As I had hoped, have been able to sit and noodle the last few strokes and such today and this one is ready for a frame. Image size on this one is 9" square. Two interesting points here, for me . . . working in a square format yet again and main focus . . . a human! What fun!

It's been a rough couple of days to be able to sit and work with back trouble still in the picture, but I've managed to bring this work to this point . . . seemingly within spitting distance of completion. I might try a bit of work this evening otherwise I expect this one to be done tomorrow afternoon.

As I sit down to try and get some work done on this piece today, my back still giving me a bit of a problem . . . here is what was accomplished yesterday during a number of fifteen and twenty minute stints at the drawing board spread out during the afternoon and early evening. I'd like to get this one finished up by the end of the day tomorrow, so going to bite the bullet and see if my back can stand a bit more time in the studio this afternoon!

Backyard visitor this morning. I looked out my window at about 8:30 and this whitetail was just having a great old time wandering around the yard. She did not seem the least bit concerned with me standing in my kitchen bay and madly snapping photos. She eventually wandered into a back corner, heavy with dense shrubbery and might still be bedded down in there for all I know! Little work time today as I have done something to my back and it is too painful to sit for extended periods at the drawing board, let alone at the computer keyboard! So, I guess that will be it for now.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course . . . 

Today's couple hours at the drawing board and I think the little girl is done except for that hat!

Drawing time today was preoccupied with bangles and beads!

So, what is it about me and hats? Not sure, but I seem to be very interested in drawing hats lately! Here are the beginnings of the current work on the drawing board. Horses? People? A hat? Ah, is there a recurring theme here?

Completed a short while ago, 'October Morn' is ready for the work table and framing. The work is a slight bit over 8" x 26" and will be a part of a special dozen or so work, invitational equine exhibition opening in Lexington, Kentucky next February. I am pleased that my graphite work will be included along with paintings by other nationally recognized artists in this special showing in Kentucky horse country.

(A very special 'Thank You' goes out to fine artist and good friend, Dana Lee Thompson, who graciously allowed me access to and use of her wonderful personal reference material from time spent at 'the hunt'. I was able to piece together what I hope is an interesting composition from her fabulous photographs.)

Slow going today, as Italian 16th Century lute music plays in the studio and I continue to develop the background. Since it is a grey, rainy day outside the studio window, seems a rather appropriate setting to be working on.

Today's work . . . for the moment, I believe I have pretty much completed all horses and riders but there might be some final tightening up yet to come. Today I set in some strong dark slashes here and there to help separate and give dimension (using a sharp 3B), softened some areas to blend things together (using a blunt tip 6H) and generally did some 'nit picking' in the foreground. I also started to tackle some soft details in the background. It's going to be tricky giving the background some interest while trying to keep things soft, fuzzy and distant as if seen through a fine morning mist yet making it all a cohesive composition that works together.

I've found a few hours here and there over the weekend to bring the work to this point. I'm seeing the light at the end of the trail so would like to have this one finished before the end of the coming week, life's interventions notwithstanding.

As it sometimes does, life intervened yesterday to cut into work time so progress was kept to a minimum till this afternoon. Here is where things stand at this time.

As I sit down to work today, the major accomplishment yesterday was to spend a great deal of time on coat, pants and boot! As I've talked about before, my technical approach to my medium plays out in layers. The coat texture was a development of many layers of graphite applied over and over to get the texture to resemble the soft wool of the coat. Layers of 6H, 3H, H, F and HB, with a touch of 2B for picking out the strong shadows and folds, made this a laborious afternoon's work. But, I think the end result was worth the effort as these two riders are the focal point of the entire work. What lays ahead today? You'll see tomorrow!

Here is today's work . . .

Today's bit of work. One might wonder why it is that I apparently started this work on the right side of the composition thus making it so that I would be working across areas that I have already worked on. Well, since the dominance of the composition is clustered to the right of the vertical center line, I wanted to make certain that light and shadow read correctly and that the various intensities of the darker areas moved things forward and back, giving depth and separation to the cluster of the four riders before setting out to move across to the left background as well as the lead rider. Might seem strange to be putting down large areas of graphite over which I will be continuously working as the piece progresses, but it works for me! And there are intermittent light sprays of fix to help to protect the already worked on areas from smearing as well as my trusty little scrap of Bristol which always acts as a protector under my drawing hand.

Progress . . . out and about yesterday, but managed a bit of time sitting at the drawing board. So, here's a 'horse's tale!'  Lots of graphite beginning to find its way onto the Bristol Board and a lot more to come before this one is done. Actually, I do believe that there will be no part of the 'paper' which will not have even a minimal smattering of graphite on it. This one is, for me, a rather larger work too, a bit over 8" x 26".

Sometimes, I even surprise myself!

 

 For someone who, as little as a couple years ago, maintained that he was not the least bit interested in including the human form in his compositional ideas and finished drawings, I've found it very interesting just how many of my recent works have begun to find people creeping into them. When the muse beckons, you have to follow the crooked finger. It is all about growing as an artist, exploring new territory and inspiration, testing and challenging oneself and in the vernacular of the 'techy' world, stepping out of the box sometimes. I suppose I've found myself more open to going down new paths than I would have been four, five or six years ago and that is a 'good thing'. There was a time when I thought I would draw nothing but elephants and lions working from the African inspiration that was so much in the forefront of my mind after seven trips to the continent. Then, I moved to semi-rural Maryland and found cows and sheep and barns to have moved to the top of my motivational inspirations for new works. Life opens doors, life closes doors . . . it's always a treat to find whatever lays beyond the turning of the knob!