Paint Horses Art Party!

 It's every little girl's dream!  (Well big girls too) to ride, own or somehow dream horses!

The next best thing is to paint your own!

So we did for two and a half hours one evening recently at MacNair's Barn in Raleigh, NC.

We had a "Paint Horses Art Party" for a group of 29 4Her's.  Yes I said 29! And they spent a little over two hours totally involved in painting a 9 x 12 acrylic painting of a horse they owned, rode or just loved.

 No computers, no texting, no cell phone talking. Just pure involvement in the Art Zone! The results speak for themselves as this grouping of photos shows.

We did this as a fund raiser for the 4H group so at the end of the evening the group had raised almost $300.00 from the event!

We did not get everyone's photo but the ones we did manage to snap before the evening ended...well their expressions say it all! 

Visit our Art Student Academy website to read what the girls had to say!

29 girls-2.5 hours and every one painted their own horse or one that they ride at the barn at MacNairs Country Acres in Raleigh NC!

Portrait of Chloe in the Flowers

How weird to have Blogger go down and this post disappear!
So here it is again-a completed 30 x 24 pastel on Art Spectrum paper created with NuPastels and PanPastels.
Chloe was originally in her home sitting on the steps-the beauty of being an artist is that all of that mundane stuff can be changed!
So I added the flowers that seem to epitomize little girls in the Spring (a good thing!) and now we have a charming memory of being 5! 

Pastel of Little Girl

Portrait of Chloe

I originally photographed this little girl in her house sitting on the steps. The fun (and challenge) of being an artist is the ability to create scenes or change details at will! So in this case I added the spring flowers and bench to anchor the feeling that such a setting invokes with many little girl portraits :-)


The final portrait is a 24 x 30 Pastel, created with a combination of panpastels and nupastels on Art spectrum paper..

Enjoying a piece of the Artist's Life. Come paint with us!

Spring! It is that time when our old roses burst into a stunning array of colors and as an artist I just drink it up! This year we decided to share the experience!. So, the day before Mother's Day, as most of the roses are coming into their colorful glory then, we will host our own Art Party at our studio!
Yes, the day promises to be sunny, in the 70's (heaven), and we'll have mimosas and wine for both classes to enhance that experience! All in all, you'll experience a day of "painting like Monet" by using our oils and easels to paint "plein air" (or outside at that moment!) any of our little hideaway areas of gorgeous roses! Complete information is on our SITE.  

A view vignettes are below! And yes, even I, as a portrait painter, will step outside my element and comfort zone and just enjoy creating and living in the moment! Come join us Saturday, May 7 and Saturday May 14 (same place and scenes but in watercolor!)

Art Party!

Wonderful results from participants in 2 START classes we  held in Stantonburg,NC April 23

Here I am playing around with a collage of photos taken April 23 at a wonderfully fun art party we held with a group of artists at one of the members lake cottage! Hmmm-it's a little small but spending a day painting can be a tremendously enjoyable event!

I took the outdoor photos before the sun came out and took the fog away but you can still enjoy the view that we had!

Taking the Horse portrait beyond the photo.

How can you not love the beauty of a horse? It's been the subject of artists for centuries.....dating back to the cavemen days (think Neanderthal caves in France!)

I created this 20 x 28 saddlebred on sanded paper using NuPastels and PanPastels while at a show in Raleigh, NC.

When creating portraits of animals, expression is what sets your art apart from that of another artist. In creating expression, the eyes are everything!


Body language is important as well. Notice the proud, upright stance of this lovely horse? The head carriage is typical of a Saddlebred.

This closeup of the head of the same image shows the details of the eye and it's individual expression.

The tack (or lack of) always plays a part in the final portrait, so it's important to depict the accuracy for the breed and discipline.

Artists need to know and study the horse, the different disciplines, the different breeds! They are not generic and knowing the traits of the one you are creating allows you to develop a painting far beyond just a photographic likeness! 

Getting off the cell phones and painting!

Had a great time at Wake Forest Art and Frame last night during the second Friday bash held each month in beautiful downtown Wake Forest!

I have added a photo here but a link to the rest of the first ones with more to come from a few other cameras! The fun part is that the teens put down their cell phones and picked up the paint brushes and.....didn't even text :-)

 New classes at Art Student Academy!