I Never Saw a Purple Cow

6 X 8 oil on masonite $115
includes shipping and insurance

…and you’re not seeing one now! This cow is more blue than purple, but it’s still a bit on the fantasy side, I’d say.
One of my Daddy’s favorite poems to quote when he was in a silly mood was “I never saw a purple cow, I never thought I’d see one. But I tell you this right now: I’d rather see one than be one.” I’m not really sure if there’s some really deep philosophical meaning in that poem - but I do know that it made a little girl giggle every time she heard it.
Song of Solomon 6:9
but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $115 US Shipping and insurance included
Or, send me an email

©Copyright 2009 by Debbie Grayson Lincoln. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Irises, finished!

This is a commission that a regular to my studio in Canton had asked me to do a couple months ago. This painting is based on Van Gogh’s ‘Irises’ painting. That alone is kind of intimidating. I think too the idea of all those irises kind of kept me from moving forward on this after I got about half way thru. I ended up hitting the wire for a deadline so just plunged back into it. A funny thing happened as I did. I discovered that the faster I worked and the more I gobbed paint on the better those irsies were looking! Maybe that is my own delusion but hopefully I learned something this! :) I will be able to take this to my studio tonight for First Friday — wet but it will be there!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great 4th of July!

Sue Steiner

faces, animals, pets, horses and flower artist! googleae39aa9de0618816.html

©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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“Party of Seven” Painted Pony Pulls Horse Painting by Laurie Pace

“Party of Seven”
18 x 27 inches
Acrylic on Canvas

Contact me to purchase: Laurie

© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009

“I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with Joy.” 2 Corinthians 7:4

The Painting: Golden Acrylics and Liquitex Acrylics were on the palette as I began this pull. 97 percent of my pulls are in Oil, so an acrylic one is rare. The paint does not respond in the same manner, but I am able to double up on my layers and the dimensional aspect of the subject.

The Thought: I’ve got the Joy Joy Joy Joy down in my heart….that is a line from a song I sang with my children as they were growing up.

What is joy to you? For my youngest son, joy should be every day having fun and living life. To my oldest son, joy is his buddies and time with that World Warfare game. To my daughter, joy seems to be getting everything done. Finding a completion in a job well done.

We all seem to have our own thoughts on Joy. Joy is a blink when considering the list above. Joy is a simple passing moment or feeling and it only surfaces for short times. It has to be “fed” to exist in their lives. Our daughter is most aware that there is joy in the fleeting sense with each completion of something, but in her heart she knows the lasting joy from knowing the Lord. She knows the suffering that comes with true joy. She and her husband lost their young son several years ago…but from that horrible loss came the sweetest joy as the two of them found their walk with the Lord. Enduring something like this, or thinking of Jesus dying on the cross moment by moment bleeding to death…it is amazing how it produces Joy. Losing a child is not fun. Enduring the cross was not fun. The joy is in living to the glory and praise of God.

Your experiences may bring a tough reality to your life. Stay centered with God and live as He would want you to live in accordance to His Will and His Plan. Joy is not more money, or more things…Joy is in the “being” and the “giving” to others. Experience the everlasting overflowing JOY of the Lord. It is this joy that will comfort you and give you strength.

Joyfully live for God today.

Laurie

“Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

©Copyright 2009 by Laurie Justus Pace. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Driving, Daisies and Dot


Gentleman’s Turnout
oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.

“Pulling Their Weight”, the Horse in Fine Art Exhibition is up and running at the Mackinac Island Public Library. Gentleman’s Turnout is one of my three entries. The show can be viewed online at the AAEA website. It looks to be a stunning selection of work. I am so honored to be a part of it.

Pulling Their Weight, The Horse in Fine Art


The whole horse pasture is just full of buttercups and daisies. I wish it were full of more edible grass for the horses, but I am hopeless at pasture management, and it has been made difficult this year with all the rain…it just grows and grows faster than the horses can eat it, and there is very little time to mow it. But on the bright side, the daisies make a beautiful, very long-lasting display in a lovely old mason jar.


Yellow Chick
oil on canvas, 11 x 14 in.

And this is “Dot”, my little yellow chick. She has grown into a beautiful cream-colored pullet with a bit of orange on the edges of some of her feathers. Here is a photo of her all grown up.

