Tulips and a Warmblood Head
Posted: April 28, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses | Tags: art 19010, art in philly, devon horse show, emelyn shea, emelyn shea inc, emmy shea, equestrian, equestrian art, equestrian portraits, horse, horse art, horse painting, horses, philadelphia art, philadelphia artist, philly art, skidmore college Leave a commentSO flowers have proven to be a challenge. A few years ago I would have dismissed this because I clearly was not good at it. However, the older and “mature” (yeah….okay) Emmy is determined to paint a flower painting that I LIKE. Yes, people like my tulips (and even the dreaded sunflowers) but I don’t. I am a creative temperament: your opinion is both crucial and useless at the same time. Great, you like my flowers. That makes me feel great that someone likes it. Damn, I DON’T like my flowers and you can’t make me like them! I used chinese ink block in both of these paintings.
Edited Version:
The tulips were pale yellow. Not a good rookie choice. Maybe it is yellow that is killing me- I feel it mocking me: “Ooooooohhh I am yellow! Your watercolor palette doesn’t offer enough colors to properly mix me. Good luck, you “artist” you!” Sunflowers, daffodils, tulips…I am looking into it. The greens are EPIC and I like my use of line. I would put this one under the “abstract” category. Alas, they do not look like tulips and I do not think they represent my personal style well.
Unedited Version:
Thank god for horses!! If it weren’t for horses, nothing would save me from all these flowers!! Chinese ink base drawing with watercolor splashed over. Did not want to over work it so I “quit while I was ahead” on this one and left it more raw than I normally do.
Bronzes to finish
Posted: April 25, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses Leave a commentI am so excited that someone on my softball team has a welder! I can now finish some bronzes I cast a few years ago. These are Breyer horses that I cast. I have a finished Breyer bronze in a local boutique. They were so fun and playful. I love manipulating the horses with the welder and working the patina.
Steel horse
My first bronze sculpture- EVER!
April 21st: Still Life and Muneca
Posted: April 22, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses | Tags: animal portrait, art, emelyn shea inc, emmy shea, equestrian, equestrian art, equestrian drawing, equestrian painter, equestrian watercolor, horse, horse portrait, horse watercolor, horses, polo, polo art, polo painting, polo pony, ponies, pony, racehorse, racehorse art, skidmore college, skidmore polo, still life, still life painting, watercolor, watercolor drawing, watercolor paintings, yellow ochre Leave a commentI thought I would jazz things up and put together a more complex still life. Apples, a fake pear, dish towel, and daffodils (some in vase). I warmed up with some sketches from all different angles. All under 2 minutes and strictly for waking up my eye. I got way more into the painting than I expected! The creative juices were certainly flowing after a weekend away and no painting.
I like the colors and I think there are some nice passages. The dish towel added a nice texture change and made me really look for the shape relationships. In the end, my underdrawing would have been better. Funny how what used to be the strength is now weak. Overall happy with the outcome!
The second painting is of my mare, Muneca. I donated her to the Skidmore College Polo Team last November. I was up last weekend for my alumni game and loved seeing my old friend. In case no one picked up on this- I am an avid equestrian and I am truly inspired by horses.
This painting has a cooler color palette than I normally use. I put a lot of cobalt type of blue in her coat. I liked using warm colors in the background to counteract the cools. Horse heads can be hard but I did not get wrapped up in particulars. Rather, I felt confident making the painting about color and shape.
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Posted: April 21, 2013 Filed under: Art, Photography, Uncategorized | Tags: 60D, art, canon, canon 60D, common house spider, common spider, emelyn shea inc, emelyns, emmy shea, geometry, love nature, nature, nature photo, nature photography, nature photos, philly, philly photograph, photograph nature, Photography, spider, spider photographs, spider photography, spider web, spiders, weaving spider Leave a commentI went through the photo archives and found these. I remember coming home from a shoot at midnight and seeing something glimmer on the lawn. I jumped out and studied this beautiful common house spider as he/she spun their web. It was infatuating- something else was awake late with me and my exhaustion quickly vanished. Curiosity took over as I watched the light and line play games with my eyes. Before I knew it, my camera was in hand and I was shooting photo and video.
I moved my car two or three times, played with different headlights and positioning. I found it stimulating to document something so volatile and unique. It could easily be gone by the morning (and it was). Never to be woven again. I became obsessed with the spider’s obsession to create the perfect web. Unfazed by my high beams, my camera or Philly’s heavy summer humidity, this spider was undistracted and determined.
It made me smile.
Shot on a Canon 60D- 50-200mm lens.
April 17th Sketches
Posted: April 18, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses | Tags: art, drawing, emelyn shea inc, emmy shea, equestrian, equestrian art, equestrian drawing, fine art, horse art, horse polo, horse polo art, horses, pencil, pencil drawings, philly art, polo, polo art, sketches, skidmore college Leave a commentIt’s been a while…patience patience patience! Of course I started to loosen up as soon as the sand man dusted me.
Drawn off of some old polo photos I took at Brandywine. (Link to photos) I started to become devoured with minor details such s tonal values. Ultimately causing the drawings to lose their feeling. I forced myself to back off and stop after the gesture was completed. When I felt the pencil start to pause in my hand, I flipped to a new page. The first drawing is the most successful in relation to the exercise.
April 16th Watercolors
Posted: April 16, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses Leave a commentA little bummed I didn’t paint yesterday. However, I am glad that I am one week “back in the saddle”! I can already notice a difference from last week and that makes me happy!
