Z is for Zebra and Zebu: More Paintings from My Visit to Dixiemeadows Farm

Little Red Zebu Calf and Zebra 

both paintings are watercolors and sized  8 by 10 inches

One last Mare and Foal from the Art pARTy Image.

"Her Taffy Foal"

I just thought I needed to do one more little painting from the Art pARTy  image by Linda Shantz. This time the mare is gray and the foal is taffy. The painting is  9" by 6" watercolor on Starthmore 300 series Watercolor paper using artist grade Grumbacher watercolors

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My Entry for the Virtual Party

The Virtual pARTy Hosted by Equine Artist Linda Shantx.

From Linda's Blog:

"Participants are then invited to create art from the referenced image, Anything goes, but the artwork must have been started and finished within a 24 hour period."

 This is the Picture Linda took for us to use as a reference:

My Strategy:

For my entry I decided to do a little manipulation of the original Photography by Linda Shantz, My idea was to paint a quick watercolor painting in two sittings. The entire painting two about 8 to 9 hours.

The first thing I did was flip the entire composition. I also wanted more horses and absolutely no fence. I wanted the illusion of freedom so no halters were allowed in mine. Another thing I wanted the drama and peacefulness of  an intimate secluded meadow perhaps at the edge of an abandoned orchard. We see a lot of those type of  paddocks here in Virginia. They are thick with orchard grass and  shady trees.

My Painting: "Afternoon Pasture" 12 by 9 inches Watercolor

Both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses are likely to be seen where I live. But since this wasn't a formal farm I decided on some nice nice quarterhorses. Three mares and three foals. Actually I simply repeated the mare with the foal beside her. The mare in the back is just a smaller version of the larger mare on the right front. One of my very favorite things to do is also to turn a horse around. I did this when I turned the foal in the center back ( originally with his back to us) of the painting around to face us. He is actually the same foal that was with the mare. 

The last thing I did was to change the colors of the horses. I have three palominos in this  painting. Quite fun to do as well.  Because of the speed there is not as much detail as would be in a painting I would have taken pains with so the viewers eye must do more of the work.  All in all it was great fun. I cant wait to see what the other artists did. The greatest challenge with these events is to take the same  image and create something unique from all the other artists.

This Painting is available for sale on ETSY.com just follow the link: Buy Afternoon Pasture Here      

New Work for 2010!!

Well as usual there are always a number of Christmas comissions that have to be finished up in January. Im having a great time with the comissions. These include a dog, a pony and a very cute orange kitten and a simaese cat. I am working everyday now painting on something.

However, in the midst of this I also had the wonderful opportunity to visit Dixiemeadows Farm  in Rappahannock, Va.  This is a wonderful amazing place where love for animals just flows. I was invited with a photographer to come out and visit, take a pickup truck tour guided by the ower herself. For privacy reasons I am going to call her Mrs. D. 

What an amazing woman. She know so much about caring for animals that I couldnt help respect her. The way every animal on the farm is cared for and knows they are loved well it made me jelouse of course as an animal lover and a former horse farmer.

I can only say that this was an oasis of wonder for me.  Donkeys, Zebra, Zebu, Camels, Tarpan Horses, Dahul Sheep from Texas, Dexter and Scottish Hilander Cattle and a breed of Peruvian Camels I had never heard of before. I was able to take some amazing photos and just soak in  the amazing texture of the place.

I have to admit through  among the donkeys, brahama cows, pea fowel and waterbuffalo and all the other amazing critters... my three favorites were the cream colored Hilander Cow who ate cookies from my hand, the baby camel who Mrs D allowed me to feed, and  the Zonkie.  Yes, I did say Zonkie!

The Zonkie is a cross between a Donkey and a Zebra. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. He is about the size of a medium pony and looks for all the world like a horse, except for his big ears and striped legs. Here is my very first watercolor of the Dixiemeadows' Animals. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did meeting Mrs. D and spending the wonderful morning with her.
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If you would like to own a print of the Zonkie. Watch this space for more details or email me at  contact@llmartin.com

Me and My Just Dreamin' Dog T-shirt on Cafepress

Last month ( December 2009) I got the coolest twitter message on my  LindaLMartin twitter. It seems that each month Cafepress randomly chooses  a few designers to give free t-shirts too. Well I have a number of designs on Cafe presss. But my favorite is from my watercolor of the sleeping french bull dog called Just Dreamin'. So when they contacted me I was so excited. In return I was suppose to take a photo of myself wearing the shirt so that they could use it in a scrap book of designers and for advertising of their products. Well I've had a terrible time finding someone to take the picture. Usually the timing was wrong or the camera wasn't working for some reason. But finally today my friend Margie took the shot for me. It looks great. But unfortunately I was having a bad hair day. hahahaha. Anyway here is my shirt and two of the pictures that Margie took.

Thanks Margie!! What an awesome Job!

You can see the full line of  Just Dreamin' Designs at :

http://www.cafepress.com/DreaminDog

Sizes up to 5x

Maternity Sizes too.