I am moving on from the baby chick paintings to hen paintings, and I will post as soon as one is finished and scanned.
The coop is nearly finished, just a few small details left to do, and the young ladies seem to be very happy in their home. They have all figured out the chicken ladder and go into the coop at night, safe from all the wily predators. And here is what I’m calling “The Egg Drop Inn”, complete with window box.

©Copyright 2009 by Alecia Underhill. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Horse Head

Here’s the latest horse done in the ‘loose’ style.

Here’s the latest horse done in the ‘loose’ style. It’s an 8″x10″oil painted on this new very fine-grained canvas I recently bought and I am now in *love* with! The surface is so easy to work on and it is not slick at all so it really grabs the paint!

©Copyright 2009 by Valarie Wolf. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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“Sunset Sail” Contemporary Sailboat Seascape Oil Painting by Laurie Pace

‘Wind at Sunset’
18 x 27 inches
Oil on Canvas

SOLD

Contact me for your own sailboat commission: Laurie

© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2006

“No one whose hope is in you, will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.” Psalm 25:3

The Painting: An oldie from 2006. Fresh strokes of heavy oils created the movement of light in the sky casting the vivid brightness onto the water. Sky and water maintain the colors and the fluidity of the water appears to take over the clouds in the sky, all running closely together.

The Thought:

When you are anticipating something, are you waiting on God to do it His way or your way?
I can answer that one…my way. I work really hard making things happen…not good huh? Yeah, I know, I have found out the hard way.

Research tells me the Hebrew work ‘qavah’ means to bind together, look patiently, to wait or hope eagerly. The second close word in Hebrew is ‘yachal’ which also means wait or trust. A third Hebrew word seen in translating is ‘damam’. This means to be dumb or grow silent and still, but also can mean wait. No matter which word, wait is wait and wait requires the passage of time. If you tie in faith, you have more involved than the passage of time…you now bring in expectation and hope. If you mentally braided the two words together, waiting and hoping… you are beginning to understand.

Waiting with hope will bring in another step based in knowledge and trust. If we do not have trust, we will be anxious and more tempted to take things into our own hands. Will the sun rise this morning? (Remember it is 5:30 here as I write…) Will the sun set this evening? I totally trust in these things happening. Proof over the 56 years of my life provides me with the knowledge that this is a for sure thing.

What about attitudes playing into the “wait on the Lord” idea. Do you simply sit back and do nothing? Are you passive or active? Are you negative or positive? I would hope positive activity doing the right things would be the best. This entails careful obedience by faith in our knowledge and trust in the word that has been shared with us through the Bible.

While you are waiting, seek the Lord spending time in prayer, in his Word and listening.

Wait to take action in the right time. Just as you should not plant seeds to grow a garden in the late fall…you have the knowledge to know when it is time to take action. In addition we have to learn to be content with His timing and what He provides for us. We have to give up our ideas to hear His. Time to let go of the pressures we put on ourselves with the wants of the world.

From this we learn to wait on the Lord, be content with His provisions for us and His timing in every situation. Through this you will be strengthened. This is when character is built and you grow spiritually. Wait with a positive attitude and great expectations of His plan.

Wait, Hope, Trust, be Positively Active, use Wisdom with Action, find contentment right now and EXPECT….look ahead, look up and be productive while you are waiting.

“Wait for the LORD; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. ” Psalm 27:14

Laurie

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;” Psalm 37:4-7

©Copyright 2009 by Laurie Justus Pace. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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July Goals

Setting monthly goals for June worked so well for writing that I’m going to do the same for painting this month.

The first thing I want to do is lesson paintings. I’m going to set a goal of three paintings finished in the Flemish technique for July. That shouldn’t be a problem, with five currently in the color stage.

The second thing I’d like to do this month is finish the portrait of the Little Dog. We’re planning a trip to Michigan over the Labor Day weekend and if I could deliver that, I would love it.

The third goal for July will be finishing the portrait of Lockkeeper. That may be a stretch because it’s now the largest painting in progress. It would also be nice to able to deliver it in September.

Finally, if I can complete these two portraits, I will have cleared my schedule of portrait work. There are some large scale projects I’ve been thinking about tackling when “I can make the time”. It may just be the right time to begin planning those. Once the show collection is complete and the portraits are done, my painting time will be my own.

I also need to start the serious thinking about a painting for the 2010 Michigan Harness Horseman’s Association auction. Time is drawing short for completely a new piece for that January event, but it’s not yet too late.

