To my own amazement, I am steaming right along with work!

I have entered the Louisana State University School of Medicine's 21st International Exhibition of Animals in Art (phew! ). This venue  always has beautiful work - Take a look at their 2007 show.

I did enter a number of years ago, got in and was very pleased with it. Unfortunately, I could never seem to get my act together in following years to have entries ready for their early January deadline. Right after Christmas, kids back at school and fresh colds and flu... I seemed to always get caught in a timeline crunch or lack of it!

But this year I planned, and you've got to love it when a plan comes together...

I sent of the following two entries;

"I See You,"  above left, a small colored pencil on Pastelbord (5"x5")

"Summer's Gold," above right, colored pencil on pastelbord (9" x 13.5")

You may recognize Summer's Gold (hint: look to my banner)
This is a subject that I have painted numerous times, as I love the back lighting on this pony.

None of these previous Summer's Gold peices has been sold or on display, but merely produced as an experiment to see what different mediums could produce in terms of showing the lovely light.
I currently have another one in progress, in watercolor this time, so when that's done I will post all the versions and readers can let me know what they think :-)

Thanks for visiting! ~Kim

Well, one of my New Year's resolutions is to try and get back into participating in juried competitions.

I have picked out a number of events that I will be aiming for, and, so far, so good...
The first one my "list" was the Art Show at the Dog Show. Now in it's 22nd year, and I finally got around to entering-yeah!

Shown at right are my 2 entries for the 2008 Show;
At top left is "Day's End", a small piece (4"x6") done in colored pencil on pastelbord.

At bottom left is "My Eyes Adore You" (5.5"x8") again colored pencil, but on watercolor board.

My normal support for colored pencil is the watercolor board, as it is smoother than the pastelboard, and I can blend colors, and 'paint' the colored pencil with solvent. But I am really liking the pastelboard, as it holds some strong color and makes me loosen up in my work. I guess I can say that both are equally rewarding!

These two pieces will be offered for sale, but we'll have to see if that will be at the show or just through my website...

Check back next month and we'll see how they did!

Keep warm! ~Kim

Last summer I had the pleasure of visiting friends in the States. Amoung the assortment of animals on their farm are Tank and Mocha, a beautiful pair of Bernese Mountain dogs. During my visit, the lovely Mocha graced me with the honor of her company as she chose to sleep in my room each night....what a wonderful perk! Too bad more hotels don't offer it :-)

Recently Mocha became ill and the time came for her humans, Kate and Wayne, to say good-bye to their beloved girl.
She was a few months shy of her 12 birthday.

So now it is my turn to honor Mocha.

I hope you like her portrait, her beauty and grace.

~Kim

Shown above:' Mocha' (3.5"x5") Watercolor [NFS]   Copyright 2007 Kim Ratigan