an ode to pete

pete in the snow
pencil & watercolor

a 'pete the pony' watercolor in its early stages

trying my had a various styles: cross-hatching, line, and dot shading. pencil, ballpoint pen, fine felt-tip.

corona & cokie
 a birthday present to their momma, my sister.
watercolor

I love my little Pete the Pony sketches. Usually drawing brings out the perfectionist-of-the-worst-sort in me, but somehow Pete has always been my friend on paper. I don't know how but he always turns out just right - so unlike my other drawings!

time marches with the vegetables

Our first fruits! Two bright and cheery little cherry tomatoes.

beans

the corn so tall and the beans so... bush-like.

baby cucumber

I really am not one for eating veg; I like carrots and occasionally the odd leaf of lettuce. But I must say that fresh cucumber and lemon and lime slices in ice water is the best thing since someone decided to put frosting on a cake.

it's hard to believe that our squash plants were just seeds a month and a half ago. Now they're great, spidery monsters taking over half the garden and churning out foot long summer squash like a machine. I do believe we'll have to get creative in the kitchen if we're to keep up. Or we can do what (I think it was) my grandma did and leave the mountains of extra squash and zucchini on the surrounding neighborhood's door steps in the dead of night.

On the weekend LB and I headed to the park with a bunch of my friends for the first annual event of 'Chalk in the Park'. I was actually surprised by how many people turned out, for as small as town is. There were two hotdog vendors and everything! 

Anyway, we requested two sidewalk blocks (128 square feet gah!) because we had a Plan.

 Complete and entire landscape in fine detail. Above is a small part of my contribution - Llyod's Llama Farm. I was in charge of all the farms (I also did an Al's Alpacas later on) and animals, and I had a lot of fun with me llamas and alpacas.

little brother chalked us an awesome mount rushmore under some equally awesome fireworks.

 i never got a photo of the whole thing completed - kicking myself - but we ended up winning in our category, so six and a half hours baking on the pavement were not for naught.

-Gwyn

I'mma barber || Painting with café

Why spend mounds of money at some frou-frou pet grooming salon when you can achieve results like this with a little application and some blunt shears?

Disclaimer: I cannot promise your pet will be particularly happy with the results.... in fact it may just wander miserably away, embarrassed by the sight of its own self and generally hating the world (or you).

  I myself am quite proud, mostly because I never once drew blood (which is more than a certain other person could say last year). I sheared nearly a five-gallon bucketful of hair off Hammie. You wouldn't believe the hair on that dog. He may be half Corgi half Ausi shepherd, but I'mma thinking there's some alpaca in there too. 

Aaaaand since we're talking of dogs, here's a pic of Hooey for good measure. Weasel Dog. Toad. She has many nicknames. Mostly because she's a big mooch. And very gun-shy, which is why it is very hard to take a picture of her -- she thinks you're trying to shoot her. Either that or she follows that ancient belief that when the photo is developed the subject's soul is stolen. Not quite sure when or where that idea originated.

 But anyway. The best shot (ha.) of getting a photo of Weasel is to grab her firmly round the middle, shove the camera in her face, and hope for a good picture.

On a completely  unrelated note -- painting! with coffee! not as easy as the tutorial made it look! But lots of fun, none the less. Painting with coffee is a lot like painting with watercolors or much more wet. Much more. Therefore you have to wait between 'coats', otherwise it'll all just wash out. So, yeah. Lots of time to think about things like.... I wonder if Da will flip when he finds out how much of his instant coffee I'm using.... Make that if he finds out...
 I'll probably do it again, though, because I really do like the color tones. If you would like to try it, here's a link to my Pinterest board where you can find the tutorial: [do it yourself]

Apart from those little dittys, Sister's here so there's been birthday caking, jelly bean eating, Hunger Games watching (second time for me, hooray!), rainy days, sunny days, and happy new pasture! crazy horses.
  Long live happiness.

