Exhibition!

It is a year since I took a notion to draw some horses at our stables but what a lot happens in a year and I am now enjoying the excitement of my paintings being on show at The Glasgow Art Club. You can't miss them can you, my 'donkeys' as my husband jokingly terms them. It was high time this pair got out as they have been quietly resting  in my dining room since June....I am sure they will enjoy a change of scene. 


A.Cairns, Glasgow Art Club November 2011

The exhibition is by member artists from  The Glasgow Southern Art Club and runs from from now until 26th November, with lots of lovely things to see besides mine, of course! Friday night was the formal opening, I invited some friends and family to enjoy a glass of wine and share some excitement at being 'hung' in such a grand venue.

I overheard someone remark that the one on the rights bum was too large, which I found hilarious! I put the painting up on my blog some months ago, saying 'anyone recognise this horse?' and  Red Hot Ruby immediately chipped in 'It's Snakebite, I'd recognise that big round butt anywhere.' She was right, so I took the gentleman's critique as a compliment!

I joined the Glasgow Southern Art Club about a month ago so I am enjoying finding my feet with lots of interesting people at our Monday night classes. It is lovely to be able to see their work and with around 75 members, I am hoping it will make it a little easier to remember who is who know that I know their paintings.

I am experimenting with a bit of portraiture at our Monday sessions....I have to say, it is not coming easy, I find people much harder than horses, although I have heard it said that horses are hard to paint. It is so much easier to paint something you know and love!

Evolution of a Horse Painting: Part 2

Merlyn ( in progress painting) a.m.cairns 2011
www.equineartportraits.com

I am at the easel this morning working working on my Merlyn painting, in light of some very high, gusty winds having made their way across the pond to our shores. It is a mostly puffed out version of one of the hurricanes that have been wreaking havoc in North America, but so far the only impact for me is no riding Merlyn today, as I am far too much of a fearty to get on board in wild and wet weather. We will probably have a few trees down later in the day, I would think.

So I am back at the house, listening to music and the howling wind and making good progress. It is coming together quicker than my previous paintings, so either I am getting more confident or is it just much easier when you know the horse well. You can kind of see his expression and very inch that you have groomed and groomed almost without of it without looking too hard at the photo....it frees me up a bit, very relaxing too.

I went along to the Braeface jumping yesterday, but Alison had opted out of taking part on Merlyn. She had around a million other things to do and knew too well that the round of jumping plus the prep and waiting around wipe out most of the day and leave her much too exhausted to tackle pressing non horsey matters.

All the same she and I popped along for a look to watch the some jumping. Super cute ponies (and kids) and extremely confident little riders, some as young as six getting ditched at a jump and bravely getting back on (with a bit of parental coercion, it must be said!). The event was vary laid back and fun rather than the seriously competitive with an audience of just the riders and families mostly. I was surprised to see that 'grown up' jumping started at just forty centimetres or sixteen inches to my American friends. You know that's not very high, I have started to think I would like to give it a go sometime.

I have never jumped a course or take part in any horsey events and I had some serious doubt about my ability to remember a jump course, but Ali assured me its not so hard,  that the jumps are set up so that he next jump is usually the easiest to get to. We walked the kids course so that I could see how it worked - you know I have a lousy memory for names, sequences and the like but my sense of direction and visual memory is not so bad and I think I could cope with eight jumps, maybe a few more.  The next event is in a couple of months so if I can get a in few jumping lessons on him, I might just be up for giving it a go.

Ali says the best thing about jumping Merlyn is he is dead honest.....I think I might call my painting that.

You can see it in his face, I hope.

Evolution of Horse Painting: Merlyn

I am working on a painting of Merlyn, who anyone who follows me will know is a horse I have been lucky enough to be getting to know over the last few months.  Here he is, in acrylic on a big-ish canvass

Working back the way, starting at this evening, this is how he looks.... 

Merlyn, In Progress, copyright a.m.cairns
http://www.equineartportraits.com/


Here he is this morning, when I realised I had overloaded the black and just about vanished his features...


