Racehorses....and Neva Masquerades!

I have not done one of these racehorse paintings for ages ..... in fact I have not done ANY paintings for ages!!!

One of the reasons was the arrival of my two new Neva Masquerade Siberian girls  from  Schwabische Neva cattery in Germany.

Their names are Qwizzy and Quagga ( African half striped Zebra) They are big girls , with Qwizzy at 5 months weighing in at 4kg!
They are the most sweet natured kittens and have the typical Neva laid back attitude to life.

DarkArt website.....live!

DarkArt.....

My DarkArt website has gone live!

There are still a few snags to iron out, but go and have a look and tell me what you think.

Big thank you to my dear husband Oliver, who spent hours and hours and hours testing the site and for his patience making all the changes.

www.darkart.co.za

painting,teaching art...and breeding Siberian cats

These are two of my new students. I enjoy teaching young people, they inspire me and are always enthusiastic.

The cats lie about and enjoy the company and activity.
Siberian cats are very social and relaxed, and love the attention.

Dead Can Dance....

 In my home studio, I have these two beautifully preserved dead frogs....I keep looking at them and wondering....how do I put them into a painting? Not as brown and dried dead frogs, but as bright blue dancing frogs....
...and then ???

they leap to catch a bug....creating some movement in the painting!

And the final touch of RED....in or out???
I settle on the bright RED block....it creates more energy.

Lines pull the dancing frogs into a macabre tug of war from death to life once more.....

      Dead Can Dance

Cyclist in the making ....

....something I have never painted before.....

The original photo I was given to work from was just a road race scene.

I decided to start with a neutral background and then add earthy tones to the sketch.

I like leaving some of the sketch showing through in the final work.

The red accents just add a bit of colour to brighten things up! 

Although the bike was a challenge to paint (for a non-cyclist), it was quite a fun commission to do.

Palette - a painting?

This is a photo taken of my used palette!

I use black polystyrene containers to mix my acrylic paints and sometimes, the abstract leftovers are much more interesting than the actual painting!

I then cut out the interesting parts before they get thrown away,and use them as a starting point for the next new painting, using the colours as a starting point.

This gives me a defined few colours with which to start. In the next blog I will show how this was added to a painting.

Richard Hawley

Richard Hawley

This is a quick sketch I did of Sheffield singer and songwriter Richard Hawley.
He has THE most amazing voice....go and listen

www.richardhawley.co.uk

His songs have great meaning for me and listening to the words of his songs while I am painting is the best therapy ever!

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life…Music and cats - Albert Schweitzer