
ave heart. So you can do many beautiful art works!

Sometimes, i feel down with my works, but i dont stop at all. I think that 's a process to make me improve! So i never stop.

So Karen, pls don't give up! I really like the hair of this horses body. Maybe you can make the hair on his head smooth like dry hair. And it will be a very nice!

Once again, keep your spirit Karen! Dont give up!!!



ps : i m waiting fwd for this final progress

meili darmasetiawan

[kcortese]

meili

Thanks for your encouraging words! This is finished.

I don't think I'll ever stop doing artwork, I'm just a little crazy but then again I think a lot of artists are. Huh! Huh!

This is the mare's winter coat and she has a LOT of fuzzy hair on her face, it wouldn't look right to have a shiny sleek summer face with the heavy winter coat on the body.

In the spring it takes me weeks with the shedding blade to get the hair off of her. Piles and piles of hair. When I use the blade in her stall, my husband gets mad at me for making a mess. I just ignore him though.

Later

Karen

[meili_darmasetiawan]

karen,
i m glad you finished your works!
i ll go to be gentle..


thx karen...


meili darmasetiawan

[oilpainter2247]

Karen this work is as good as it gets ,,,,,,,,i did not come back to this one just too be a friend and say kind things to make you feel better ............... i mean it karen . this is a darn wonderful painting . your polish friend mike . lol

[kcortese]

meili

Thank you for the nice reply, I appreciate it.

Mike,

You are sooooo nice to me! Hugs to you.

Karen

[ehoeveler]

This looks like a true labor of love and you can see the love in that
Horse's eyes. Very nice to see the different stages of picture - they
all looked good to me! I gotta say I like the very first one, especially,
because of the hazy whiteout effect. Felt like this good energy coming from the horse. Wonderful job all round.

[kcortese]

Thank you for viewing and posting such a nice comment.

The first pic being hazy is only a base, I didn't do much work on the top of the head because her forelock was going there.

Thanks again.

Karen