The Sneak

Dear All,

I am trying to keep my promises to post more often so here is a cat I did a while ago. I like this particularly because of the finish on it which makes it look like old copper. The piece is about 6 inches tall and about a foot long counting the base. It is fired clay painted to look like the oxidized copper. It has been shown in a couple of big shows and has won prizes in both.

The base wood is hand finished with hand rubbed oils and is almost an artwork itself. Made by my art friend, Kathy.

This is one of my more favorite pieces as I think it captures the essence of the stalking cat and it has some nice decorative values to it.

It's for sale too, if you know anybody who needs a cat to decorate their place.

I have lots more to show you so keep tuned and I promise to keep up the contacts. If you are tired of receiving these as emails, let me know as I have others who would like to be on the list and I am limited in how many I can send to directly.

Have a great spring. We already have mounds of prairie verbena covering our place. Of course, that's because we have no grass after last year's drought. We'll take the verbena.

Dear All,

I can't believe it's been so long since last I put something on the blog. Yes, I'm still in the clutches of a less than cooperative computer and between that and the lack of interest in photographing my work, I've had no enthusiasm for putting new entries out there. But I get complaints. So here is a piece I've had done for a while but it should be new to you. This is Louise, one of my own cats, sitting in her favorite spot--a sunbeam.

I do have plenty more oil paintings to show you, but I wanted to tell you that I am still doing sculpture and that is also a reason I've fallen off the face of the blog world. It's just too much fun. And it's time consuming. I've been learning a lot from Trace Guthrie, my instructor, and have even had my work accepted into a few sculpture shows and have even won a few prizes with it. I am sticking to what I know, meaning horses and dogs and cats. I want to show these pieces to you soon. One I am particularly happy about is a group of four horses running together. It doesn't sound like much, but my intent was to give an idea of the power and grace of a running horse and I think I've at least touched the edge of that. The problem with it is photographing it. It's fairly complicated. Eventually I'll get something good enough to put on the blog.

Here's hoping I get something else on the blog before next winter sets in. Please let me know you've heard from me.

Jay

The Hunter

Hi Y'all,



This is one of my very favorite animal paintings. I did it last year after a visit to Charleston SC where we did the tourist thing at Magnolia Gardens. Amidst all the beautiful Spanish Moss draped trees and lovely flower beds and gracious lawns, here was this American Egret poking about in the shallows of a swamp. He was oblivious to my presence and stayed long enough to let me do several photos of him. In fact, he was still there when I was done photographing. Obviously he was used to tourists.



I was a little dubious when I started the piece as I wasn't sure about two things--one was composition, which I felt might be too simplistic, and the other was the challenge of painting a bird, something I've avoided until now. I used to work closely with lots of birds for many years and I came away from that experience feeling that the feathering was too complicated for me to paint. I've always been somewhat intimidated by those who paint birds well.



But I don't think my worries were justified. I like the composition on this. And my rather loose style worked with this particular bird, I thought. Would love to hear your opinions on it though! By the way, this piece is 8"x10", oil on board and is framed in a wide gold plein air frame.

Let me know if you are having trouble still with postings to Jay Lauver's Art Blog. I'll see what I can do.



Have a great day!

Jay