Folks,
Here is a recent redo of an old attempt at doing driving horses.  I think this is the most successful.  It is based on photos I took several years ago at the Walnut Hills Driving event outside of Rochester NY.  I like the looseness of the background and tried to emphasize the horse more than the driver and passenger.  Hope you like it.
Jay

FAST AND LOOSE

New Bronze Sculpture

All, most of you have already received an email about this bronze, but I thought I'd put it on the blog too.  Apologies all around.  I just got the walnut base for this and it looks wonderful.  I will take the two pieces back to the foundry this week to have the base attached and the brass nameplates added and voila!, it will be complete and ready to show.

Details are: title: FAST AND LOOSE
 Dimensions:  2' long, 1'wide and 1'tall
Weight: about 50lbs
Price:  $6500.

It will be entered in the Coppini Fall members show unless I sell it first.  Will let you know if it gets accepted.
Jay

Pet me

This is another clay sculpture, about a foot high and was inspired by my blue neuter, Bo, who sits by the doorway to the kitchen and demands a "tribute" of a pat on the head before you pass.  It's currently at the downtown gallery and I've had a lot of good comments, but I still own it.  It will take a real cat lover to find it irresistable. 

We have another year of decent verbena on the place, in spite of drought conditions, and I am anxious to get outside to paint them.  Dog trials, painting demands and general chores seem to get in the way.  I am still having trouble downloading pictures of my work on the laptop with Windows 8, and the desktop with Windows 7 just died--again--so I'll have to replace it to get newer works on the blog.  Be patient.  I'll do it soon.

Hope you enjoy this one.

Jay

A San Antonio institution

Dear Blog followers,

Once again I am apologizing for the long delay since my last posting.  It was because my old computer died and the new one has Windows 8 on it and I have still not figured out how to get it to download images from my camera.  So I went out and got me a new old computer with Windows 7 on it and have had no trouble at all getting the camera to download images.  Hmmmph.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

This painting is one I talked about long ago, as one I did plein air as a demo for a group from the Trinity Art League.  The building is the No. 1 Pump House for the San Antonio water system from back in the 1800's.  It no longer functions, of course, and is in dire need of repair but the overgrowth and original architecture make it very paintable.  For years I thought it was a boathouse.  Not.

The painting has worked out well for me as it won Artist of the Month  back last summer at the Coppini Academy of fine art, and then went on to vie for Artist of the Year for the same institution.  I didn't win that title, but the painting was very well received.  Again, it's an oil on gessoed board, 8x10 in size.  I hope you like it.

Jay

Dear All,
Here is a sculpture of a lioness I am currently working on.  It may go into a couple of shows this fall.  This is made of clay, including the base, and is based on a series of photos I scrounged from some traveling friends who take good pictures plus some other references.  This cat is fired and what you see is what you get except that the finish on it is not complete.  I am fiddling with some golden highlights or maybe a more tawny color but am inclined to keep the color close to what you see--the natural fired clay color.

I think she looks like she's surveying her kingdom from a rocky hill and will probably name it something to do with that. 

I have finished the two paintings I did with the plein air group I took out in July and will get those on the blog soon. 

The Coppini, where I do a lot of my studio work, is closed for the month of August, so I am a little slowed by that as I've been taking the extra time at home to do a few long-standing projects.  But I have plenty to put on the blog and now might actually take the time to do it. 

Hope you are all well.

Jay

Dear Blog Readers,
I am back after too long with the promised painting of the spring verbena at our place.  This was done before the last posted painting and shows the small pasture at our place in early spring when the verbena were just getting started.  Note how sedate the colors and the abundance compared to how loud and lush it got later.  Actually, I like this one better.  It rings a tad truer just because it is not so garish.  But the other one is true too, just wilder color because that's the way it was.  We may never see verbena like that again.

I've been busy painting and working on sculpture and have more to show you and plan to get it on the blog faster than I have been.  I get going on the blog and then I think I am overwhelming people with too many posts, and then I get lost in what I am doing and forget about it.

I did give a demonstration last month to the Trinity Art League in San Antonio and enjoyed it very much.  I talked to the group about how to put a plein air kit together and what colors to take with you, and then showed them how I amend plein air works I have done in the field.  I was gratified to have 8 people sign up for a half day workshop plein air and seven of them actually show up.  We worked on a scene along the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park.  It was of the old Number One Pump House which was built back in the 1800's as a source of clean water for the city.  It is now overgrown with foliage and is quite picturesque and very paintable, although we are told it needs desperately to be renovated.  I'll send that painting along soon.  I just finished the one I started at the workshop and will photo it soon. 

I am always appreciative of any feedback you have to offer.  If nothing else, it lets me know you have seen the blog.

Thanks!
Jay

Spring Verbena

Gentle Readers,

Here is one of the promised paintings of the prairie verbena at our place this year.  This is the run-in shed in our small pasture and this is truly the way the flowers were.  A perfect storm of circumstances led to this spectacular display, including a bad grass-killing drought the year before, a mild winter with plenty of rain, and no horses on this pasture.  The lack of grass allowed the verbena plants to grow with no competition and they really took over the place.  I have one more painting on this subject  I'll post later. It  was done earlier before the flowers were hitting their prime and it's a tad more sedate.  

I hope you like this one.

Jay