AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD

The Australian Shepherd is a beautiful, energetic dog who excelles at Agility. I think they are wonderful, but then, I have a soft spot for most of the Herding dogs. I love that they are usually "free thinkers" as I call it . The Herding dogs have to be intelligent enough to be able to think for themselves once in a while.
I'm starting to rebuild my collection of note cards; retiring my old black and whites and replacing them with colored images. Eventually, I will probably put them into a little book about dogs, something I've always wanted to do. This image will part of that collection.
AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD is a 9 x 11 watercolor on Arches 140 smooth, and is available as note cards, and the matted original is also available.

Heather Anderson - Sheltie Hollow
http://www.heatheranderson-animalsinart.com/

SMOOTH COLLIE - Keeping an Eye

I've been wanting to paint a Smooth Collie for some time now, and this was finally the moment. The Smooth has all the wonderful traits of the Rough Collie, just without the massive, glorious coat. But the simpler, cleaner line of the Smooth Coat is lovely in it's own way. In this painting, I tried to echo that cleaner look by keeping the background simple and bright. I wanted a feeling of space and freshnness.
The Smooth was used more as a Drover than a Herder, and like the Rough Collie, this guy is ready to take charge of any situation his family might be in. (I love the Herding Dogs - I think of them as "Free-thinkers").
Keeping an Eye is an 11 by 14 watercolor, and was done on Arches 140lb, Hot Press paper. It will make a great Smooth Collie print, and lovely cards, and the original is available.

Heather Anderson Sheltie Hollow www.heather-anderson-animals-in-art.com

PATCHES OF SPRING

* Note. This is part 3 of a set, so you may want to scroll down 3 posts and work you way back up.

PATCHES OF SPRING Watercolor on Arches Hot Press 16 x 20

Here we are, done. Well, almost. I am pleased with the painting, I like the way the horses' patches echo the snow patches and flow together. I like the fairly low key colors, the sense of ease in the horses, and I like the composition, so I removed the masking tape that I put around the image area (sorry, forgot to tell you that, didn't I!) I like a clean border, so now I always use low tack tape to keep it that way.
Now is the time to set the painting up where I can see it during the evening and look for any areas that I want to fiddle with. Does something need highlighting, does something need knocking back, has anything got lost?
Once I am sure I am satisfied, I will take the painting out and photograph it in natural light and it will go on my website. Then I will catalogue it by noting the date, title and medium on the bottom of the border and put that information, along with a photo and notes about the painting in a book I keep for that purpose. Now the the painting is ready to go out in the world and hopefully find an appreciative home.

Patches of Spring - the process - 2

Here we are with the sky done. I like to put clouds in most paintings to give a sense of movement and interest. I also blocked in the forest in the background, leaving the trees along the ridge. In the hilly ridge, I tried to echo some of the shapes of the horses' backs and necks to keep the design strong and to keep the eye moving through the whole painting.
I decided to start with the buckskins for no other reason than that I wanted to. Here, they are about 90 % done, and I've moved on to block in the other horses and some of the grassy patches so the legs don't get lost. To this point, I'd spent 5 days drawing and 2 days painting. This image,by the way, is 16 x 20.
During the next week, I worked on each horse, went back to polish the buckskins, and finally worked on the background. Sometimes I block in all the grass and trees before I do the main subject, but in this case, I felt all those legs needed to be done before I started laying in much background colour.
For me, doing a painting is about going back, and back, and back until I feel satisfied with my work.