-Gwyn

Sweet, golden hour of sunset

What is the first thing you do when you wake up {a strange question considering the title of this post; perhaps implying that I arise at sunset - not true.}? The very first thing you do after you face the cold, bitter facts that it really is morning and you really do have to get up.
 I myself check the weather. I do this by viewing the position of the horses {my wards} and the chickens {Little brother's dominion} from my window through which they gaze, willing me too wake and hurry up with their breakfast. From this I can glean a much more accurate idea of the weather than the meteorologist on tv to which my parents subscribe in the morning, therefore better preparing me for the imminent moment when I must bundle up and join the afore mentioned creatures {the horses, you understand -- not my groggy coffee guzzling parents who are far too cheerful to face at this unholy hour} in the dawn's early light.
 This morning the horses were standing about in an almost frozen state, exposing as much of their bodies to the sun's rays as possible at one time. The chickens were doing roughly the same thing -- basking. This tells me two fundamental things: 1. It is cold. 2. There is no wind.
 How can I tell?
 If it were not cold the animals wouldn't be standing about like taxidermy, soaking up any feeble warmth the winter sun has to offer.
 If it were windy their mains, tails, and feathers would be waving in said wind.
 If it were both cold and windy all animals would have retreated to shelter to bask out of the wind.
Pretty deep stuff, right? Somehow my mind blunders through this every morning in order to tell my limbs how to dress sufficiently.

 Now, since we've suffered through that unreasonably long mental demonstration on how I begin each day, lets move on to the actual subject of this post, which, if you haven't guessed, has to do with my animals and their eating habits, therefore making the paragraph above you just read almost completely irrelevant! *face collides with keyboard* You know what, just leave me here to die.

I took my camera out this day because 1. the sunset cast a beautiful golden glow over everything, and 2. I felt especially good-natured that day and wished to convey a sense of the pleasure one feels when serving fellow Creations.

After that soppy introduction this photo makes me laugh out loud. Perhaps it was not the best one to start with. However, I believe I captured the essence of Wilber in this photograph: Large and slightly intimidating, with a vacant expression that hints at the theory {which I believe, but other members of the household call preposterous} that he was dropped at birth. From a great height.

Double Stuff has taken to squirming through fences in order to escape the tyranny of Shyanne in the other pen. For some reason she has taken a sudden and enormous dislike to him, driving him to live with Roanie {who doesn't mind him one bit} and Wilber {who occasionally plays cat-and-mouse with him}.

I just had to snap one of the Symbol of Farmers Everywhere: the lowly, but extremely helpful pitchfork.

Inevitably there will be one skeptical pony who comes up to wondering why the heck you just took a picture of a pitchfork.

Bane of my existence! I hate ice. With a passion. Because there is nothing that sinks the soul down to your boots quite like chipping away at ice in -1,000* weather,  snow blowing in your numb face, with a modified metal pipe {read: smashed flat at one end and ground to a point} searching for water only to discover the bottom of the tank. It then dawns on you that you have spent the last 20 to 30 minutes of your life chipping at a solid block. of. ice.

.... a picture of ice.

I will not bore you with the details of hauling water some hundred snowy yards from the spigot to the tank in five gallon buckets. I will tell you that it is at those times when you appreciate having an able-bodied Da and brothers around.

 It seems I will never be able to write a proper closure for a post, for heavens above it is that Sweet, Gold Hour already and the creatures call me. However, I flat-out refuse to leave as abruptly as I did last time {"so, i'm doing this. good-bye." what a disgrace!!}

 So I'll leave you instead to try and comprehend what this post was about, and a watercolor I did for a friend's baby-shower card. I like it.