Merlyn, In Progress on the Mantlepiece, copyright a.m.cairns
http://www.equineartportraits.com/

And here he is on Wednesday Morning, when he was feeling a little blue....

Merlyn, In Progress on the Mantelpiece, copyright a.m.cairns
http://www.equineartportraits.com/

You saw him in the wet back on Tuesday, which I'll have vanished! I tend to stick up posts of work in progress and then balk at them a few days later when the it is starting to come together, but I really must stop photographing wet work in bad late night light.

He is jumping tomorrow a local competition, so I am going to try to get along and cheer him on....he is normally a Cross Country eventer so it will be interesting to see how he gets on in a tighter space!

Favouritism?

Honest, it really isn't but a while back I asked if anyone would mind me using their horse photos for paintings. By a complete fluke that I have painted another from Red Hot Ruby.


Chestnut Mare. Copyright A Cairns
www.equineartportraits.com



This painting looks nothing at all like I thought it would when I started. Realism is not really my natural style, but the watercolours and I had an argument into the early hours of the morning (watercolours don't really like to be overworked!) and by the time I looked at it again in the morning it was either this route or get the charcoal  or acrylics out and start to really muck about.

So the former route got me something finished, I think, although I am in half a mind as to work in a background, but has also left me a more than a little confused.

If it was hanging on a wall in my house, I'm not sure I would recognise it as my own....very odd.

All part of the journey though. I expect it might well push my next painting further in the opposite direction.

10,000 Hours of Practise

I have just devoured Malcolm Caldwell's 'Outliers: The Story of Success' over a few days this week, a brilliant and insightful read into some of the hidden factors that shape success. I seem to have all but given up on fiction for the moment, but this is the sort of book I pick up and just can't put down .

It seems, based on the research outlined in this book that if you want to be really good at anything - sport, playing the piano, art, riding horses - then over and above some kind of natural ability you need to put in somewhere in the region of 10,000 hours of practise.

That's 20 hours a week for 10 years or so. I started thinking about my equine art, and I think just about squeeze that in - at times I do less, at others maybe I do more, but I am not yet 'consistent'. On that note, this book has given me a good old shunt in the right direction and you should expect a lot more Horse Art to appear on this blog as I work towards more consistent practise, starting with last night and this mornings work.


In Progress Watercolour Painting (copyright A Cairns)
www.equineartportraits.com

If I keep this up, then you can expect to be the first to see some masterpieces (?!) appearing on this blog in around 9 years and 2 months time - good things come to those who wait!

Now what does this mean for our collective quests to be better riders? Well for me, it is not good, some of you who are a little younger or have your own horse may fair better.

Let us assume I have a few hundred hours in the bank, between my childhood riding, young adulthood and  my return to riding a few years ago, say 500 hours all in. So if I keep going at my current rate of 1 lesson a week and a ride on Merlyn, plus maybe a 2 hour hack a month, then it comes to around 150 hours a year. This leads me to conclude that I should be quite good then at riding if I keep it up for another 63 years or so....I'll be a hundred then! Hilarious....start young, that's what I say.

Ah well, time does fly when you are having fun!

Carmargue Horse Painting: Ink and Watercolour



Carmargue Horses (watercolour and ink)
copyright  retained A Cairns 
http://www.equineartportraits.com/

Still no canvasses.....watercolour will be the medium of the week, I think.

Carmargue Horses



Carmargue Horses
copyright retained
http://www.equineartportraits.com/

Warming up for some art this week .....in absence of canvasses we have pen and ink sketch with digital zest.

Here today gone tomorrow

Friday night sketches...sometimes I keep them around on the blog, other times they just vanish...what will they do? Who knows, depends how I feel about them in a few days....

 Friday night sketch of Trio
www.equineartportraits.com

Friday night sketch: Movement
www.equineartportraits.com

Eventful Part 2: Field Trip

Following Friday's first solo hack I took part in the Gala Day on Saturday in the nearby town of Dunlop in Ayrshire. This was my first such event and little prepared me for arriving in a slightly boggy field in the early morning on a windy day and trying to turn it into a shop front for the day.

