A Bevy of Burros

I haven't done any mustang paintings in awhile, so recently I visited the online adoption gallery of available horses on the Bureau of Land Management's website. I go through a lot of photos to find the few that 'speak' to me. I look for lighting, for emotion, movement, color, something that will work well in the formats I like to paint in. I went through all the horses, saving a few aside, and then.....there were burros! Lots and lots of burros. Unfortunately most had their photos taken in flat light (either a cloudy day or after the sun went down, so no shadows, nothing to suggest form). That is fine for potential burro adopters, but not so great for me, the painter.  I did find a few, though. Their cute furry burro faces lend themselves well to paintings, don't you agree?

The first, a jenny. Photo reference for this and the next one are courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management. Their description of her is "#4558 - 6 yr old gray jenny, captured 10/2011, from outside an HMA, California". Outside of an HMA-Herd Management Area means technically she is not protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act, but she has found her way to a facility anyway. I am not sure exactly how that works, though. 

The second painting, this time a jack. His description is "#3952 - 4 yr old gray gelded jack, captured 11/2010, from Cibola-Trigo HMA, Arizona".  Both these, and many other burros, are available for adoption throughout the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro program

Both of these paintings are 8X8 in soft pastel and are not currently for sale, I am building up inventory for a show at the end of July. After the show any that are not sold will be made available here and elsewhere.

Andre resurrected, "Hairy" painting to eBay

The original pastel painting "Hairy" has been listed to eBay:

"Hairy" is a 9 X 12 on Pastelmat professional pastel cardstock. Pastels used were NuPastel, Unison, Mount Vision, and Sennelier. 

View the auction here

Auction ends Monday September 16th

All of this painting put me back in the mood to sculpt, and for some reason I was compelled to pull Andre out of the closet. Remember Andre? I started him years ago, then another artist released a resin in the same pose (it happens) so I set him aside. Here is how he looked the last time he was on this blog:

 

 Putting him on the sculpting stand and looking him over I realized that with a few adjustments he could be cantering. And who doesn't love a big chunky cantering draft horse? No one, we all love cantering draft horses. The butt wrinkle possibilities alone are mind boggling!

Kiger painting listed to eBay

I have just listed the original pastel painting "Kiger" to eBay. You can view the listing here. The photo reference for this painting came from the Bureau of Land Management's Burns Oregon facility. For those who aren't familiar with Kigers they are a distinct breed or type of mustang from the Steens Mountain region in Oregon, with bloodlines tracing back to the original Spanish horses. Many of them are dun with primitive markings. This particular horse was adopted and is loved, his new owner telling me that her veterinarian said he has some of the best conformation he has ever seen. He was allowed to remain a stallion to make more pretty horses in the future. I wish they all had such happy endings. 

The Akhal Teke sheen

For a challenge I thought I'd try an Akhal Teke with their infamous metallic sheen. This is a 9 X 12 on Wallis Professional sanded pastel paper. Photo reference provided by Heather Abounader:

$100.00 + $10.00 s&h

SOLD!

Tiny has been shipping for a few weeks now, and a few painted ones are popping up. I am especially fond of pintos, and here is a really nice one by Tammy Myrold:

 

More information on purchasing unpainted Tinys is available here on his webpage.

Belgian painting

Here's my latest painting, a Belgian draft horse: 

Pastel on Uart professional heavyweight sanded  paper 8 X 10. 

                                                 SOLD!




I was able to send out my first donation today from the sales of mustang prints, it felt really good. This time the donation went to our local mustang group that helps with the Spring Creek Basin Mustangs. Next time I am considering donating to Canon City's prison training program where inmates train mustangs for adoption. What a great thing, to allow prisoners to help both themselves and the horses. 

The mustang paintings now have their own shop on Etsy. Called "The Mustang Project" all the mustang paintings and related items will be put in the store as they are ready to sell. A portion of all proceeds from this shop are donated. I'll probably be setting up another shop for the non-mustang paintings at some point, but for now my focus is really on the wild ones :)


With the recent completion of the "Tiny" project I find myself in need of the next sculpting venture. I am struggling a bit as to what to do next. Admittedly I am recently a little out of touch with the model horse world, since the mustang painting craze took over my mind. I'm considering repositioning and finishing Andre the large Traditional scale heavy drafter, but has the economy improved enough that he would be a decent seller for me? Should I stick with Stablemates? If so, what should be next? I have been adding to my Akhal Teke reference file, and have no problem finding inspiration there. What about another mustang, since I'm so into them right now? So many breeds, so many. If you have an idea for me please let me know in the comments section.