I recently had the opportunity to visit Hollywood Park, where I had the pleasure of watching the amazing Zenyatta acheive her 17th victory in a row.  Inspired by a weekend enjoying the races at such a beautiful track, I finished working on this piece called “Jostling for Position”…

This is one of two peices that will be on display at the Equine Art 2010 show held at Emerald Downs in Auburn, WA July 8-11, the other piece is ”The Sprinter“. 

Another recent piece is called “The Sunset Kid”, a simple painting of a horse bathed in the final burst of vivid sunlit brilliance before sundown… 

I will also have paintings in the upcoming WIld Horse Western Art Show and Sale in Rock Springs, Wyoming coming up July 9-10.  Peices that will be there include Natural Beauty, Buddy System, Heated Exchange and Makin’ Fast Work.   If you’re near either of these shows over the second weekend in July please visit!

Carole

For all who have been waiting… I have open edition prints of these two incredible, athletic ladies!  I’m offering 2 sizes (8 x 10 and 11 x 14), and you can get them separately or as a pair!  There’s even $1 shipping though the end of May!

Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra Prints

For those who are more interested in the art collection side, I also will have 12″ x 16″ available as a limited edition of 50 prints each at the Backstretch Gallery.

…and of course a portion of proceeds benefit a great racehorse rescue,  Equine Encore Foundation.

Upcoming Shows…

I have paintings traveling to quite a few really nice shows this year, if you’re in the area for one of these please stop by and see all the great artwork!   New shows are…

• Western & Wild Horse Art Show and Sale, Rock Springs, WY July 9-10,
• The Washington Thoroughbred Association’s 2010 Equine Art Show “The Horse and a Whole Lot More” at Emerald Downs in Auburn, WA  July 8-11
• The American Royal Art Show, Kansas City, MO, September 23-26, 2010   

…and ongoing shows…

•  American Academy Of Equine Art 2010 Spring Invitational Show “A Salute to the World Equestrian Games, 2010″, Lexington, KY April 16 – November 1.
• 2010 Hits-on-the-Hudson Equestrian Art Exhibition and Auction. Woodstock, NY, May 26-Sept 10

A Happy Memorial Day to all, and special thanks to all our Vets!

Carole

After finishing my painting of the wonderful race mare and 2009 Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, I immediately started working on painting the other amazing mare, 2009 Breeder’s Cup Classic winner Zenyatta.  Zenyatta currently is undefeated, with a total of 16 wins in 16 races, and she’s not done racing yet!

 Zenyatta…

16 x 20 oil on board

Prints will be available for both of these paintings with proceeds benefitting the Equine Encore Foundation, the prints will be listed soon, check back here or at my Etsy Store for updates.

“Hug” featured on blog…

Sasha of the “What, No Mints?” blog featured my painting Hug, she’s saying goodbye to the horse she’s grown into adulthood with as he heads off to a new career working with autistic children.  While the horse in the painting resembles her horse, it has a deeper meaning with so many of us who have bonded closely with a horse… that is why I painted it, it’s an image that seems to be universal amongst horse lovers regardless of breed, discipline or event.

HEART Store

I now have a HEART Rescue Prints section on my Etsy shop just for prints from paintings of HEART of Tucson rescues, these horses have had unique personalities and if all I did was paint rescues that inspire me I have enough work to last me 1o lifetimes!  Of course sales of these prints benefit HEART of Tucson.

I’m not often inspired enough to paint well known, famous horses for many reasons.  For one, I prefer to work from my own photos, and since I don’t encounter many famous horses I don’t have photos of them.  I also like to seek out the hidden gems, the “average” equine; the trail horse, dressage horse, mustang, etc… and find the undiscovered beauty in them.  

But two impressive mares have caught my artistic eye over the past year… Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year and Zenyatta, winner of the 2009 Breeders Cup Classic.  So I’ve decided to paint each of them, and the first is finished…

Rachel Alexandra…

16 x 20 oil on board

I will soon be offering prints of this and Zenyatta’s portrait, check back here or email me to be notified when they are available!  A portion of the proceeds from sales of the prints will be going to the Equine Encore Foundation, a wonderful rescue set in a desert oasis dedicated to providing a safe, healthy retirement for ex-racehorses.

Reduced Shipping on Racing Prints

In the spirit of Triple Crown season, I have a shipping special for the month of May on my racing prints on Etsy, I have ten of my racing pieces listed, sales of which also benefitting the Equine Encore Foundation.  Be sure to browse the rest of my shop, too, you’ll find some of my older originals as well as new prints I am adding regularly!

I finished up some pieces I was working on earlier in the year. The first is of the abandoned racehorse now doing very well at HEART of Tucson (see below), Streakin Kitty, or Kitty as we call her.  This is an 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas…

I also have finished this piece, it’s of a TB gelding (and retired racehorse) named Nightly Delusions, it’s titled “Scratching Post” and is a 16″ x 20″ oil on canvas…
 

1010 Program

I am offering a new opportunity to help you get the art you want and help some good southern Arizona rescues in the process!  If you either purchase a painting or commision and mention either HEART of Tucson or Equine Encore Foundation, I will give you 10% off and give 10% of the total to the rescue of your choice!  It’s a win win for all, and a way I can use my art to help!  Below is some information about both rescues…

HEART of Tucson is a general horse rescue, saving horses from everything from slaughter to abuse, and providing support for those who struggle to afford to care for their horses in this economy.   If you want to support a program that both helps horses in great need and tries to offer the support and education to prevent problems in the future, donate to HEART!

