Another attempt and hi again

Hi All,

Here I am again, after all these months. And this is the last of the first three sculptures I did when I started in that medium. Where have I been? Nowhere. Here, in the studio. But my computer went on strike. I was able to keep it going enough to do email and web surfing and handle some daily business, but it would not let me add images to this blog. Most frustrating. So it has to go back to the computer man soon, but somehow my niece, Sarah, who is visiting, figured out a temporary way to post the images. So here we are.

In the meantime, I have produced many new sculpture pieces, mostly cats, and am about to offer them to the downtown San Antonio gallery. Let's hope they like them. And let's hope Sarah figures out my problem with this computer so that I can continue to post images without her. I have many plein air pieces which are awaiting posting too, so there is a lot to catch up on.

This horse is fired clay, about 8 inches tall. It is painted to look bronze and is unmounted. It is full of action, which is the best I can say for it as the features are somewhat exaggerated, but it's kind of fun.

I hope I am soon back to you with more images of the art production of the past few months.

Best wishes,
Jay

Ivanhoe Painting

Dear Folks,

Here is the finished painting of Ivanhoe as promised. I decided that I had to get this on the blog today while I had time to mess with the computer. As you can see, the background has changed quite a bit. The foreground has had heavy impasto added with a palette knife and the background trees on the left have been blued into the distance. The trees on the right have been developed more and the tape and posts in the background have been removed in favor of a more prominent shrub in the foreground. The shrub gives the painting some balance in its composition. I am very pleased with the action in this work. This is the sort of action I really like to portray in horses. Sally and I are discussing the possibility of entering this painting in a competition later in the year. I'll let you know what we decide. Also, I want you to know that for some reason, perhaps the compressing of the file, the color in the background is grayer than the actual painting. The trees on the left are more yellow than in this photo and the trees on the right have much more color to them.

Jay

Dear All,

I am sending along the beginning images of the horse painting I've been talking about lately. The lower image, picture taken in my studio, is the start of the painting. I concentrated at that time on the image of the horse and rider on a toned background. I felt that the horse was the most important part of this painting so turned his head a little from the photo so that he is looking at the viewer and seems to be ready to run right at you. This effect was enhanced by the fact that he has a nice white stripe on his face. This beginning was time consuming as I wanted the drawing to be correct.

The top image is of the painting about half way along. The background lights and darks are laid in and the relationship to the landscape is forming. This is important too, as the background helps focus attention on the horse and rider. At this point the background landscape is thinly painted and awaits a more impasto layering. There was still time to make some decisions on the background as you will plainly see changes in the final image.

This horse is Ivanhoe, who belongs to my friend Sally. He carried her successfully for many years in Eventing competition and is happily retired now, sharing his expertise with young riders. It keeps him busy and happy but does not stress him. His portrait joins that of Spindrift, another of Sally's horses I have portrayed. This painting is done from a very good photo she had of the two of them in competition.

Stay tuned. I'll soon get the finished portrait on the blog. I am anxious for you to see it.

Jay

Just Getting Started

Dear Readers,

I promised a horse in honor of the Olympics, and this is a horse, even if a very young one. I also present this to you to prove that I do watercolors too, as well as oils.

This little baby is my very own Sadie, done when she was newly born. She grew up to be a beautiful chestnut Trakhener cross with a peppery personality and lots of talent. We did hunters and some cross country and eventually dressage. She even knew how to do piaffe! Very advanced for a stiff old rider like me.

I have had good success with watercolor in the past, as it lends itself to showcasing good drawing and I have always been fairly good at drawing horses. I quit doing it for a long while because I didn't have a good place to store my things and work uninterrupted for as long as it takes to work wet into wet. I now have that place with the new studio and am anxious to get back into watercolor soon.

This piece has been sitting around for quite a while and now that I look at it again, think it might make a good submission to the Chronicle of the Horse as cover art. I'll have to do something about that.

We're hoping for rain here. Are you wishing it would stop raining where you are?

Have a happy day!
Jay

The Andalusian

Hi everyone!

Here is one of my favorite horse paintings. It's a little one, only 8"x10", but I like the style and the color and the drawing and the subject and - and --. Well, I like it.

This horse belongs to the De La Parra family here in San Antonio. Several years ago I was with a group of trail riding women who were invited to visit their facility to see their Andalusian stallions and watch them work. It was a wonderful experience. I took a lot of photos, but this gray really struck a pose for us as we all snapped away with our cameras. I am sorry that I never learned his name but he was a fine looking animal.

One reason I like this painting is the many colors in the coat of a seemingly " white" horse. So much yellow reflected from the ground to his belly, and so much light blue in the folds of his muscle and skin.

I've had several offers to buy this piece, but I just can't make myself part with it. I use it on my business cards and as a sample piece for anyone wanting a portrait of their own horse.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Have a great day!

Jay

Dear All,

I just love horses in action. I am lucky in that there is a racetrack near me, Retama Park Racetrack, and I can go there to photo horses doing their thing. These two paintings are from such photos. I think this style of oil painting lends itself to action and movement. The backgrounds are a loose wash of oil color and the figures are done more opaquely to draw attention to them and to make them stand out a bit more. These two are small works, 8"x10", and are done on gessoed board. They look pretty good in a gold frame.

Hey, I just learned that if you type Jay Lauver's Art Blog in the search engines, this blog will now come up. I guess we've been on the WEB enough now. That sure makes it easier, eh?

Again, thanks to all of you who have been so supportive of this publishing venture. You all make me feel pretty good about it. I admit to still working on the nuts and bolts, but I'm getting better at it. And I remind you that you can email me at jaylauver@sprintmail.com if the comments section on this thing excludes you, which it should not but does anyway.

Ta for now,

Jay