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Southwest Style Horse Art

I love the dusty, earthy colors in this painting. I am considering it 90% done. :) I need a couple days to look it over and decide what else it needs. I really like the coloring on the face although I need to work on the right eye. I am considering doing another painting in this color palette of a closer cropped face since I enjoyed the loose brushstrokes around the face and mane on this one.

Today I met with some of the other artists who have studios in the same gallery I am in. We are working out some promotional types of things we will do as a group. I think one of the things I will be offering during our Open Studio time is horse drawing lessons. I imagine horse crazy little girls but hey there are plenty of people who never grow out of the horse crazy stage. Why does it have to be considered a ’stage’ anyways? If you are in Canton and are interested in hearing more drop me a line or stop by Second April Art Gallerie.

I do have to say out of vanity I considered not posting this piece because for some reason (maybe the size and shape of the original canvas??) when I put the image up on the computer it looks out of whack. I am sure that has to do with some kind of distortion from my monitor and the resizing of the image which I do not know how to correct. So with that little disclaimer I am posting this anyways.

For the most part I have not censored what I post. If you’ve followed me for any length of time then you’ve seen the whole range of me ‘playing’ and throwing paint around to what I think of as more serious work. I think by doing that it helps take away the fear of failing when it comes to painting. I decided when it became clear a few years ago that I was going to want to paint come hell or high water because it feels good to paint. I was not going to let myself get into the position that the end product would become more important than the process. I have heard of too many painters who stop painting because they get locked up from perfectionism or being too self critical. This is my way of countering that. I want to strive to improve and grow and refine my technique but never at the expense that painting is no longer enjoyable.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sue Steiner

animal and equine artist

pet portraits googleae39aa9de0618816.html

©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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A Couple of New Pieces

Tea For One

20 x 16 original acrylic

Glass Apple

14 x 14 original acrylic
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy painting away and preparing for a few competitions.

But first, I’d like to start off by wishing everyone a very happy Canada Day!!! Gotta love Canada day. We did partake in some activities earlier today, after I’d finished all my prep work and final details for competitions.

And speaking of competitions, I have been juried into the La Cloche Art Show for the second year in a row. I don’t know if I won anything, or which of my paintings were accepted, but I am part of the show and am very proud and excited to have been juried in! If you’re in the area, please make sure you drop by the show which is in Whitefish Falls, just before you get to Manitoulin Island. It’ll be an amazing show with a great assembly of art from various artists. I believe that about 200 works from 104 artists will be displayed. Check out the show’s website at http://www.geocities.com/laclocheartshow/

And now for these 2 new works. Both were just completed and entered into another competition today, this one for a magazine. Many artists might know which one I’m speaking of . . . Hope I do well!

I completed Tea for One yesterday and battled for a while if was going to make it a lighter, brighter piece with a light background, but I opted for the black. I had started with the lighter background and it just didn’t speak to me. Once I changed it to black, the piece became alive with drama, full of shadows and light. Bingo! That’s what I wanted.

The other piece, Glass Apple was painted yesterday, as a last minute entry for the competition. I was going to enter another piece, but my gut screamed, NO!!! I knew I wanted to paint this piece over a week ago. Gilles received this as part of his 25th celebration at work and as soon as he opened the gift box, I sat mesmerized by the apple. Picture this, a classy affair at a fancy, shmancy place, and here I am holding this thing in my hand, moving it around, looking at how the different light played on it. People must’ve been wondering what I was doing. Artists, eh! You can dress ‘em up but ya can’t take the creativity outta them. We see stuff everywhere we go and always notice things such as the way light bounces off something, the way shadows and light play, colours, sunsets and hazy skylines, misty mornings . . . Everything we see we look at in a unique way, always painting when not painting. But I digress . . .

Back to the apple.For this piece, I sat the apple on a glass table on a dreary day and loved how the reflection almost appeared like a double exposure photo, with the trees showing. Anyway, I absolutely loved painting this apple and plan on using it in more pieces. I have several ideas for it, and the next one will be with more dramatic lighting in the same size as this one. Both are for sale and will be posted on my site soon with prices listed. In the meantime, please inquire through my site if interested.

So my friends, after a very busy few weeks, I’m taking the night off. But there’s never really any such thing as a night of with artists is there; we’re always thinking of and planning the next one, or two, or three. Oh, and there’s blogging and posting new work! Right now, I’m feeling the need to paint a horse. I have two ideas in mind, so I guess I’ll see which I’m really inspired to paint once I start. Many of my paintings are last minute decisions, and these always seem to be the best.