Equine Encore Foundation provides a peaceful, well cared for retirement home for racehorses.  If your a fan of thoroughbred racing and have always wanted to be sure the horses you watch race are well cared for after their careers, donate to Equine Encore to help support the daily care of these horses who gave so much to entertain us!

Etsy Store

Also, don’t forget to check out my nedw Etsy store, I’ve been gradually adding more work, and will be having prints available soon, as well!  You can see the latest listings on my Store page, but visit AndreenHarrisArt at Etsy to see all the listings!

Quick Exhbition Note

The mustang painting at the bottom of the post below (Natural Beauty) has been accepted into the Horse HeART Art Show March 12-April12 at the Art Attack Gallery in Incline Village, Nevada (near Lake Tahoe) . This is an art show to benefit wild horse preservation efforts.

It’s continued to be an uphill battle finding painting time, but there’s finally some consistent production at my easel!  I have been spending more time visiting Heart of Tucson where I get a lot of photos of the rescued horses. They’re doing amazing things at HOT, saving many horses from the brink of slaughter, caring for them and rehoming them… it has surprised me that so many are mares and foals.   With all these cute babies, some were bound to end up on canvas!  This is the start of my Heart of Tucson series of paintings which I hope to make available to sell as prints for the rescue’s benefit in the near future.

“Dinnertime for Domino” 16″ x 20″ oil on canvas 

“Sandbox Jollies”  12″ x 24″ oil on canvas

Because I’ve been so limited in my productivity, I’ve been working on this one at a snails pace since July, so as a bonus for following along with my slow summer, I’m posting this as a work in progress… albeit sloooow progress.  It’s a racing scene with some nice dynamic action, something I hope to do more of.  I’m just crossing my fingers in hopes that I can finish it before October!  Enjoy a sneek peek…

untitled  15″ x 30″ oil on canvas

I am always thrilled to be accepted into any juried show, art is a lot like the Kentucky Derby… anything can happen so I never assume anything.  As I do every year, I entered the prestigeous American Academy of Equine Art Fall show with hopes of getting one in for the third year in a row… and to my complete surprise all three pieces entered got in!  The exhibit will be at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky from September 26-November 8, and while I won’t be able to attend this year, I will be there in spirit, and in paint!  Here are the three pieces accepted:

Dreams of Glory, 16 x 20 oil on canvas:

 Spa Day, 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas:

 In Good Hands, 18 x 18 acrylic on paper: 

I do have more new work to post soon, coming off a busy July into an only slightly less busy August I am finally reclaiming some momentum at the easel!

Thanks,
Carole

Since I knew I would have a day off not just from the day job, but most of my other pesky painting obstacles (some might call them grocery shopping, chauffering kids from place to place, cleaning and cooking), I had a painting ready to work on for the day. I finished it, and in enough time to even make dinner for my (by then) starving family.

Doing a painting in a day requires many things to work in my favor… a whole day cleared of other tasks (a rare thing in itself), a very good reference photo that needs little adjusting on my part and requires nothing more than a simple background, and planning ahead – because it almost (especially in this case) takes more time to get to the painting stage than actually painting. This is true instant gratification for me, I’ve found doing one of these occasionally keeps me motivated.  This piece, along with “Uncontested”, should be headed to the Equine Art Show at Emerald Downs (in Auburn, Washington) on July 9-12.

And without further ado, here’s the finished work… “Walking Home”, a 16 x 20 oil on canvas:

Just finished the painting I worked on during the Preakness, like the Derby it’s not related to the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown other than the fact that it features a racehorse as the subject. This one was fun, from a photo I’d forgotten about that I took a couple years ago at Yavapai Downs in Prescott, AZ. It’s called “Uncontested” and is a 18 x 24 oil on canvas, I might send it to the Equine Art 2009 at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington (July 9-12) – I’ll have to decide soon.

I’m happy to say I completed my “Derby” piece, a racing themed painting I work on during the race. It has little to do with the actual race, though, more the mood I’m in – painting racehorses while they’re playing “My Old Kentucky Home” is a little slice of heaven to me.

But this painting was no “Mine That Bird”, who won the Derby by 6 lengths in a surprizing burst of speed. Instead it loped home clumsily not sure what it was supposed to do… until I got it straightened out just at the wire. When all is said and done, however, the hope is that it looks good. Fortunately speed is not so critical in the painting of racehorses.

“Dreams of Glory” 16 x 20 oil on canvas:

The other one is a horse finishing up his bathtime ritual at the end of a hard day. As temps now are hitting 100 degrees farenheight daily here in the desert, there are few mammals that wouldn’t enjoy even just the thought of getting dowsed by cool hose water.

“Spa Day”, 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas:

Thanks to everyone for enjoying my art along with me!

Carole