The Ramblings of an Artistic Equestrian

I will catch up on comments eventually again, just like I cyclically catch up and simultaneously fall behind with entries.

With the rousing success of the art classes I put in orders for more supplies and figured I could be a little self-indulgent and spend less than 5% of the earnings on a really nice set of Daniel Smith half pan watercolors.

Bonus, it came with an empty palette box of 24 half pans.



So pretty.



I can't wait to try them out on my next set of test panels.

Speaking of test panels...



I have collected an assortment of empty watercolor palettes so I can build custom palettes for each of the main characters. The first three will be Shinkir, Rirhe, and Iren. Iren will probably just need one of the tiny six-halfpan palettes since he isn't a shape-shifter. Makes color selection simpler!

I have another pair of test panels started. I'm trying out a surface that I might end up using for the two-page spread at the beginning of chapter one.



The panel on the left has the Daniel Smith Watercolor ground on it and the one on the right is the textured surface of the DaVinci art panel. Below the two test panels is the original page from version three of the graphic novel. That page (16) was eventually colored digitally and finished in 2007. Version four should be much better and hopefully make it to completion... fingers crossed.

Original Character (OC) meme that armaina posted.

1] Your Oldest OC
Longest existing would go to Challenger, Star Searcher, Beatenpath, and Compass, all horses (Morgan, Arab, and Morab siblings respectively) who were created sometime in the early to mid 90s. Oldest age reached before death would be Brehn I think, though I don't know how old Timky and Joht end up being.

2] Your Newest OC
Probably Meilah, who is Sray, Kallon, and Janef's cousin. He gets introduced during book three of the Forged by Fire series.

3] Favorite OC
It's hard to pick favorites. Sray Hillenbohn had been a focus for a few years now since a novel is a lot less intensive to develop than a graphic novel. I kindof miss Maibenti, though I'm not sure if her story will ever really go anywhere.

4] Any Villian OCs?
Not quite evil genius masterminds, but Iren is a pretty self-serving egocentric and money hungry guy. Tridan is racist (specist?) and willing to risk all out war in order to "protect" people. Tsumajh Kisday is well-intentioned, but executes poorly. Ashtim is a kid and obnoxious, I've yet to see if he manages to grow out of is bullying tendencies. Trephi might actually be the closest. He calls himself "Green Death," so there you go.

In short, I don't know about classic villians, but there are a few bad eggs.

5] Main reason for making OC's
Geeze.
Once upon I time I used to role-play, but don't at this point. I have stories I want to tell and worlds I want to explore and worlds are more interesting when they are populated and have history so there you go.

6] Describe your character creation process
Some are purpose-driven, others seem to create themselves. Personality and appearance are often developed simultaneously since I write and draw.

7] Fave OC Ship
I don't know why people can't just write out relationship. Probably Teigan Sollit and Kayrin Hillenbohn, though Keit Donseh and Rirhe Ahkgany are up there. Or Derin and Teinek ... there's a few.

8] Do you ship your OCs with someone else's OCs?
No, maybe back when I actively role-played, but my crew pretty much hang out in their own worlds.

9] Weirdest OC
Define weird? Aitnu is probably the oddest socially.

10] Favorite OC Design
Kywehn is a fun design (gryphon) and some of the Zaub are kindof fun. Maibenti was a favorite, but so far as the more active ones maybe Timky with all of her Marks. Sray has been the most interesting in regards to costume design due to residual flight membranes.

11] Would you consider yourself nice to your OCs?
I'm not purposefully mean to them if that counts?

12] An OC you've killed (if you haven't killed one, who would you kill?)
There are a couple that have met untimely ends like Derin Donseh and Aveshar of Korreth.

13] Are any of your OCs Parents?
Several are. The obvious being Teigan and Kayrin with Sray, Kallon, and Janef. Timky has two kids, Derin and Teinek had ... six or seven? Kyzel is a grandfather. Brennen and Achtung have two kids together. There are more, but they are escaping me.

14] Are there any OCs you find yourself neglecting?
Haha, which ones aren't being neglected right now?

