Black on Grey on White

Hot off the board and freshly signed. This is "Racing Ready" a wonderful moment captured by fellow artist and friend  Linda Shantz on one of her very early morning escapades in Keenland a few years ago. She gave me the green light allowing my pencils have a wee bash at rendering this amazing athlete (speaking of the horse of course!) I miss the horses, daily, and wanted to feel one near me. I figured putting down an extra layer of detail and sharpened the pencils that wee bit more might do the trick. "Racing Ready" Pencil on Paper 37x41 cm Reference courtesy of Linda Shantz Available

We've had a pARTy! Meaning a wee bunch of us (artists) have used one reference pic to create a piece of work. Hugo's photo was the centre of attention and supplied to us by friend and artist  Linda Shantz . Linda runs a small  maternity ward  thouroughbred farm in Canada and Hugo is one of the newborns skipping around the yard. The pARTy rules were very simple. Create a piece of work using the reference within 24 hours. My (homemade) rules a little tougher; create a drawing in under 4 hours, keep loose (cross hatching), keep detail  normal, no tweaking, sign, spray. The difficulty being in the time and the lack of tweaking I allowed myself. Klein Hugo is the result. Not only did I want to highlight his cuteness but also underline delicacy by grounding him with strong edgy shadows. These babies are all legs and I loved the way the shadows extended them even more. Good friend and fellow artist (the other force behind this pARTy) Kim Santini has the full Hug...

Image reproduced by kind permission of the artist Linda Shantz The progression of the internet has been both a blessing and a curse to artists. On the plus side, we are able to reach a much larger audience with our work, and do more marketing on our own than the old days. The negative is that sharing our work online – through websites, blogs, and social media – makes us vulnerable to image theft. One of my artist friends, Michelle Grant , likes to say, “You can die of exposure,” and when it comes to the internet, it’s very nearly true! Image theft has become a huge problem for artists and photographers . Just in case you don’t know, grabbing someone else’s photos (by right-clicking or doing a screen capture, that sort of thing) and sharing it with your friends is more than wrong – it’s illega l. We artists are usually nice people, but this sort of thing makes us rabid. We hate appearing as ogres. It’s really not in our nature. We’d rather be creating new work than chasing aft...

Way back last year, when the grass was still green, I "got together" (cyberly) with good friends and fellow artists Linda Shantz , Elizabeth McCrindle and we challenged ourselves to take a break from the old routine by drawing or painting an apple. This, ladies and gents, is how breaking my routine materialises. Apple Sketch #1 Colour Pencil in a sketch book Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved . Linda's Apple is a lovely red luscious sample tempting for any snow white princess. Like to think might tempt a wee worm. Oh and for the record, my Ladies did not respond to the challenge preferring to sketch a dog and run off to a brunch B-day party! Guess I'll have to bring out the paints next time and shout Dino!!!

Do you have a few equine art fans on your list and still haven't found the perfect Christmas gift? How about an outstanding quality piece of artwork... Here are three outstanding artists whose work hangs beautifully in every home, have made many an animal lover's heart beat faster and make wonderful, unique gifts. Spell bounding quality equine paintings will greet you in Canadian Equine Artist Linda Shantz art world. Her work will have you drifting off into a world of equine beauty, calm and serenity. Visit her website http://www.lindashantz.com/ and be prepared to be transported into a world of equine warmth, elegance and harmony . Oil Linda Shantz. 2010 All rights reserved In time for the festive season, her studio is currently offering an online December Celebration. Until December the 18th, a 25% discount will be given on any of the paintings found in both Linda's Thirty Horses, Thirty Days blog and in her Red Willow Gallery blog. Should a world of Black and White...