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Windows SOLD

7" x 5" watercolor

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 You all probably know that I've loved horses all my life and that they were a huge part of my growing up years. Now that I don't get to be around them as much as I did when I was a girl, I feel an even stronger pull towards them whenever I see them, like a gravitational pull, or tractor beams or something.

 I saw this horse last winter in a field I was driving by when out looking for new painting material. I pulled my car over and walked over to the fence. There were a few horses in the field but this one headed in my direction right away, whether she was hungry for human attention or carrots I can't say. Although she did not seem to be too disappointed when my pockets turned up empty of any edible horsey treats.

Or maybe she recognized what I was feeling, that I needed to see her and rub my hand over her velvet nose and fluffy winter coat. The way she calmly gazed at me, so gentle, friendly, and curious ignited all those emotions I'd felt about horses for so many years as a girl.

Her eyes just got to me, they were so kind. It really is true what they say about the eyes. They are the windows to the soul.

P.S. My dear blogger friend (who I also had the good fortune to meet in real life!) Michelle Teacress spotlighted me on her blog the other day. I was honored, flattered, and extremely touched. Thank you so much Michelle. :) Michelle's blog is a great place. You must visit. She is "offering creative encouragement for fellow readers and writers through literature, music, and art."

P.P.S. November means NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month in case you didn't know). It means writing an entire 50,000 word novel in thirty days. Thirty. Days. Thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon. Or, as it seems to be in my case, thirty days and thirty nights of staring at a blinking cursor on my word processing screen and wondering what the heck my characters should do next!

This means that anything witty, funny, or uplifting that I have to say is being written in my novel and probably not here. Just ask my husband about the funny little Hobbit reference line I came up with for my novel that I am absurdly proud of.  I've told him about it at least ten times. Which probably means it's not quite as funny as I think it is. But still. Maybe a little funny. I hope.

Until next week my friends! Off I go to add more words to the 13,109 I already have. Clackety-clack.

Radiance

'Radiance'

pastel on toned paper 11 x 14

I did this piece today just for you. So I hope you like it. :)

I had nothing to post since I'm working on two large paintings that have a lot of detail and they are taking me FOR-E-VER. And I'm still trying to get the colored pencil piece from this post finished and it's slow going too.

But it's good. I don't mean to say that slow is bad. It's therapeutic and meditative and all that. Except for impatient people like me. I have to tell myself every time I put brush to paper "DON'T rush this!" 

That has been one of the most important things for me to learn with the way I like to paint. I don't have to paint fast. There's no hurry. I like to have glowing color and accurate facial features. And for me to do that I have to take my time. It's fine. I've come to grips with this reality. Mostly. :)

I had a few questions from the previous post that I did not get to answer (life is hectic! But what else is new?) I read all of your comments and they really mean a lot to me. Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you think! You guys rock in an all out glorious way.

These are the questions that I can remember. If I forgot yours ask me again okay? I'm having a blonde day.

Where've you been? Here! I promise. Just busy. I'm glad you guys missed me though. And I mean that in a good way. Also in addition to my painting, mommy, wife, and church jobs I've decided to do NaNoWriMo.

What the heck is NaNoWriMo you ask? It's National Novel Writing Month. The idea is you write an entire novel, start to finish, 50,000 words (which ends up being a book about the size of 'The Great Gatsby') in 30 days.

Yes, I agree with you.

I am crazy.

But, it's a lot of fun and I'm totally in love with my story so far. There's a little widget on the side of my blog that shows my progress to the 50,000 word deadline. You can cheer me on if you want! I love cheerleaders!

Do you prefer bristol to regular cartridge paper? Yes, I do. Most of the time. Bristol is very smooth and is great for drawings with lots of detail. I really love it for colored pencil pieces. But it's not so great for work where you want texture and lots of nice line work. At least in my opinion. So when I use charcoal or pastel I don't use bristol. I like a paper that has some tooth or a really great sanded surface.

And, last but not least, tonight is the opening reception for the Carriage House Gallery Holiday Invitational Exhibit. It runs from tonight until December 30. And there are two artist receptions. One is tonight from 6 - 9 and the other one is December 3 from 6 - 9.

If you feel like taking in some art in Ogden stop by and see me! It'll be fun.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Another blog and why I love to sketch

     A few months ago I read a magazine article about starting an art blog, and my sister has a photography blog that I loved so I thought  I would give it a try. Then I started following favorite author blogs and thought how cool it would be to have a blog about my favorite books and writing my first novel. Then I saw that other people were doing the exact same thing! So I just started a writing blog  today, so I could talk about writing without having it take away from my art, and because I wanted to be a part of Sarah's wannabe writer's group. Any follower's of my art blog who are writer's too would love to have you come check out my new blog, comment and be my friends :) And I would love if you stuck around here to see my new paintings and stuff, and let me know what you think.

     Now about sketching. I love sketching in my sketch book, because it is my safe place. No one else needs to see it, it's just for me. I can try new things and if they look horrible I don't have to feel bad about it because no one else will ever see it! A few years ago I left my sketchbook out on the counter and someone came over to my house and they picked it up and started flipping through it. I was kind of shocked, it was like someone reading your journal where you put all those thoughts you never want to have anyone else see. They were making comments and asking questions, some of which were not very uplifting. I kind of had my feelings hurt. I felt like I had to explain myself and I kept saying, "No one ususally looks at that, it's just some stuff I'm trying out." They didn't seem to get it. I left it out because I like to have it handy in case I have a few minutes when my kids are occupied so I can get a quick drawing in, to hone my skills, and really to just have fun. The photo above in my sketchbook is a little horse I drew, that I feel safe showing others (I'm trying to lighten up about that :)). I just recently discovered that if I sketch in colored pencil they don't smear! Another DUH! moment for me. So my sketchbook stays all nice and tidy. I love that! And it forces me to work quickly and be more accurate with my marks, because they don't erase. A good thing, as I tend to sometimes work a piece to death!

     But sketching is good for me because it helps me lighten up. I stress out a lot about certain paintings, if they aren't working and what other people will think about them. If they'll get what I'm trying to say. This is a time where I don't have to feel like that, kind of like a first draft (like how I threw that in there?).