"In the Barn"
I was trying to capture the light that happens inside a barn. I guess you'd call it ambient light. It isn't strong, yet it can light up a horse and give it a soft glow. I need to do a little tweaking on this yet. Which means it could use a few more glazes here and there to set the color right. The shadow under her neck, where her neck curves, should be more blue for one thing. After that, I'll have to see what else needs to be done.

Once again, my horse Class was my model.
donna

"The Seal Brown Mare"
Some people want "chrome" or "color" on their horses. As far as I'm concerned, some of the best horses I've known have been plain brown mares with a kind look in their eyes. My sister's horse, was named Patty. She was this kind of horse. Many of the horses I rode in my childhood were this type of horse. Quiet and kind. You can't do any better than that.
Oh, I forgot, this is a pastel, 6X8 on suede board. It's for sale here for $35.
donna

"Snow Swoops and Wind Clouds"
I've never seen a mountain with more graceful lines in it's form than this one. I've loved it all my life. In fact, in every one of these mountain paintings so far, one part or another of this mountain has been in each painting. You can get wild with your paint brush when you make these swoops of snow and rock.

It's almost midnight. I just finished this. I'll probably put it on my website (click here to purchase it) and in my ebay store tomorrow. I'm just finishing up the last bites of apple pie I made today. We had company and they didn't eat it all, so of course, we have to finish it off. What a trial.

My daughter called tonight and I got to visit with one of my little grandsons. He sounds so grown up on the phone, even though he's only three years old.

Now my bed is calling to me....
donna

"Breezy"
Once again, my horse Class was my model. She's a bay mare, she's in a photo below. This time, I turned her into a paint mare who's enjoying a nice Montana breeze and some hot sunshine. Class has such a kind, beautiful face, I never get tired of creating paintings from her image.

This card is for sale on my website or my ebay store. Search for seller name jackmorgan to find my auctions.

"A Few Clouds"
There are days in the Rockies when the clouds are high and wispy. They travel along with the wind pushing at them. It twists their shapes constantly, never letting them rest. I've attempted to paint that feeling here.

This card is for sale here.
Donna

"Snow on Top"
I have no interest in ordinary landscape paintings but I have so much fun doing these. I'm painting the way I feel about the mountains, instead of the way they literally look to most of us. To me, these mountains are the best place on earth. They're vibrant, glowing, alive with color, shape, line, brilliance....

When I'm in these mountains, I feel more alive than I do at any other time. I've spent most of my life, longing to be on these mountains. Now I can go anytime I want and I feel so free to explore them, in person, and in paint!

I've posted this for sale on my website here.
donna

"Snow Spilling"
I think I've confused my scanner and my computer with my use of color. This painting is way more brilliant in real life than it is here.

I've named this Snow Spilling because the snow has captured dominance of the landscape. It built up until it's covered the peaks and is cascading down the breaks in the cliff tops. As fall progresses, it's going to cover the foothills in a deep blanket. It will control the land until spring arrives and the snow rules no more.

This card is for sale here.
donna

"the offering 4"
Took me all day to do this little art card. In between spraying weeds and cleaning off the front deck, mopping the floors and a few other little chores. I liked the way I made the jewel glow in this one. It might not show up on a monitor, but in real life, this red gem really has a shine to it. I put white paint under the red on the top half and glazed red onto it. From there, I added some shiny acrylic glazing medium. This one glows from within.

What the heck? I'm having fun...Donna

"the offering 3"
Here's another "offering" painting. You wouldn't believe how hard these are to make. I spend more hours on them than I do a painting of a horse. There are probably 25 layers of glazes and objects in this little painting. The richness of color is wonderful when you see them in person. You almost feel like you're swimming through a universe of some kind.

I suppose I'll have to make some more....
donna

The photo above was my reference photo for the painting at the top of this post. My subject is my horse, Class. Her registered name is Crescent Lass. She's a retired race track mare.

As my paintings sometimes go, I thought I was going to do a realistic portrait of my girl...I thought I'd make the wind blowing a little harder than it is here in this photo. I got started with the paint and I was working on the horse. I thought why make her brown, I think I'll make her grey. All of a sudden I wasn't painting Class any longer. I played with the paint until I had trees behind her, snow on the ground.... I began to think about a sunrise we saw in Iowa when we were driving truck... The title came to me! I'm going to call this "Dawn of a New Day".

The nice thing about a reference photo is this. It doesn't have to tell you what to do or what the painting you make from it will become. You can let your painting be whatever your imagination wants it to be. Sometimes I have a wild imagination. I admit it. That's the fun of being able to create new worlds on paper and canvas..
donna

"the offering 2"
To be honest with you, I've never seen the attraction of abstract art until lately. Someone told me, "It doesn't have to be anything...it's what YOU see in there. Once they told me that, I started looking at a blank canvas in a whole new light. It's so funny what will influence a person and what won't. That statement influenced me a whole lot!

Doing these little abstract paintings has my mind buzzing with new ideas until I feel I'm in the middle of a cyclone! They're all bursting to come out at once. Thank goodness for ACEO's. I can turn them out as fast as I want because they're small.

When I look at the first "offering" painting I did, I had the feeling of a garden. This one almost gives me an underwater feel. Now I scream my head off when I see a snake, even though I know they're harmless. Even rattlesnakes move out of your way if they get a chance. Even though I embrace the idea of a snake, and I don't want to hurt one, I don't like them. Seeing one, will force a gut wrenching scream out of me in a second.

