Felos and Abracadabra - Pastel on Paper 4'x6'

This is a pastel on paper of two of my horses that I photographed several years ago. Abracadabra is the  darker one. He got his name because no one knew his mom was pregnant (or how she got that way!) and one morning the owner went out to feed the horses and there he was - Abracadabra! This painting was done on background photo paper - the kind used for backgrounds when you need one. It's usually several feet wide and comes on a roll, this one is a light gray color. I fixed it with La Tour final fix by Sennelier when it was all finished. The painting is large, 6 feet by 4 feet. I made a line drawing first from the photo and used the projector to get the drawing correct on the paper. Then the real work began. Felos was white, but I didn't like the way it was working so I changed him to a palomino. They were originally standing in tall grass so I couldn't see their feet to paint them. I changed the grass to water with some splashes in it that I thought made it a more interesting painting.

Felos and Abracadabra 5x7 oil on canvas

I did this small oil painting from a photograph of two horses I had when I lived on the farm at Rice's Crossing in Texas. They are running in the hayfield having a good time. Felos is an Arabian and Abracadabra is an Arabian cross. Both are fine jumpers.

Horse and Heart oil on canvas 11x14

This is a small painting I did from life for a class with Gladys Poorte, it's very exact, not really how I usually paint, but a nice learning experience, and Gladys was a delightful teacher. The horse is one I sculpted from plasticine clay and the heart is one from my collection as my birthday falls on Valentine's Day. The beads were from New Years Eve 2008, the first year I celebrated New Years as a single woman after 43 years of marriage. The painted blocks were a project I did for myself after a workshop with Susan Sarback—to learn how to see color.