It's one of those typical winter days that happen more often than the sparkling, bright days that turn winter into magic. The clouds hang heavy and grey, and the world seems to be painted in shades of black and white. I think of it as Winter distilled - the very essence of winter. And it has a beauty all it's own, so I wanted to celebrate it in a painting. When I saw this group of horses that were so completely in harmony with their surroundings, I knew I had my painting. Actually, there were two groups of two black horses and one group of two black and white horses, but this painting needed to be simple, so I was selective in what I put in.
The whole painting is deceptively simple. It's more about knowing what to leave out as it is about what to put in, and that takes experience and skill. I've been painting long enough to have achieved those things. I love detail, but sometimes, the advice of Thoreau must be followed: 'Simplify, simplify'.
This recently completed painting, "WINTER DISTILLED", is an 11 by 14 watercolor on Arches 140 hot press, and it is available. $625. Also available are notecards and small prints.
http://www.heatheranderson-animalart.com/
anderson.animalart@sympatico.ca
How could I ever possibly choose? The nice thing is, I never had to. I live in a part of Eastern Ontario where there is lots of English riding activity. We have shows for Jumping, Hunter-Jumpers, Dressage, horse show classes for Saddleseat, Arabian Native Costume, and Driving, and lots of stables that teach proper English Riding skills. We also have a little Polo, as well as Fox-less Hunting. So many marvelous equine activities to enjoy! And I enjoy painting them all!
One of my dreams, (along with having a horse of my own), was a pair of shiny black English boots and a black velvet hard hat. When I achieved both dreams, they were even better in reality, even though I had to trade my velvet helmet in for an upgraded, safer model. I still have the velvet one though!
But once I began my horse adventure, I quickly learned that there was a large alternate Equine culture in the Valley and surrounding areas. My friends (and home barn) all rode mainly Western, and I quickly slid into that laid back, companionable way of riding and became aware of the thriving Western culture around here - Quarter Horses, Paints, rodeos, Western classes at horse shows, Western Games, friends gathering for a trail ride with maybe some music after, and a great Western tack shop. We even have a large number of beef cattle farms. They are not ranches and we don't have prairie or desert, or huge tracts of grazing land. And although we don't have cattle drives, I've often ridden through a herd, and followed along when my friend was rounding up some cattle that had crawled under a loosened wire fence and strayed down the road. (Have you ever seen a cow crawl? Hysterical!) For years, many of our country young people have headed out West to work on the ranches for a time before they come back to work on the family farm or start their own related business.
I fell in love with this aspect of the Ottawa Valley and from the beginning, I've loved painting it.
I have wondered for a long time why we have this in our area. Then recently, I read that the great painter of the West, Frederick Remington came here to paint in the Pontiac Hills, a range of extremely ancient mountains that have been worn down to craggy, stern, and very beautiful hills. We live a short ten minute ferry ride across the river from these hills, and I have been able to see them in the distance all my life. Did Remington bring the Western way with him, or did he come here because it was already in place?
I guess I'll never know, and in the end, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that we can enjoy both worlds here, and while I still enjoy watching the English way of riding and the shows, and I'll never part with my elegant black English boots, you can see by their battered appearance that the Western boots were used far more often. The only thing still holding them together is love and great memories.
Heather Anderson
http://www.heatheranderson-animalart.com/
Everyone needs one now and then - a place to sit quietly and contemplate, or just sit and "be". For me, the barn was always a place of peace and a refuge from the worries of life and the madding crowd. Once there, I was surrounded by non-judgemental horses, dogs, and barn cats who welcomed me into their world for a while. Sometimes the barn cats even served snacks - I was presented with a juicy mouse on more than one occasion. I always found the animals waiting, but I have to say, I never did come across a good looking cowboy snoozing in the tack room! (That tack room always held both English and Western saddles and bridles, as I live in an area of the East where there is a strong Western Tradition, but that's a topic for another blog.)
This painting shows a set-up not unlike my home barn. There, the tack room was not as big or bright as the one I have painted here, but I could stand in it among the grain bins, the saddles, and other horsey accoutrements and look across at my horse as he dozed in his stall, waiting for me to get his saddle so we could go for a ride together. I could take as much time as I liked to soak in the peace of the barn, and I always left renewed and refreshed.
FIND A QUIET CORNER is a 12 by 16 watercolor on Arches 300lb Hot Press paper. In a few days, I will get a price on it and put it up on my website. But for the moment, I have it set up where I can look at it and enjoy the memories.
http://www.heatheranderson-animalart.com/
Early last Spring, I was counting my many blessing and as a Thank You to the Universe, I vowed I was going to post one "Happy" thing a day on Facebook. A week later, one of our beloved Shelties was diagnosed with his second go round with cancer, and suddenly, it became very difficult to find a happy thing each or any day. The saga went on for many months, with the darkest day being the morning last summer when I lay flat out on the floor of the emergency Vet hospital, face to face with our fragil dog, pleading with him to keep fighting to stay with us. (It delights me to be able to tell you that this same little Sheltie was out chasing squirrels this morning!)