Dia,

-Gwyn

A series of unfortunate events: Oil Painting

I realize it's been a ghastly amount of time since my last post involving any of my artistic endeavors, but there is a reason for that -- I haven't had any since now. Or rather then. It's been a week or two, and I am terribly behind.
 Anywho.... I finely got brave and took out my Grandmother's oil paints. She taught me up until I was about eleven or so, when her health began to fail her. I learned the fundamentals and probably much more, but I think I've forgotten most everything about oils. However, I set out boldly with a magazine page to create my first ever people person. Even when I was taking lessons all I ever did were flowers and bunnies and horses, never a people. But this particular people struck me as very pretty from her perfume advertisement in an ancient Victoria mag. So I decided to try it, but to practice first on watercolor paper instead of expensive canvass. And I'm glad I did. Here she is as a concept....

It all started well. Good base colors.... and the hair turned out much better than anticipated! I was believing I really had something going and was wishing I had started with canvass. A few days later however, after the first paint had dried, I attempted to add shading and depth. As you can see I utterly failed at blending the colors.

 How the heck do you blend with oils?? 

I've only just figured it out with watercolors{vaguely} and I tell you no similar method applies. After numerous experiments and messy mistakes {paper towels are my friend} and feeling discouraged and a little miffed at ruining such a promising practice piece, I hung up my smock {I just wanted to say that} and left for the more reasonable realms of watercolor, with better results....

This is Pete. I think you met? He crops up in just about every painting of mine. I did this for my Da's birthday card and was very pleased with it. The original design I drew back in 2008 but I liked it so much I did a copy and added color.

Watercolor and I have had in the past a love-hate relationship but we seem to have found some middle ground. I don't think I'll ever be able to paint wonderfully, but that's not going to keep me from making this little whimsical splotches.

I've been very inspired lately -- about everything. I would really like to sit down and do a good sketch, but TLOS is once again buzzing in my ear and I fear I must really get down to business in that department. You can see on my sidebar what I've done. Again. I despair at the moment of ever finishing. So I really must write! 
*sigh* I kind of feel like I'm on my own little island, though. Mum appreciates my stories and is always asking when she'll be able to read the next bit, but nobody else seems to care around here. Especially is it conflicts with me getting chores done. *sigh* Ah, well. Great masters aren't truly appreciated til after their dead, right? Haha :)

Til next time, then!

-Gwyn

Oh, dear...

alternately titled 'Here we go again'

You have again caught me between ultra-busyness and the dreadful doldrums of energetic boredom. You deserve an update, so I'll do my best to give you the short version:

 This week the weather has been nice {read: above freezing + drizzlings of rain} except for the wind which has been awful even in the local standard, so naturally it is the time Da decides my brother and I should put up new pasture fence for summer grazing ground. Thankfully we already have a skeleton to work with: most of the posts are still there {except for the gate post I ran over one foggy October morn}, but we haven't used that pasture in so long that a lot of the wire needs replacing. A note to animal owners everywhere: Never use electric wire to fence your animals. It's fickle and usually only keeps your extremely stupid animals in. I hate the stuff.
  A couple years ago we switched the stockpens to Electrobraid and that works sooo much better. We were even planning to fence the rest of the pastures in with it this year, but the grass is growing to fast and we wouldn't have time to dig all the post holes. So wire for another summer. Wheee.

 But speaking of growing grass... Grass is growing! Green grass! Aaah, I'm so excited! At last! I've been digging ing my garden beds and finding daffodil shoots and tulips and iris poking up. Nothings blooming yet, but we just got an inch of snow two weeks ago plus this is the Great Plains: Springs doesn't come fully till the last two weeks of May or so, then summer hits about the middle of June.
 Still, loving the sunshine in the mornings.

Ack! I have so many things to build this month! Our chickies are coming possibly the 23rd {Saint George's Day - who knew?} so I need to get on building another mobile house for when they're bigger. There's the kitchen garden boxes I still have to bang together, and... hmm I'm forgetting one. Anyhow, rest assured I have to hammer something else as well.
 Oh! And Mum and I have been planning some home improvements, too. So far we're still in the tearing out pictures from Southern Living and Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes & Gardens stage. But we've also gone through closets and unearthed a few lovely antiques! Frames, hats, jewelery, etc. Cool stuff; I'll have to take photos for you.