I think I need to make better titles for these posts though…if anyone had any ideas I am all ears.
“Apples on Arches”
I am being clever! I put the apples on my small arches block and then painted them on my medium block. I don’t know if the background works- may go back into this one. The Apples turned out more refined than the pears. I liked painting the shadows. Lots of layers! Working my way up to a full still life and MAYBE attempting the sunflowers again.
“Foal Study”
Long long legs! These baby horses always test my eye as their proportions are so exaggerated. I used to hate painting foals but now I am starting I enjoy it. It really has helped me strengthen my under drawing. Color is a bit dark. Will leave this one as it. I hope to start painting foals “in action” soon!
April 14th Watercolors
Posted: April 14, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses Leave a commentThe Pears! My warm up- trying to focus on shape and color. Not a fan of the bowl but liked the pear details. Liked when I cropped bowl out as an object- it stopped competing with itself and acted as a nice background.
Quick horse head study.
Bronco watercolor. Tried to focus less on paint and more on maintaining the gesture “feeling” of the horse.
Breakfast Quinoa
Posted: April 13, 2013 Filed under: Recipes | Tags: best breakfast, best food recipes, best quinoa, breakfast, breakfast quinoa, breakfast recipe, cookbook photos, emmy shea, food, food photographer, food photography, food photos, food recipes, fresh recipes, healthy, healthy recipes, love food, love quinoa, photographer, Photography, photos, quinoa, quinoa and blueberries, quinoa recipes Leave a comment
I have completely jumped on the quinoa band wagon. I wanted a recipe that could act as an alternative to my morning oatmeal. This recipe is very nutty and flavorful. It also has lots of texture! Eat alone or pair it with an egg, grapefruit or yogurt. Yes, men will eat this too. I tricked my steak and potatoes father (not usually a fan of my “frou frou” cooking) into trying it and he loved it! He raved about how hearty it tasted and that it filled him up. He still doesn’t understand what “a quinoa” is and probably never will. My yogi mom also found this recipe delicious. She, unlike her other half, was not shocked that “a quinoa” could make a great breakfast.
Makes about 2 servings:
You will also need a small sauce pan and a stove 🙂
I used Grade B maple syrup as it is more flavorful than fine syrup. It is also thicker and noticeably darker. I trust honey or fine syrup would both make nice substitutes. Adjust to your taste!
Step one: Rinse the quinoa with cold water in a fine woven strainer for 1-2 minutes
Step 2: Heat a small sauce pan on medium to medium high heat and add quinoa. Dry roast for 1-2 minutes. It helps evaporate the water and boosts the nutty flavor. Stir constantly when dry roasting.
Step 3: Add the coconut milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon sticks and/ or ground cinnamon. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
Step 4: Turn heat down to low and cover with a cracked lid- I left about an inch of space. Mixture will start to thicken! Let simmer for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. See below photo for how quinoa should look when it is done simmering. You don’t want all the coconut milk absorbed. Quinoa is now larger and has also split, exposing their “tails”.
Step 5: After mixture has thickened, stir in the remaining ingredients (walnuts, blueberries, maple syrup and salt).
Turn off heat after everything is thoroughly combined and remove cinnamon sticks. (Or avoid them when serving)
Top with ground cinnamon and serve warm.
April 11th Watercolor Studies
Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: Art, Horses | Tags: emmy shea, equestrian art, figure, figure drawing, figure painting, horse painting, horse sketch, horse watercolor, painting, philadelphia art, reclining figure, watercolor, watercolor drawing, watercolor painting, watercolor paintings Leave a commentI warmed up by reworking a live model drawing I had started about a month ago. I love the figure almost as much as I love horses. My large oils combine imagery from both subjects. (See those here ).
Tonight I struggled with integrating the subject in with a background. Everything looks too flat in my opinion. As these paintings air on the side of being more “complete”, (less sketchy, more paint, less washy), I tried to work more into the subject’s environment. I hoped for more unity in all of these but especially the horses. Time to go back to my own photographs and drop google images. Horses on google are majestic muscular stallions galloping across…nothing…ground. Boring, flat, dull, ground. Time to jazz these compositions up!
I am happy with my experimentation on different palettes. Yellow is a tough base to work off of (I’ll show you sunflowers!!). Yes, it could be better. It is my 3rd day of painting after 2 and 1/2 years off- I’ll take it! This is going way better then my previous return to painting last December. I attempted to create over a dozen holiday cards for friends and family. I don’t think I have ever been that angry with art in my life. Table flipping angry (except I was painting on the floor). Discouraged is an understatement. It is always nice to think you are going to self induce an aneurysm just in time for Christmas. The cards would have read:
Happy Holidays! Please bring me some of that holiday roast. I am in the ICU at HUP. Enjoy this damn card. Love- Em
Reclining Figure:
Trotting Horse: under drawing could have been better. I spent too much time trying to refine it when in reality it didn’t matter much because it was going to be a painting. I like the tail. It is where I think the least. *Mental Note*
Rearing Horse Study: The under drawing was really nice- horse in the photo was jet black and high contrast. Going back in with pencil helped a lot. It was starting to blend together. I may go back into “Trotting Horse” with pencil.
Horse Motion Oil Study
Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Congrats to Lauren of Havertown on her purchase of this oil painting! It is a gift for her best friend’s birthday on Sunday who is in love with vibrant paintings that pop. This will certainly light up any room! Glad I could help 🙂
Emelyn Shea Inc 