I’ll write back this weekend after my visit to the show and let you know what’s what. Until then, take care and again, hope you have a wonderful Canada Day!!!

P.S. The mural is being shown at the Calgary Stampede! From July 2-12 you can see the Cadeau du Cheval mural at the Western Oasis in Hall E at the BMO Centre. Let me know if you have the opportunity to visit it. I’d love to hear comments! Wish I could be there . . . For info visit http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cadeau.html



©Copyright 2009 by Carole Rodrigue. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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July pARTy!!


It’s that time again! The July pARTy has begun. You have between now and midnight July 3rd 2009 (EST) to create and submit your artwork using the above photo. Keep in mind you have only 24 hours allocated to cover the creation process.

New this time around is the pARTy forum, a place where you can introduce yourself, read up on pARTy rules, download a higher resolution file of the reference and ultimately submit your pARTy image for sharing with the public. Please take a moment to register on the forum and say a quick hello - it is Linda’s and my hope that this will add tremendously to the pARTy experience.

Should you publish your pARTy entry somewhere, please give credit to the reference photo photographer. The July pARTy’s photographer is Kimberly Kelly Santini (www.turtledovedesigns.com).
Thanks so much - happy creating! Kim

©Copyright 2009 by The Virtual pARTy and participating artists. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist challenge, visit The Virtual pARTy Blog.

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“Wild Morning” Equine Horse Art Painting by Laurie Pace

‘Wild Morning’
18 x 27 inches

Acrylic on Canvas

Contact me to purchase: Laurie

© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009

“Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God. I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:32

The Painting: Acrylic Overlays in about seven layers. Dense thick paint and high glass varnish combine to finish off this unique composition.

The Thought: We were driving down Forest Lane on our way home from Whole Foods and I saw the sign outside the Unity Church, “HAPPY HOUR” . Of course it was referring to the church service on Sunday.

Then I was reading a magazine with little one liners that said, “Do you know what Happy Hour for the elderly is? An afternoon nap. Life not only begins at forty, it begins to show. Some of the other one liners were: You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.

It seems like the older Terry and I get, the more we forget our age. ( in more ways than one…either doing more than we should or truly just forgetting how old we are!) Somehow our inside brain thinks twenties but our body doesn’t match up at all. I just realized recently I had crossed over to the ‘other side’ when I was examining our ‘future’ retirement situation for that long term planning I spoke of yesterday in the blog. I had mentioned to Patrick Lowe, our financial adviser, http://www.fa.ml.com/lowe_group (HE IS THE BEST, look him up!) that I could still teach school if I had to. Good gracious, I will be 57 this year. Why would I ever want to do that?

What are you suppose to be like in your sixties? What is “Sixty”? I can hearing you screaming OLD at me, but my mom will be 80 in a few weeks and she isn’t old… she is older, but not old. She is wiser, but not old. She is in full bloom with every intense beauty within her bursting out.

As we grow older our faith takes us by the hand and we walk a tiny bit slower in our journey. It is faith telling us “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit, who lives in you.” Romans 8:11. In a sense it suggests that in those closing years of our journey here on earth, that our mortal life will be infused with special energy from God’s spirit. I can hope!

We can hear a whisper as hope does jump into the scene. “because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:2 Hope give us the assurance of a glorious future.

Generally society here in the US does not put much value into our elderly. The older we get the more diminished and devalued we are. I can see it all around me. I can’t fix it. I can only continue my journey with Terry in faith and hope for each new day.

No matter where you are in age, remember those older than you today and call someone you love that is older and share some joy.

Laurie

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:4

©Copyright 2009 by Laurie Justus Pace. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Grass Fire