Music this month is... has... There's a lot of it. Too much of it. Last night was only the beginning with my piano recital and a fine arts fair. Over the next week I've got six violin practices with various groups and, finely on the 17th, the actual concert. Bugger.
In my 'spare time', whatever that is, I drew this ---

Not the best photo, but I seem to have misplaced the full version on my desktop somewhere... But you like? My photographer friend took the amazing photo of her little sister and I knew I just had to draw it :)
 I need to get back to drawing horses again - it's been at least a month since my last one. Sad. When I was little I drew a picture of one every night before going to sleep. I wonder where all those stacks went...
 Okay, now you're really going to hate me for saying this but -- Istartedanewstory. Don't spear me! I know, another one that puts TLOS on the back burner. again. But I couldn't help it! Honest. It all started  late last Sunday when I was on Polyvore {see my sidebar} and I came across this picture of a girl with the biggest saddest brownest eyes you've ever seen.... Well, she had a story she needed to tell. I'm sad to say it's not a happy one, not at first. But it may become a mystery. That idea really intrigues me - I've only done Fantasy so far. But I love mysteries! So we'll just have to see where this goes, right?

Here she is...

the artist's daughter by The Celtic Cowgirl featuring butterfly tops

Winding things up, you may have noticed but I've added a FAQ page and a few other things including my Polyvore sets to my sidebar for you to browse. I'm not on Polyvore hardly at all because 1) It takes up a lot of time just to make one set and 2) I'm not that interested in clothes. But it is a great place to find inspiration, but I think you've gathered that already. But don't expect updates on Poly all that often ;)

Well, I really hate to leave you but the fence is calling. Really hate to leave. really.

-Gwyn

Oh, I'm happy alright

Dear readers, What you are about to see is my newest,

  greatest,

     bestest,

            favoritest,

most- Cilla -like drawing I have ever done!!

Wacha think?

Okay, even though I practically went around my house screaming "Its perfect! It's perfect!" I can see its not. Quite. ^_^ For instance, I had planned to give her much more of a smirk, a kind of mischievous smile, you might even say. But for reasons unknown to me, the smirk-angle just would not come out. Being the chicken that I am, I was too afraid of messing it up to try and fix it.

 Her left eye I just noticed. Hm. How did it get so dark? It must've been my photo editor {I had to increase the contrast so you could actually see the whole picture - though, at the tragic loss of most of my painstaking shading.}. Oh, and yes, I did use a picture reference. My imagination has difficulty translating to paper in any form.

For so long I have been uninspired to draw anything - anything at all - that I thought I had perhaps grown out of my drawing vein and branched into different forms of art; namely, the written word. I did not want this to happen, but the more I scribbled it seemed the more I failed. Eventually I shut my sketch book for a month, a big blob of sadness and frustration forming in me when ever I looked at the thing.

For Christmas my older brother {also an avid artist. Yes, it does run in the family} received a first-rate drawing book on how to draw faces and make them look realistic. The teacher/author at fist glance through the book seems vague in his instructions and trade secrets, but when you are working with it as I was today, it is just the right amount of info at the right time. It gave me enough know-how to get me through the stickier places {except for the nose. I could have used a lot more help there} but plenty of space to bushwhack on my own. I had a great time doing it too. Such a great time in fact, that I was surprised to look at my clock and see the glowing numbers 3:48pm, having started at about 1:15 or so.

 I am so glad this drawing worked out for me! for many reasons:

One: I know I can still draw

Two: I know I can still learn

Three: I finely have a picture of Cilla!!

For some of my newer readers who may not be acquainted with my main story heroin, simply click the link on my sidebar Posts on The Legend of Skyrian. She's in there.

Well, tis supper time here so I must go. But please, constructive criticism is always welcome!

 Namárië!