But here I am painting these snake like forms. I don't understand it. These forms, seem more to me, like innocent, curious little creatures, reaching out for something they want, but they're afraid to actually touch it. They might not be totally snake like, they could amorph into blob like shapes if they wanted to. They could be underwater, in a garden, in outer space.... You see how my mind is going on these creatures and where they might appear next, or what form they might take? Perhaps I'm losing it after all?

Don't worry, I won't stop painting horses. Along with my realistic horses, you might see horses beginning to show up in these wild paintings. Who knows?
donna

"the offering"
It started out as rhubarb leaves and turned into this. My paintings are taking over more and more, to become what they want to be. It's a neat process. It's like a dance. Each move you make, requires another move to counter balance the move you made before. The painting is done when it balances out? I don't know.... You'll have to figure that out for yourself.

Now to get serious about this. It started out from the rhubarb plant like I said. I then started thinking of the garden and how a garden offers up it's delightful fruits and vegetables for us to eat. From there, I began to think how God offered Jesus to the world. That's why the title of this painting is not even capitalized. It's humble, like Jesus was. And he's still free for the taking from anyone who accepts the offer.
donna

"Dappled Drafter"
I love dappled horses. There are certain times of the year, when my Class has dapples on her brown hide.

I have photos on my blog on prior pages of this draft horse and his dapples but I finally got around to doing a painting of him. He'll be in my ebay store for sale.

This horse had such a sweet, innocent look on it's face.

It sure feels good to be painting again. I don't know why I stopped for those few days except there was so much work to be done and I wanted to get at some of it.
Donna

"Portrait of the guy my neighbor brought home from the bar last night"
Ha Ha. Just joking. I have a royalty free book for artists of ancient tribal designs. I just love painting this guy. I do wonder what happened to his lower lip though?

There's no black used in this painting. When I wanted the lines to look black, I layered red paint over the green paint to make it seem black.

The squiggly lines seemed to add a nice interesting touch too.
Donna

"Montana Moon"
On my way to bed the other night, I stopped to pull the curtain shut and saw a huge moon over Square Butte. That image inspired this painting.

This card was destined to be trouble. I started a painting on the other side of it, couldn't make it turn out. I spent several hours on it actually. Finally had so much paint on that side, I flipped the card over, thinking I could make another mountain painting. Nothing would happen. When I showed the card to Robert, he looked puzzled and said, "What is that?"

If you can't tell it's the moon coming up over the mountain, it must be pretty bad! So I took an old sock, dipped it in water and scrubbed and scrubbed until I had a white card again. Finally this painting came out. I think it's how this card always wanted to look. I just had to get it right!
For sale on my website here.
donna

"West of Dupuyer"
Another mountain ACEO card. I think I'm on a roll today. I've had a dry spell of doing other work beside painting so it feels good to let it rip. Once again, this is the same mountain from a different angle, as the other mountain pictures I posted today. I think I'll put all of them on ebay tonight.
Donna

"The Mountain's Getting Ready For Bed."
This is another view of the same mountain that was in the last post. I love the profile of this mountain.
Donna

"Rocky Mountain Front"
I grew up beneath these mountains. Thanks to my uncle and my grandpa, I was able to ride horseback over these hills and in the shadow of the clifftops. The hill in this painting is called Scoffin Butte. (I'm not sure of the spelling.) It's top is covered with jack pines that lean to the east from the almost constant winds. Clouds scud swiftly across the sky. No matter where I live on this earth, this is where my soul is "home."

There's a fence in this painting because this is cattle country. It hasn't been invaded or influenced by tourists to the extent of modern change.

The colors I used in this painting aren't calm and tame. They're as strong and passionate as I feel about this land.

This is another ACEO card and will be up for sale on ebay, probably this very evening.
Donna

"Montana Cow"
You might not guess it, but this started out as an Angus cow. Something happened when I started playing with the paint...It's way more fun to let the brush and paint take over, than it is to think you have to make something turn out like some people might expect. You can tell this is a Montana cow, because of the prairie plateaus, the water, the trees and the lovely colors. This is an ACEO card that will be posted on ebay for sale for $9.99.
Donna

"Murphy's Eye"
These are two paintings from the same horse. His name's Murphy. He's very photogenic. I have so many pictures of him! This is colored pencil. I haven't dug them out for a long time but I thought it was time to start.

"Murphy's Nose"
You've seen this one before. I just finished it.

I've been working in the yard. Spraying for bugs, spraying for weeds. Fencing. You name it. The place is starting to look like a normal place! I also got the back deck stained and some of the trim on the house stained. I did it last year, but it always looks better when it has the new coat of stain on it.

We worked ourselves tired one day putting up a privacy fence. It was made of plywood. A few days later the wind blew 75 miles an hour and blew down part of our fence. While we were putting the fence up the first time, I told Robert we needed to get some bracing on it so it could withstand a wind until we got it all the way finished. He goes, "Naaaagh", He gets this growl in his throat when he's really definite about something. "We don't need to brace that, it's going to stand up to anything."

Now, since Robert got hurt at work, and had his shoulder replaced and his neck fused, he doesn't sleep good at night because he hurts. There are times when I wake up and hear him talking to me. I don't even know how long he's been talking.... The morning after part of the fence blew down, this happened. I woke up to hear him saying, "I should have listened to you. I should have known we'd have to brace that fence to keep it up until we got it finished." I pretended I was really sleepy and I said, "Hu-u-h?" So he says it all over again. I'm laying there laughing away inside. He gets done with his little speech and I said in this really sleepy voice, "Now what did you say?" He says it AGAIN! By this time, I'm laughing so hard I can't keep it in any more. I busted out laughing and said, "Why don't you say that again, I love to hear it."

He got even with me of course.
Donna