I still felt I had to honour my committment to post about happy things, so despite the ongoing fatigue and sometimes absolute terror we felt most days at that time, I tried to find happy things to post. And you know what? There was always something. Maybe it was only looking at the amazing, endless blue of the sky, or a hummingbird hovering, serenading us with the low hum of his wings, but there was something. As Sara Teasdale said, "Look for a lovely thing and you will find it." It helped us through the year, and looking back, I see that we have changed. The future might be bright, it might be scary, but today is good. So we have learned to let go of small annoyances, small worries, and focus on the good of today. I wish you all the blessings of "the good of today."
In a way, I've been working on RETURN FROM AVALON for years - and years. It's been in my mind that long, but I've only just put it down on paper. I love the stories of King Arthur, and in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King", just as Arthur is being placed in the barge that has been sent from Avalon, the magical island where he will be taken, he promises to come back when the world most needs him. I've been counting on that.
In my painting, I see him returning from Avalon as promised. With him are his wonderful white horse, his pale wolfhound, and his best friends, Merlin the Wizard, who is far too smart to stay locked in his crystal cave forever, and Sir Bedivere who was with him at the end and helped him into the magical barge. Together, they are bringing light back to the world and pushing back the darkness. But the dark forces will try to oppose them. Dark faeries and elves peer from the shadows and malevolent eyes glare from the dark.
Arthur is saddened by what the world has become, but Sir Bedivere merely sneers at the efforts to stop them and keeps his hand ready to draw his sword, and Merlyn is serene, knowing that light will always overcome the dark. Even now, the good faeries and elves are gathering to welcome them back as the dark fades away. In the background, you can see magical Avalon wrapping itself in mist, and in a few moments, it will vanish until next time.
I am very pleased with this painting - it is a huge step forward for me. I learned a lot with this one. I learned that if there is a mass of tiny things in the painting, it is better to keep the idividual details simple. And I learned how hard it is, but how very satisfying, to work almost entirely without reference. I didn't want the three riders to ressemble anyone at all except the way I saw them in my mind, so they were extremely hard to do. It was also a challenge to fade dark as the light advanced, but I'm satisfied with the result. And it was difficult to pull a painting of this complexity together. Although (as always) I see things I would like to improve, I love the way this turned out.
RETURN FROM AVALON is a 14 x 18 watercolor on Arches 300 hot press paper. It is available, but at this time, I have not settled on a price.
It's been a while since I've done a blog post, although I've composed a number of them in my mind. But somehow, they just didn't get written. Since the last time, we've lost one of our fur-family and even though he was an older dog and not in good health, it is never easy to say goodbye to a loved one. In the wake of that, I've found myself with a decided lack of energy and a tendency to feel not quite up to par, although that's improving steadily.
Maybe that's why I've been thinking in very gentle images these past few weeks. With Halloween coming up, that can be difficult, because everywhere you look, you see goth and gore and horror movies/costumes. I started to think back to when I was a kid. Halloween was fun, spooky, and silly, and a that's where the emphasis lay. People decorated with pumpkins, jolly or fierce, with maybe a ghost or two blowing from a tree. Dry leaves skittering down the street, a cold, sneaky wind blowing down your neck, and pumpkin-light were the main spooky effects. Costumes ran the gamut from little witches, princesses, pirates, and cowboys/girls to polite vampires, skeletons and ghosts. Boys and girls had wonderful costumes (mostly Mom-made) to match interests or fantasies that did not include chain-saw murders. Makes me wish we could bring back more of the fun of the occasion instead of focusing so much on the darker side of things.
With these things in mind, my new painting is based on a memory of going Trick-Or-Treating with my dog. It is an 11 x 14 watercolor on Arches Hot Press. I love the porch-light and pumpkin-light shining out of this one, and the body language of the Sheltie. "The things I do for my kid!" EXPECTATIONS is an original watercolor and is available at $400.
There's nothing hard about these darling Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. They were posted on my old blog, and deserve to join the other spaniels on this new one. They are wonderful, sweet natured little dogs who make fabulous companions. FOUR CAVALIERS is an 11 x 14 watercolor, and is available as the original painting, as note cards, and as small prints.
So what's the hardest thing? Getting started of course. When I am confronted with a piece of pure, snowy watercolor paper, panic sets in. What if I mess it up and ruin an expensive piece of paper? Am I truely committed to the image I'm thinking of painting? What if I get tired of it part way through? So I tidy the studio, clean the sinks, check on the dogs if they are not in the studio with me, find out where in the house the cat is hiding, have a snack (after all that cleaning and hunting up of animals, I'm peckish), have a drink (Please! I'm talking ice water!), do a couple of stretches, and look out the windows - first the front, then the back overlooking the garden. THEN I pick up my brush, take a deep breath, dip the brush in water, then in paint, and . . . .. . finally get that first blush of color on the paper. And then the image and the paint grip me and I'm off. But getting started - oh dear.