-Gwyn 

Behind The Curtain and other works of art

My goodness I've been busy! And stressed. It's no good starting from the beginning because, quite frankly, I don't know when that was. So I'll say this, about a week ago I was asked by Da who was asked by the board of the City of Presidents{a sculpture event in which my Da is one of the artists} if my older brother and I would play the introduction music for the last Unveiling{we've run out of presidents, you see}. Of course I said yes, as it is rather a big deal, but did not realize at the time that the Unveiling is Saturday. As in this Saturday.
 My brother is rendered useless at organizing anything because of his college studies, so it was all down to me. I immediately dove into our deepest music stores in search of patriotic type pieces but all I came across was celtic, celtic, and more celtic.
 I guess there is a downside to pursuing one form of music so thoroughly.
But at last I found five good ole' songs that were old enough to suit my tastes{1800's} and very American. I also enlisted the help of my extremely-talented-in-everything-including-music friend to play second harmony on the violin. It seemed we were saved. Until Monday. It was then that Da informed me we were to play for thirty minutes. I had barely enough music for fifteen. Aah.
 I'm still scrabbling to pull things together in time for Saturday, but amidst all this I found time to unwind an create my latest best artwork.

{Sorry for the poor picture quality, something went wrong...}

This was intended as a portrait of my character Cilla in her younger years {maybe at age nine or ten}  when she still belonged to the group of bards, jesters, performers, etc. {I have yet to name them appropriately}. I tried to portray how things really were behind the masks, makeup, lights, and curtains. The truth was that the life of any entertainer was hard and unforgiving, no matter their age; though their music and acts may suggest a carefree life.

 I tried to really bring out the contrasts of what you see on stage {the makeup and glitter} and the actual reality {the patched and threadbare clothes, cheap brass jewelry, and sad eyes}.

 I don't know how well I succeeded, but there you have it.

 Next is just a relatively simple sketch, yet I am pleased with it beyond sane reason. You see, it's my first ever decent horse with it's head down! It's grazing and it looks natural!! *yells for joy* At last!

I have also started yet another story. I know you must be thinking, "Gwyn get ahold of yourself!" because I am too.  Yes, I know I have yet to finish one story, but still... Let's just say I've always had a weakness for new story ideas -- I can't let them go by!
 This one I hope won't be very long so I'll probably post it here *when* I finish it :)

{For lack of anywhere to post a picture of a holy potato I post it here.}

I was peeling potatoes the other day for a stew when looky here! It's the Mother and Child! I should have put it on eBay and made a fortune, but instead I snapped this photo and then finished peeling. In short, we ate the hundred million dollars I could have made off the same guy who bought the piece of toast with what looks like Jesus' portrait burnt on it.

Apparently there's one of Mary too{right}

 Oh, well.

I hope you've enjoyed my rather strange post.

 I must go now to do battle with Sir Algebra and then rejoin Sir Gawain on his quest to defeat the Green Knight. Onward!

-Gwyn

Beatrix Potter style

My Mum and I watched Miss Potter the other day and I have been incredibly inspired to write and paint ever since! I could really relate to Bea when she held her first published book in her hands -- wouldn't that be so awesome?? I highly recommend that movie to all writers and painters :)

From The Tale of Two Bad Mice

Here are her watercolor paintings...

From The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

... And here are mine.

What do you think? Do you like them? Has anything recently inspired you? I want to know! :D

Sorry this is such a short post, but I must dash!

-Gwyn

Inspiration: A photography contest by HorseFeathers

{Click to for details}

A beautiful flower is an inspiration to me for it reminds me of this bible verse:

"Consider how the lilies grow.

They do not labor or spin. Yet, I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." Luke 12.27

How often do we {especially girls} need to be reminded that often the most beautiful thing we can put on comes from the inside. Therefore, a flower, to me, is not just an inspiration, but a reminder.

This may come as an obvious pick for me, but never the less it still holds true.

Horses cannot help but inspire patients, kindness, self-control, bravery, and understanding.

Any who disagree do not understand the true meaning of being an Equestrian.

~Gwyn

La Goat