15] An OC that's difficult to Write/Draw/RP
Anyone I don't know a lot about yet. I guess if I had to really pick the write/RP it would be Raquinn and LantairVlea, probably because they were more self-representations or muses than characters in a story. Drawing isn't too difficult unless I'm trying an odd pose.

16] Your Tallest and Shortest OCs
Named and developed probably Balentrigihren (Balent). Shabenay (shape-shifters) don't really count as size is dependent on which form they are in. More "active" character it might be Omat.

17] Your Oldest and Youngest OCs
I'm going to assume "one who lived the longest" for oldest. Probably Brehn, though Timky and Joht (siblings) might eventually beat him. I'm not sure of their lifespan yet since they're in the middle of Shifting Times. Youngest? I don't think anyone died particularly young so I can't really say. For arguments sake I could say Rirhe since he's the youngest in the main timeline for Shifting Times. Janef I think is a year younger at the start of Forged By Fire, though so she might win that one.

18] Do you Dislike any of your OCs?
There are some I would not want to hang out with, but I do enjoy writing for or drawing.

19] Have you ever made a self-insert?
Yes. Kri was the biggest one, but she has evolved a bit beyond that.

20] An OC regret
I don't think so.

slobberpuppy Something you would like to accomplish in this lifetime.

Obviously this isn't the only thing I want to accomplish, but I would like to finish "Shifting Times" and "Forged By Fire."

"Shifting Times" is my graphic novel project based in kashian. I managed to get 34 pages finished before I stalled out and decided I needed to revamp it again (version four or so now?), especially since the artwork on the first pages is over 13 years old now....

"Forged by Fire" is a trilogy I have bits and pieces of based in lemyes.

Two stories that I would really like to tell and still fiddle with here and there, but it'll take a lot more free time before I can really move them forward again. Bits and pieces here and there.

(Of course I'd also like to get my USDF rider's medals, but I figure a non-horse answer would change it up a bit.)

Things have really been rolling with both Lemyes and Kashian. Sray's story is evolving slowly and "Shifting Times" is finalky getting some new pages written. I'm also digging into backstory and finally figuring some things out. Most of my Kashian files haven't been opened in over two years, some longer.

Funny how I put up my art desk to make room for the appliances, thinking that I hadn't used it in more than two months, what was the chance I'd need it in the next few weeks before the cabinets were installed? And now I want to sit at it and spread out all this stuff and sketch and write and push and stretch the story and its characters.

Now if only I had the time to sit down and do it all!

It's been refreshing having my head buzzing with developments in worlds and character, hearing scenes develop and unfold with an ease I don't remember since I don't know when.

On to more mundane things.

The painting is almost done on the exterior and we may get the cabinets in in about a week. At that point we can put locks on the doors and install the appliances so I can reclaim my art corner And the little house can be a little less cramped.

Over the weekend Chris installed the harness racks in the workshop and they look quite nice. The harnesses sit on them beautifully too. We need to post adds for Ruby's leather breastcollar harness and Charm-N's nylon hames harness.

It'll be so nice when we can move some stuff into the garages. It'd be nice to not have to climb around a ladder and negotiate the lawn mower or the high wheel as I pull out tack.

I worked Zerahra this morning. She lunged fairly well, but goobered with the singletree. She was responding to somethjng over the fence, but she jerked forward and without weight the singletree pipped her in the rump, which caused her to kick out and knocked one of the heel chains loose. She didn't go far and I just hitched her up again and drove back and forth along the Frazier's fence until she relaxed about it. I then had Addy take Z's head as Roxanne did Saturday and we dragged the tire for a bit. She thought about goobering about something over the fence again, but I squelched it pretty quick and she relaxed and ignored the boogeyman over the fence. We got some good turns and direction changes and I called it good. I think I'll ride her tomorrow and really work on her boogyman spots along the fence.

