Two New Paintings

'Waiting For Direction' 8" x 10" oil

These two oil paintings are done in a more traditional sytle.  I am starting to pay more attention to light and shadow, and am enjoying the process.  The horse is actually 'made up' meaning, the body of the horse is taken from a photo I took of a ceramic horse of mine.  I changed the position of the head and neck.  This is something I thought I would never attain- to actually formulate a painting from my mind.

'Finely Bred' 6"x 6" oil

I just finished this little head study.  Here again, I am concentrating on lights and shadows, and incorporating warm and cool colors which adds such dimension and interest to a painting. I quite like the loose background with the greens contrasting with the reddish color of the horse.  I think this little horse has such a sweet expression.

Latest Painting

Just finished this one-- an 8"x10" oil.  I had fun mixing suble color/hue changes. I actually enjoyed painting the subtle changes in the concrete areas of the background.  I used some pretty vibrant greens for the trees, found they were too bright and then glazed over them a bit to tone them down.

Draft Horse

Latest horse painting--this one is 6"x6" oil on canvas board.  Although it's a small painting, you can still get a feel for the large size of the horse.

Latest Small Painting

Just finished this 5" x 7" oil on panel, and had started to get 'fussy' with the horse on the left. I went to the computer, printed out in huge letters the word 'Esscence' and reminded myself that it is indeed the essence of the horses that I wanted to portray. From there it was rather smooth sailing.

First Things First

Here's a new painting (8"x10" oil on canvas panel) from a photo I took while I was at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington last year. I did a mini version of this photo as well as a larger version, learning new things about the painting process in every new version. 8:57:00 AM by Valarie Wolf

What is he doing here?!?!?

Just wanted to share this Buny painting which was a breeze to paint. This cute creature was at the Los Angeles County Fair and I couldn't resist taking his photo. "Resting Rabbit" is oil on canvas on board and measures 6" x 6". Shhhh....he doesn't know he isn't on a bunny art blog!

Latest Painting

I just finished this small painting. It is a 6"x6" oil on panel. I had tons of fun with this one, using unusual colors in the sky, and on the horses' coat colors. I'm still not used to seeing progress in a short time, as I used to fuss and wouldn't get anything accomplished in one day's work. This one is called 'Ready to Go'.