I had put in plenty of preparation work and spent much of the previous week running around like a headless chicken trying to remember at which riding stables I had left my paintings, driving across the countryside rounding them up and prop shopping to pull together my pitch. I think it paid off and by 9.30am I was set.



My pitch at Dunlop Gala Day 2011
www.equineartportraits.com

There was a great buzz about the day and the action seemed pretty non stop form what I could see, with dog shows, parades, sidesaddle riding and pipe bands to name a few. The day flew in from then until 4.30pm chatting to lots of lovely folk about mostly about their horses, dogs and my art.  The horses were a magnet to little girls in running around in jodphurs and I started to realise I a great big pile of prints of palomino ponies at pocket money prices could have been a great hit.

Dunlop Gala Day 2011, Sidesaddle show



Dunlop Gala Day 2011, Pipe Band

   

The weather was mostly as grey as it looks with a few bursts of sunshine in the afternoon, and winds strong enough to cause a little concern that my canvasses might just take off like kites, but thankfully the easels stood up well.  I sketched to keep my hands an head busy and distract myself from the cold temperatures - which had dipped 10 degrees in one day - and doodled the action of the Gala Day in my sketchbook, in between chatting with passers by and fellow stall holders. I might add some colour to it this week and send it on to the organisers of the event.

 

My view from my pitch Dunlop Gala Day 2011.

I met lots of lovely people with lots of great ideas about how and where to show my work, as well as a few other fellow artists with common interests, local equine artist Nina Russell  and a horse sculptress Karon (her blog soeasylife.com) who co-incidentally also rides Merlyn.....I am starting to think that the handsome black horse is a great big tart, just like my borrowed cat Harvey.

And so, on the back of the Gala Day I have now found the beginnings of a little local community as well as my global one, which is nice!

Society of Equestrian Artists' Annual Exhibition Submission

Two horse paintings submitted today, form in post, payment made, images sent, wishing them luck!


I'll Fly Away, Acrylic on Canvas, 24"x24"
based on a photo by JustChaos under Creative Commons 2.0
Copyright A Cairns all rights reserved
http://www.equineartportraits.com/

 

Into The Dust, Acrylic on Canvas, 24"x24"
based on a photo by RedHotRuby, with permission
Copyright A Cairns all rights reserved
http://www.equineartportraits.com/

Paintings are still with me for the Dunlop Gala day, my lucky two horses I hope!

Art in progress...picky feet.



In progress painting, copyright A.M.Cairns



What is it about horses feet that are so challenging. They can be nearly as much a pest to pick as they can are to paint, but you can't gloss over the care they need.  

These are in need of some attention, but it's late now, so tomorrow belongs to them.....

.....and maybe Merlin, if the weather forecast for gales and torrential rain, proves to be wrong!

Rough riding....and a new Horse Painting

Such a quiet week from me, brought about by first off by much activity at work and later by another terrible flat work riding lesson this week that left me at the point of despair and ready to chuck it in. My riding seems to be deteriorating week on week right now, and I have begun to approach lessons with not the usual exhilaration, but rather a feeling of dread, sometimes feeling close to tears by the end of another gruelling often fruitless hour of failing and flailing. It is all in the head now, I know that. It is one of those 'conquer you demons' and mine is an affront at any failure of any sort. By the close of Thursday lesson I concluded that it is time to give up riding the harder horses. I brokered a deal with two of my riding school mates to get there early and grab a horse of my choosing for a few consecutive weeks to see if I can remember how I used to seem to be able to ride until around 6 weeks ago when it all started to unravel.....wish me luck! 

copyright equineartportraits.com

On the Art front, it took a few days to recover from said lesson but today I found my way back on track with my art and started a new piece in acrylic and canvas....only started and 'in the rough' although maybe not quite as rough as my shockingly bad riding! Here he is, propped up on my piano so I can get a better look at him in the morning with a nice strong cup of coffee.