Chris took his birthday and up through Wednesday off last week. I reshuffled lessons so I had hi birthday and the 4th off to have a few days of him, Tristan and I. Monday we went and acquired a paintball gun. Chris has been toying with the idea of it for a couple years now actually. Hurra for frivolous birthday money! (Plus holiday pay!). Chris thoroughly enjoyed shooting up a board behind the house. The horses weren't terribly happy with the noise at first, it's good desensitizing for them. It is pretty fun to shoot, actually! I may consider getting one myself eventually (Christmas or birthday perhaps). It's nice seeing Chris getting into something and enjoying it.

This last week we also received the solar charger and the wire to get Jed's turnout set up. Poor Jed has been stuck in his stall for a couple weeks (it does have a run, but still) because he has descemated the fence panels. Most specifically the panels attempting to keep him and the trees separated. They look like a truck ran over them so we sat down and figured out that it was about the same to get a solar charger and more wire to electrify it as it was to replace the panels, which he's probably going to destroy again anyway. So the fence is hot and Jed's turnout didn't get altered at all last night despite him finally being turned out in it.

Cinnamon has also discovered the electric fence and Chris said she's touch it, get zapped, spin away, do the flehmen response (curl her upper lip, something horses do when they want to analyze a smell better), and then investigate again, rinse, repeat. Wierd horse.

I have a commission I've been working on and hope to finish next week. I've taken too long eith it really, but what one should be able to accomplish and what one can accomplish with an infant are two entirely different things! Especially when he doesn't want to nap. Once I finish with that I'll post that and some other things here.

I've been having some itching to redo Shifting Times, but I promised myself to get the first chapter finished first. Of course that shouldn't stop me from starting some re-writing and thumbnailing... The most important visual change will be visually treating it as a book rather than just individual pages, which will change some things, I think. I'm trying to figure out if I might want to do it all traditionally or not. I also just had the thought that maybe I should do landscape format rather than portrait...

Anyway, just some thoughts rattling around in my head.

( Twenty-sixth page of Shifting Times )

So Friday training was canceled because Kim was sick. I won't have training next Friday either as she's going in to have a surgery that will hopefully improve her hearing (she is deaf). In place of it, I took both Panda and Kash to the park with its public arena.

I worked Panda first and left Kash in the trailer. She was a little nervous when I tacked her up, but not so bad as she was on Wednesday. Of course, her nervousness didn't help me any and upped my apprehension. I worked her on the ground briefly before getting on and started working the tension out. Lots of walking at first and bending before moving up to the trot, continuing with the bending, turning, and getting her to move off of my leg (sideways rather than forward). The goal was to get her to relax, which is Panda's biggest thing, especially in the arena. She tries so hard to work she gets herself nervous about it. She is more relaxed out on trail (so long as she's in the lead and not being left behind) and I just need to translate that into relaxed all the time. Eventually. Some day.

I did manage to get her to go long and low and seek the contact a few times, but only briefly.

We ended with a bit of canter work and she did pretty well, though she did get stuck on the right lead for a bit at the end and "ran away" the first couple times. She really is a nice ride when she's relaxed though and willing and tries hard. I just need to get her to calm down so anyone can ride her without worrying about her nervous energy getting away from her. Wet saddle blankets and time, wet saddle blankets and time. She's better than she was, but isn't where she could be as I haven't had the time for her the last two years. I think I could only really claim one year under saddle for her with as much as she's been worked.

I was going to just dink on Kash a bit, I brought the bareback pad and tacked him up, but he had other ideas. Being left in the trailer for an hour did not settle well with a very active high-energy horse. I ended up swapping out to the saddle to be safe and worked him in trot and canter, small circles, bending, turning, more bending, some shoulders-in, more bending and turning and generally attempting to get him to slow down and listen. Did some side-pass and would have worked him some more, but it was time to get Panda to the vet's for another check. Ola worked the boy that evening and said he did great.

Panda was in heat Friday, though I have to say she is probably the quietest mare in history. All she really did was lift her tail and she had a 45mm follicle (essentially about ready to ovulate). Most normal mares would be squatting, winking, and a whole array of other things, but Panda? Just a raised tail. Very much not the flirtatious type.