California doesn’t hold the patent on scary fires - we have ‘em in Texas, too. Last Friday, a vehicle was unknowingly driven while on fire down Hwy 281 and it set off a series of grass fires between Morgan Mill and Stephenville. The inferno quickly became out of hand and threatened a number of homes, barns and hay fields. The only way to put out fires in the country is to physically haul the water in a tanker/pumper truck to the site of the fire. We do not enjoy the luxury of hydrants. And if the fire is in an out-of -the-way place, like this one was - across gullies, dense cedar growths and through fences, it becomes even harder to extinguish. Often the best thing to be done is bulldoze a fire break. All the local volunteer fire departments were called in (Huckabay, Morgan Mill, Bluff Dale and Oak Dale, to mention a few) and the forest service helped the next day by bulldozing a fire break.
No structures were lost nor were any animals injured (a number of ranchers loaded up and moved their horses, though). Several of our church members are volunteer fire fighters and I thank God every day for them and the nasty job they do. Several of them went with very little sleep for a couple days. I hate hearing their pagers go off….
I also hate seeing on the horizon the tell-tale white plumes of smoke that mean another fire has started - something all too common this time of year in Texas.
Psalm 68:2
As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God

©Copyright 2009 by Debbie Grayson Lincoln. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Louisiana Cattle 2

9 X 12 Oil on canvas
Check with artist for availability

Louisiana landscapes are so different from Texas. Moss replaces cactus and water replaces blowing sand. White face cattle in the north, Brahman crosses in the south. Live oaks thrive both places and so do the cypress trees.

Sometimes I miss the lush greenness of my home state of Louisiana. Much of the state is like a greenhouse - warm and humid. We lived in Illinois in the early 70’s and while there I literally longed for the radiant, blazing heat of the south - both the dry heat of Texas and the sweat-inducing humid coastal heat that you can only get on a beach (or central Louisiana).

My husband loves the mountains, and so do I. But my tendency is to hibernate in the cool mountains - the heat seems to stimulate life! Why are we never happy where we are?????

Ecclesiastes 5:19
Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.

Media: oil
Size: 12 in X 9 in (30.5 cm X 22.9 cm)

How to Purchase:
send me an email

©Copyright 2009 by Debbie Grayson Lincoln. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Good News Abounds!


If anything, today’s weather is worse than yesterday’s. It’s cloudy, a stiff wind is blowing, a drizzly rain is falling, and the temperature is a chilly 56 degrees F as opposed to yesterday’s high of 66! Even so, I prefer this weather to last week’s heat and high humidity. It’s a good chance to catch up on indoor chores without the misery of constant sweating and clammy floors and furniture.

At the height of last week’s heat, I was visited by a newly found saddle fitter who evaluated my saddle and my horse and declared that he could take my saddle apart, narrow the tree and restuff it to fit my horse better. Since it’s a quality saddle in good condition and needs only these minor adjustments, I won’t have to go saddle shopping again! The long and short of it is that this culminated a long-time goal of mine to “do something” about a saddle that I knew was a little too wide for my horse but that is comfortable for me and that I love. Thanks to a Chronicle of The Horse online forum, I was able to find a saddle fitter in Michigan who was highly recommended by other dressage riders. If the fit turns out well, I’ll share his name.

The other thing I accomplished over the past week was to finish weeding the flower beds, plant the wax begonias and install edging blocks along the front of the old garage flower bed. That made a huge improvement in its looks and helps to hold the water in, since one end of the bed is higher than lawn level. All of my new perennials that survived the winter are doing spectacularly, and the foxgloves are now blooming in lovely hues of magenta and cream. I’m going to wait until next year to move plants around after evaluating their different growing characteristics and bloom times. This year I’ll install more edging blocks along the long fence bed and dig out more sections between shrubs which will make mowing the lawn easier for my husband.

In about ten days, Horse Shows By The Bay will begin its expanded three week series of shows in Acme, and I’m hoping to get over there to shoot at least a couple of times. There will be an all-afternoon series of polo matches that are must-sees as well.

In honor of HSBB, I’m thinking of starting a new painting or drawing using one of my images from past shows. There are so many good ones to choose from that it will be difficult to make a choice! Should it be hunters, jumpers, dressage, ponies or a general horse show scene? Or, perhaps I’ll start my planned series of horse show dogs.

There is more good news that Mural Mosaic’s The Horse Gift will be displayed at this year’s Calgary Stampede. That’s the mural I did a panel for last year, so if you’re up that way and going to take in the Stampede, be sure to search out the mural. You can’t miss it; it’s 22 feet high! So far, the mural has been shown at Spruce Meadows, Quarter Horse Congress and the National Finals Rodeo; all top horse venues with lots of visitors. Reports are that visitors are just blown away by it! You can buy your own poster of it, too, or buy a book and put together your own life sized horse poster of the mural. I have books, if anyone is interested.

At the top are my foxgloves blooming. And below is my panel for The Horse Gift.

