Nizam Al Rayyan portrait

Well, I was recently asked to do a portrait of Nizam al Rayyan. Although the reference photos weren't too good, I think I am basically happy with the result. This is pastel on canson paper, but it is quite big 40cm x 60cm and flowers are not really my thing, but hey...

A chicken for Zeca

Before I left Portugal to return to the UAE I did a portrait of one of Zeca's chickens. It is a small 6x8 inch oil on canvas destined to decorate the kitchen at the horses where I ride at the Quinta de Pateiro.

New Medium - oil at last

Been having some fun this summer just messing about with oil paint for the first time ever. I like the feel of oils but hate the time they take to dry.

These are all 4x6 canvas board with no reference other than the images in my head - I just played around with the paint and

that is what came out. it has been fun, and I will definitely try something more ambitious with oils in the future. It is a shame I couldn´t get a better quality with the scans. Since I didn´t have my camera with me I had to scan them - oh well...

A blast from the past

Back in Portugal for a few months. Came across this watercolour that I did some time ago. As watercolours go, it has to be my best to date. The horse is called Baunilha, which means Vanilla, and it reminds me of the rides out we used to do in this area in the springtime. There was another that I found, which is also a watercolour of the mares and foals that were born quite some time ago. There are two new foals this year, but I haven´t had time to paint them yet!

Second of two

Here is the second commision piece - not quite finished but just about done. The colours as they appear on screen are much harsher than in the original, but that may be to do with my camera.

Arab Portrait

Just finished the first of two portrait commissions of Arab horses.

A picture for Tracey and Ali

I showed Tracey and Ali the picture I did for the GOH and they liked it so much they asked me to do one for them. It's not the same but I hope they will like it.

New works

Well, moving here has been a challenge in itself, but from the art point of view, I have been helped by the EAG (the Equine Art Guild) who have been running weekly art challenges. The challenge is to work from a reference photo and produce a painting within two hours. It is much harder than it looks, but it has been an interesting project and these are some of the results.

Nisa

I'm calling this one done. I think I managed to capture the quiet gentle nature of this mare. It is not a great photo of the piece, but you get the idea.

Nisa almost done

Well, I have almost finished this, but time has run out for me here in Portugal, so either I have to take this with me to finish, or come back to it in the holidays. I am really pleased with the way it has gone and it would be a shame not to finish it.

Wall Painting - night time view

I was at a birthday party at the stables where I ride, and the owner put up lights to illuminate the painting I had done on the wall. I thought it looked pretty good. The owners are really pleased with results, and that is the main thing.

Nisa revisited

Well, I have restarted work on this after a long break. I either have to finish it before I go to Abu Dhabi, or I just bin it. I think it is quite promising, so I have decided to try and finish it. It is very slow work however, so the race is on...

Wall Painting almost finished

There is a bit more to do on this, but for the most part it is finished. Rain prevented me finishing this earlier, but I hope to do the last bit on Monday.

A new challenge

Well, a new challenge popped up at the end of March. It was suggested that I paint a wall - a forty foot by eight foot wall. I accepted and since April 10th, I have been working most weekdays to get it done. The challenge was bigger than I expected. First I had to clean off all the moss and then fill all the cracks. Then the wall took two coats of primer before I could start painting. I lay down the underpainting first just to cover the wall with colour, and then I started putting in the horses. It was pretty daunting at first. As always, it is the getting started which hurts the most. What I am trying to capture is the life of the horse in liberty. The horses depicted all work in a riding stables. They have a pretty hard life at weekends, but they are well cared for and get time off in the pasture. Then they can relax, play, eat or do whatever comes naturally to them. That is what I am trying to show, and I have paid attention to their characters so that they seem natural doing what they are doing.

It is a long way from finished, but I think you get the idea now. I'm beginning to put some of the details in now. This is from the left hand corner.

Nisa update

Well, as I said this is slow progress, but I have had a little time to work on her face and muzzle. There is still a whole lot more to do, but it is coming together. Once I have got in all my basic colours, I will start work on the details. The colours are a bit more muted than then look here in the photo of the painting.

Not a horse

This is my first commisioned piece. A friend saw my drawings and paintings in the summer and asked if I could do a painting of her dog. I said I would try and this is the result.

It is 24 x 24 cm pastel on canson paper. I enjoyed doing it, though it was a challenge to find the colours behind the black!

The dog is Liebe, a pedigree Munsterlander.

Nisa in Watercolour

I have struggled to capture Nisa in any media. She is a very gentle, kind natured horse, but I can never get her just right. On the EAG there is an Exhibition of the Artist's Horse as Muse - for me that has to be Nisa, and althouth I have yet to capture her as I want to I will be entering this picture in the Exhibition. I have set her in the countryside typical of my area here in Portugal. It is not done from any reference, just from my impressions of driving the kids to school, going shopping and such. As we will be leaving Portugal in the coming year, these views have become more precious to me.

Acrylic blues

This is only the second acrylic painting I have done in my life, so I shouldn't really complain, but this just doesn't seem to be working for me.

I guess I will get round to finishing it eventually, but it has had so many problems that for the moment I think I just need to put it aside for a while. I think the main problem is that the canvas is the wrong shape and so the horse looks like he is falling out of the picture.

"Interpretations" Exhibition

Okay, so today is the day that the "Interpretations" Exhibition launches on the Equine Guild Website. You can view it here. Have fun! http://www.equineartguild.com/gallery

Exciting times ahead

Well, there are exciting times ahead for me towards the beginning of next week. On 13th October I have two paintings up for auction in the States. It is to raise money for the Churchill Animal Protection Society http://www.capsnv.org It will be the first time any of my paintings have been up for auction and I'm interested to know how they do.

The one the left is a second version of a painting I did previously of Mephisto. It is similar to the previous painting, but the colours are quite different. The one on the right is a painting of a horse called Aladin. They are both mixed media paintings - watercolour and pastel.

The 15th October marks the start of the "Interpretations" exhibition on the website of the Equine Art Guild http://www.equineartguild.com The two paintings I have entered for that exhibition are on a previous post so I won't bother to insert them here. This marks the first time that my paintings have gone on public show!