Patches of Spring - the process - 1

I've just finished my most ambitious painting so far, and I thought that, for those of you who may be interested in how I put a painting together, this would be a good one to use so I can share my process with you.
Sometimes my paintings are IMAGE driven, and by that I mean that I take a photo that I JUST HAVE to paint. That's when I noodle around, looking for ideas in which to set this image, or ways in which I can change and enrich the photo so the finished painting is an original, not just a copy of the photo.
Sometimes, as in this case, the painting is IDEA driven. I love those first days of spring when the snow is melting back and the earth and grass is just starting to peer though. I remember the horses loved it too. Forget their breakfast of hay, they wanted those first blades of grass! I've always thought that horses seem so content in their environment - they have a sense of harmony about them, and a number of years ago, I did a painting called "HARMONY" that depicted Paint horses against a background of patchy snow and hillside. Last year at this time, I had planned to do a second one on this theme, but life got in the way. It seemed appropriate to do it now, a year later when things are almost calm and peaceful again,
My first step is to gather my photos, and that means looking through my albums to find what is going to work with my idea. There were 3 photos of horses invovled in this painting, and each one was a different size. I had to resize them so they would be in proportion to each other.
I'd like to say here that it is point of honour with me that I never trace or project. I do use a grid, and that takes skill, knowledge of the subject, and a good ability to draw. There are no lines there to follow, I am the one who has to decide exactly where the lines are going to go within the little boxes. Mistakes are easy to make.
I decide how large I want the finished painting to be, then see how many squares each horse is in the photo, and how big each square will have to be so I can size up and draw the image in the desired space . In this painting, the buckskins, the black, and the chestnut paints each required their own hand drawn grid, and each one had to fit with the next one. The black paint was not co-operating, so I ended up doing him by hand, without the grid.
Once the horses (or other subject) are in place, I put in the background, and in this sort of painting, it is almost as important as the main subject. I do my positioning sketches and the initial drawing on large sheets of newsprint, and when the drawing is the way I want it, I trace it onto tracing paper, rub the back of it with graphite, and then transfer my drawing to the watercolor paper. (Note please, I am only tracing my own original drawing here!)
The paper I most like to use for watercolor work is Arches Hot Press. The 140 lb is very smooth and lovely to work on. The 300 lb is lovely too, but a little rougher and you have to insist a bit more with it, but I am enjoying using it again for these larger paintings.
I usually use a masking fluid to outline some areas so I can put on a free-flowing wash of sky, as you see in the photo above. When the sky is done, I remove the mask and get on with the painting.

Stepping Lightly

I've started the new year in a slightly new way. My usual comfort zone with a painting is on the smaller side. That said, I have done a couple of 3 x 4 foot wall murals (acrylic) in a local school and had fun with them. So to make a break with the past few years of mostly little paintings, the first one of the new year is bigger. This is a 14 x 18 inch watercolor on Arches Hot Press 300lb paper (or 'board', as I think of it), and I've called it STEPPING LIGHTLY.

This painting came out of something I saw one lovely spring morning a couple of years ago. I was watching this mare and her new foal, and snapping photos, when the foal lay down, sprawled all around his Mum's hind hooves. I was sure she was going to step on the little guy - how could she help it? But with enormous care, she picked her way out of the tangle without brushing a hair of the little fellow's body. I knew then, that sooner or later, I would have to paint this scene.

I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out. I feel that I captured that fresh, spring morning in the sweep of the clouds and with the clear, bright meadow. I also like the contrast I achieved between the power of the mare and delicacy of her movement, and I think I showed the utter trust her baby has in her.

STEPPING LIGHTLY will soon be on my website, and it is available for purchase.

New Year, New Ideas

Here we are, staring the New Year in the face, and I'm wondering if it will be a good year. I'm hoping so, because I have to say that 2010 was very difficult, both personally and professionally. On the personal front, I'm proud to say that the challenges were met, and I am grateful that myself, my husband, and our darling dogs and cat are well, comfortable, and happy.
I've seen some people whom I thought of as friends, make it known through deed and word, that they were not. So I am leaving those people and the situations surrounding them, in the past where they belong. (No fireworks involved - courtesy reigns in any future contacts.) On the other hand, I am savouring a couple of new friendships that have blossomed over the past year, and of course, I treasure my dear friends of long standing who have been with me through good times and bad. Love ya . . . always will!
On the art front, I am about to implement some changes that I've felt were needed throughout most of last year. The trouble was, I wasn't sure what those changes needed to be. The year was a strange one, with some wonderful and unexpected opportunities turning to Chimeras, and very ordinary little things becoming something very wonderful. There were also moments of total hilarity, and they all helped point out the new directions for me. I need to paint what I NEED to paint, and not worry about who will find the painting appealing, and not concern myself with the pursuit of commissions. 2011 is my year to follow my dreams. I will be concentrating on watercolors again because I love them above any other medium, but there will be some Colored Pencil work and Graphite as well My subject matter will remain what is in my heart - dogs, cats, horses, and Fantasy, with one or two surprises thrown in. I am beginning my second series in watercolor, titled ME AND MY DOG. I'm not sure yet how far that will go, but it will be fun to find out. I plan that some of this year's work will be larger than usual for me, and some will be smaller too. And sometimes, I will just "follow the music and see where it leads me".
So like the little Shelties in the painting, I'm peering at 2011 and wondering what it will bring, and am hoping that it will be a very good year. Let the Year unfold!