©Copyright 2009 by Karen Baker Thumm. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Sweet cherries, blunt pencils and summer sun

Bowing down with a great big smile and wishing you all a wonderful summer.
Time has come for my wee blunt scribble friends to take a well deserved rest.
They have packed their bags and are off with the fairies cherries.
Few loose ends to tie up and I’ll be following them.

Black on Grey on White will be back with a vengeance in a few weeks.
Look forward to catching up with you all then.
Have a fan-da-be-d0-see summer.
Ciao ciao.

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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“The Great Race” Equine Horse Oil Painting by Laurie Justus Pace

‘The Great Race’

18 x 24 inches
Oil on Canvas

Contact me to purchase: Laurie

© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6

The Painting: Taking off on a different road with this one. The horses are more defined for space; the action is in the movement of line and counter lines playing angles against each other.
Colors are always vivid.

The Thought: Planning ahead. Is it the Great Race? In the remodeling of this house we definitely should have had a better plan and kept a better schedule. Planning ahead I should have never lined up cable or internet until we were done.

This morning I began to wake and lifted one eyelid and saw it was light in the room. Terry is on a different schedule and I knew he had to be up. My eyes flew open to the alarm clock and it was only 4 am. I realized then the back neighbors ‘movement’ light was on and it was reflecting off the monstrous second story next door towering over us with its silver insulating board lighting up our entire bedroom with reflections of the light. Not exactly the stars and moon we had before is it? Prayers began to tumble from my head across my lips. What am I missing that I am to learn from this? Patience must be at the top of the list. Patience in God to position us where we are to be for Him to give what we need for our lives. We must all be in place… the place He wants us to be.

How do you plan for this? Can you plan ahead? In the old testament what did Joseph do when God told him of a seven year famine? He took immediate action and began making provisions for the future by storing food. What are we each facing in our own lives right now and are we preparing for the future? Our future?

Terry and I have touched on several things over the past few months, but I believe it is time to get a firm grip on our plans for the future. God may be laughing as we do them, but with constant prayer and listening, I hold firm in my faith whatever we decide will be the best guide we can use right now.

Faith without works is dead. We must have a plan based in faith. Achieving financial freedom for retirement will be a challenge in this economic economy. Everyone can save but you have to make a decision to do it and carry through. I think for us we will begin building that 6-12 months of reserve cash in our savings account. So much of what we have is tied in the stock market. (yeah, high risk, low risk, medium risk… whatever!) The time now is to be focused on our diligence to save and be consistent. Wealth will be gather little by little. Small steps before you run.

Always know there will be unexpected things happening. That is God at work. We wise and build up that six months of living expenses. Do not waste your money. Remember to consider NEED and WANT. I am pretty tight on our money outgo right now. We are on hold unless we visit about expenditures. The Bible says in Proverbs that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. In this economy that is a huge task. I don’t think I will make that in money. Their inheritance will most likely be artwork.

Yes I can hear them groaning in heaven.

Make a plan today and begin to carry through to your new goal.

Laurie

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

©Copyright 2009 by Laurie Justus Pace. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Guienne Hanover; Finished but for the Tweaking!

The portrait of Gueinne Hanover is now complete except for the tweaking! Praise the Lord!

I worked on the painting on Monday in spite of the fact that some of the previous work was still a little bit tacky. There wasn’t much to do, but it was about the most difficult part of the entire painting: those nasty straight lines and curved lines of the bike!

But it was put in place in the first session, then tweaked a little bit in the next.

I also did some tweaking to the driver, including the rather complicated looking design on the helmet, touched up the race track, and began the lettering at the bottom.

After that, a day or two to dry and I’ll look it over to see if I’ve missed anything and it will be D-O-N-E!

Once that happens, I’ll have to take it to the gallery, where I can place it on an easel and get sufficient light and distance to take a good photograph. It will probably stay there until it’s ready for framing or for delivery, whichever the client chooses.

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Curiosity by Catherin McMillan

Curiosity

Curiosity or Harry as he is better know is another of the pony’s that have been rescued by Triple R Equine Welfare here in Australia. Harry was lucky enough to find a new and lovely home.

5 1/2″ x 8″ Pastel

$150.00 + postage

Pay Pal available.

10% of the sale price will be donated to TREW

If you would like to purchase this piece please drop me an email.

catherin@animalarthouse.com

©Copyright 2009 by Catherin McMillan. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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