Great weather, very therapeutic/rejuvenating here

I share this pic really only because it has the slight (!eek!) illusion of "crash!". How appropo of things in my life I think? :) You may have to hold your breath at times but all will pass smoothly. Anyhow, more practically this is maybe the most notable photo I'd gotten really today (everything else being horses working and from a distance mostly, or unflattering poses/close ups). This & a handful more were all I got of reference photos at the Carolina Horse Park - folks gearing up for the events in a few weeks. I'm going to fill up my server with all the "reference" sharing so no more, promise!

No this is just a quick post to say all is well here. The weather has been good. I went back to New England in January and aside from the fact that nothing about the trip was for fun really, the weather was unbelievably worse than I ever remember it (at least snow volume wise) and it was dismal & ironic at best, downright scary to be traveling around in at times. I am exceptionally grateful not to still be there trying to deal with the last barn I worked at too. The gate system there simply was nearly impossible in snow/ice conditions. I've heard some horror stories from folks up there this season, and well, have seen some shocking pictures; my heart goes out to you all! I wish all my pals could come join me down here? :) In a few more months when it will be cruelly hot I guess & you can be laughing at me. Mostly just sharing here that I am happy to be home, time seems to be flying along (feels like I just got back a week ago) but I needed to just add that it really felt like a "rebirth" to come back down here to the (apparently exceptionally unseasonably mind you) warm weather and things to look forward to doing. Tomorrow when severe storms come through I might not be able to post how grateful I am in the dark w/out power. ;)

Portrait of a studio dog...

This is my fiance's Valentine's Day present. That's why I was surfing through those photos & videos of her last week. I clearly like to leave things till the last possible second... literally giving myself just a day to do this - eep! Adrenaline junkie issues aside, I was thinking how ironic it is
that techniques used to finish my resins have improved my flatwork more than classes in college had.

Mind you I still don't like my flatwork. This is why I stopped doing portraits and illustration a LONG time ago. But the hair ticking effect here. I've always liked to utilize short-lines or stippling techniques but I dunno.. I just didn't like how I did it. Today I like how this came out more - especially around the whisker bed and planes of her cheekbones.



That said I will NOT like this work tomorrow. Sincerely this is how I roll. Almost all of my flat art is tucked up and away in these portfolios. The only stuff that's "out" is stuff that's too big to tuck away - ha! :D

Being an artist is blessing and curse at times. I've been reflecting on that a great deal lately. It's a love-hate relationship like nothing else. A form of narcissism wrapped up in self-loathing! No truly, look up the mental illness of "perfectionism" and you'll see that last sentence essentially is what it means & why so many artists are insane... ! ;)

I personally think we're compelled to whip things off the easel and toss them to the floor in disgust for a reason, a form of personal growth obsession that's warped terrifically out of control - especially since there truly is no right and wrong in the end.

Must have a great sense of humor to handle it. And a great significant other around to tolerate ya!! <3 Happy Valentines Day Guys!!

Studio dogs are good for mental health.

They really are. Well any indoor pet of course but in my opinion dogs with their uninhibited glee most especially!

Sure yes there is the potential for hair to find it’s way into things... But that said, all that they say about pets lowering blood pressure and stimulating alpha waves or whatever.. so true. Plus they “live in the moment”. They just remind you to seize the moment and experience joy where ever, when ever you can.



Seizing the moment today to appreciate some things that really really make me happy too. This was from Christmas time I believe and I just found it last night (hadn’t even watched it after shooting). Had to settle for free music off of my machine (well not really, I could’ve bought a track from Amazon for $1 but it’s not about the music for me so much – just the freedom to express your emotion with passion!). I put it on my facebook profile but it’ll be hard for me to ever find there again so I’m sharing it here where I can wax philosophical too (all corny & windbag style!), about the joy of not holding back expression. YAY!

Handful of new widgets/scribbles

Well I've been playing with these little "widgets" since last year but I only started putting them on envelopes in early January. Pretty sure that only ~30 people have gotten any so far (sent out with the invoices of new sales of any horse or medallion). They're just fun "scribbles" in clay that I cast in press molds using Apoxie Sculpt. I have tried a good # of gypsum products (plaster of paris, art plaster, permastone, hydrocal, etc) in the molds too and generally find almost all types leave pin hole bubbles or are far too brittle in these wafer thin thumbnail sizes. They are essentially something I'm practicing casting in alternate media with but the ones I give away as extra fun bling on sales materials are all apoxie sculpt so far.

I have refrigerator magnets but they're too big & strong for these little flat works. I may get the flat magnets and sell them someday. They'd make fun pins I think too. I suppose I could consider metals. I have family that does metal work so it wouldn't be a stretch to go there and try that out.

So far however they just are outlets for creative ideas and I haven't really thought about marketing them. I should document them at least here or on my website. Not necessarily in a 'collect them all' way - but just to document them. Thus far I haven't sent out anything with the galloping Andy there on it.

These photos are disappointing to me, it's been hard to photograph them too. The metallic finish is from Sculpt Nouveau and will age/patina a bit more naturally than straight up paints (although I'm not sure how much). I don't have a photograph of it but I've also experimented with adding a bit of "faux" (less toxic to me!) green patina using acrylic and watered down white gesso and I quite like that effect because you can control the "oxidation" look better (focus where the pale green goes).


So there are several new faces to start off the year with. Nothing for sale at this time, just something different. :)