Pretty Grey

From the lovely isle of Arran, a Pretty Grey I painted in watercolour today.

copyright equineartportraits.com all rights reserved
based on photo by celesteh on flickr

Equine Art a Big Trend in 2011

I stumbled across a rash of interiors blogs and articles highlighting that Equine Art is the big trend of 2011.

http://jaxdoesdesign.blogspot.com/2011/02/horse-is-horse-of-course-giveaway.html

It certainley seems to be a trend in my home right now, although I am not sure my presentation of them is at all what the article had in mind.

Right now, my house is littered with paintings of horses, framed and unframed, in a great big random creative guddle.I suspect if I hung them all, it might take things a little too far for my husbands tastes.

It is nice to see a little crossover between my horsey other professional interest - when I am  not painting ar riding horses I am an Interior Designer - and it did think maybe the horse art thing is a bit less 'niche' than it seems. You know me, I don't need a lot of encouragement to work on my horsey art as it is, but seeing this does actually gee me up a bit.....I feel a little creative weekend flurry coming on!

Updates to website and Equine Ad's link

I have had a wee tinker with the website this week, and you can find me here, until such time as I make my mind up on my domain:
http://www.wix.com/equineartportraits/oakleyartstudio

And I have updated my 'Equine Ad' too....
http://www.equineadverts.co.uk/index.php?view=showad&adid=30540

Hoping to bring in some traffic and feedback we'll see how that goes!

Less is more...the charcoal challenge.

I thought I would take the painting that I had started of Ice back to basics and do a charcoal study of him. I like this photo I am working on as it has a lot of contrast around the cheek and he has a nice bend in his neck. 




Charcoal study of Ice, Hazelden
copyright A. Cairns

 As ever the less you draw, the more important each mark becomes, so this is different to building up a horse portrait in coloured pencil, where you can build up the artwork in layers, adding depth as you go. 
Less is more, but often harder to pull off well!

Charcoal work can look great when it works out well, so well worth putting in some practise .... little an often is best,as with all in life! It also means I can take what I learn from the study and use it to add depth to the painting.

 

Catching Ponies

Since I can first recall at the age of seven I have had a love of two things; drawing and horses. I will come back to the drawing, but for now let me speak of horses.

I was fortunate as a child to have a couple of years living in the country to introduce me to how riding should be for every child who takes to these wonderful animals. At the stables in near Oban where I lived, the schooling was relaxed and the trekking was great wth the ponies well used to being hacked out. I don't recall ever seeing a horse bolt or buck, and we happily rode them bareback to the fields at the end of the day to turn them out.

Requests for a pony of my own were not successful - as a parent myself now, I have sypmathy  - and so at weekends, I would romp around the fields near to Ganavan quite literally try to catch ponies ...thinking back only a child would be so daft as to try and approach and befriend strange horses, and I did come a cropper with a bite once or twice.

Now, at the age of thirty six, I am no closer to catching or getting a pony (or horse) of my own. I ride every week, but a job, two kids and a mortgage have put my dream firmly in the 'as if' camp. No number of requests to Santa will deliver a gift with such a great financial and time burden to my family, not to mention the inherent increased risk of accident associated with riding more frequently. And yet even with the limitations of living in the city and rarely going out on hack, I still adore these animals and yearn to ride more.

In short, I still want to catch that pony! I am now changing tack, and finding new ways to catch them through my work as an artist, through Horse Portraiture.

I am discovering new outlet for my love of horses. In between riding them I now draw them and work on catching them in a different sense.....catching their essence, beauty and expression in the art. This is such is a special thing and I feel extremely lucky that I have a talent that allows me to do this.

I have started this blog to share my experiences creating Horse Portraits alongside my own personal horse experiences as I continue to grow and develop through my riding and my art. My hope my art will bring delight to owners and horse lovers, and that through doing something that I truly love well, may even inch closer dream....