Saturday, February 21, 2015

"hot day, cool drink" yet another plein aire offering from borrego springs

two days ago i went out to the mustang sanctuary here in borrego springs. kay levie is the owner, rancher, proprietor, chief cook, bottle washer and mucker. she also was our landlady for a couple of years when we stayed at her bunkhouse studio casita. cool place with burro alarm clocks (not models....real donkeys braying at sunrise), 3 border collies, a bunch of horses.

anyway i set up just outside a several acre plot housing a number of animals from the burro, bays, paints, and some mustangs. it was a bright almost clear day with a bit of atmosphere on the surrounding santa rosa and jacinta mountains. almost perfect. this is pretty much what i saw except that i moved the shade-producing tarp to the far left as it was obscuring some of the details i wanted to emphasize and put an opening between the near fence so the rails, etc. wouldn't run over the horses.

the background and sky are pretty well done if i do say so myself. the horses while accurate are a bit stiff. i may redo this on a bit smaller scale (this is 15"X22") to try to get them a bit more relaxed appearing. i like the way the dark shadow from the trees off to the left bring the middle ground into sunny focus. for ease of painting i made the fence wire instead of 2" round "bars" of galvanized pipe. this may have been a mistake.....i'll have to look at this a bit longer. nothing to do abut it now, just for the future.

so, for your edification. "hot day, cool drink".

"hot day, cool drink" (15"X22")

5 comments:

  1. Great Picture Bob. How is the weather.
    John Stahly

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    1. thanks, john. weather good.....70-80 and at least up till now, no wind. hope you and connie are well. bob

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  2. beautiful painitng, Bob. Not only the sky, but the distant trees and hills are masterful. I'm always in awe of your landscapes as well as figures. great work!

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    1. thank you, dena. i like the sky and mountains, as well. i have some ideas for the foreground horses, etc. and may try another iteration soon. i still have openings in the frank eber workshop in september. we could learn together! enough of these weenie short rides.......ride your bike up here!

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  3. You know I !don't know how everything was in the reality, but what I see is outstanding ! To me the horses just look like normal horses that are eating, nothing stiff to me , really fabulous how you caught on paper what you described !

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