We had the smear and culture done, which were a pretty penny and we should have the first result back by Wednesday and the second one by the end of the week. They should both come back clear as she's well-conformed, young, and a maiden mare, which means we should be clear to take her to the stud in March. Woo!

Saturday both Chris and I worked. I had six lessons, one early, one late morning, and four in the afternoon. The four are new, all siblings, and four lessons in a row is a bit much! We're going to try and split them up, two and two, so they don't end up sitting around for two or so hours while the others do their lessons. The mother said specifically that she (or the kids' grandparents) wanted them to learn Dressage, so Dressage it shall be, as much as I know, but first we have to establish the basics, which will probably take some time. The two younger ones have very little experience and the older two have ridden a little more, but not with much instruction.

Sunday we were heathens and stayed home and relaxed except for a brief trip to the horse park to have a more thorough look around (I've only been to the public section to work horses). There was a gymkahna going on, although they were just running barrels at the time while we were there (gymkahna includes all of the speed events in Western, barrels, poles, keyhole, and several other things I can't recall at the moment). They were doing the peewee group, which included first runs for some kids in which they were lead around the barrels to older kids who actually cantered through it (the best time was around 30 seconds, whereas winning times at the adult level are in the teens). There were some really good, as well as some incredibly tolerant ponies that were packing the kids around. I have to say that I do think that if a kid can't control its horse by him/herself the kid has no business being in a show environment, but that's just me.

There were some good horses, but there were quite a few that were jigging all over and couldn't contain themselves, one of the side affects of speed events in which people don't focus on good horsemanship and just want the fastest time. Thus, I'm not really a fan of speed events.

The park is set up rather nicely, the big covered arena is quite nice and they have four others that are uncovered. The barn has 100 stalls divided up into four sections of 20 stalls. The roof is insulated, which is quite awesome and should keep it cooler during the summer.

It isn't anything like Westworld, though I think that is their goal. They don't have the space yet and none of the other arenas have much in the way of bleachers so your only spot for any amount of spectators is in the covered arena, limiting the number of big classes you can have and the number of spectators. Just the same, it is nice and is a huge step in the right direction.

Today I will go ride with Mom, try and work Jinjer and possibly the boy. The Strudel horse needs some attention too.

And I have come to the conclusion I need to ride more. I've gotten a little tentative and my seat doesn't feel as sure as it should be. I'm far from the five-to-six days a week I rode while working for Judy. I need to ride regularly again. One to improve myself, and two to improve my horses. The third reason is to improve my confidence. It's funny, I'm more calm and at ease when a horse is doing something "stupid" than I am in anticipation of the act happening. I find myself getting annoyed more than anything.

Anyway, time for some breakfast.

This morning I was going to go to training, but Kim wasn't feeling well so we rescheduled for Monday. Instead I worked Kash in the walk and trot around the neighborhood and realized that he's not been out around the neighborhood in a while. He didn't do bad, but he was a bit distracted and not really "on the aids."

After that I had a lesson and Emma got to start the trot, she was quite excited. Granted, there was some minor trauma when Chewy stepped on Emma's toe. Of course, it wasn't until Chewy's hoof was OFF Emma's foot that she cried. We took off her boot and sock to reassure Emma that her toe was OK. A few more sniffles and the reapplication of said footwear and she was good to go. Her focus is becoming much better and thus her riding is improving. She really likes draft horses and so having Chewy plus Ruby and Panda is quite a treat for her.

Following the lesson I was going to work Mom's two horses, but discovered Dakota in quite a state. She was standing under the shade with Rowdy but unlike the big black gelding, she was breathing quite heavily, practically panting, but just through her nose. Knowing this not to be a good thing I led her over to the hose and spent the next 10-20 minutes hosing the mare with water to help cool her down. Granted, now we were standing in the sun, but the water was much cooler than her hot flesh. After I hosed her down she, of course, rolled and created a rather muddy mess, but that's okay, she was breathing much more steadily and had drunk quite a bit of water.

Then it was off and running errands. I FINALLY mailed the computer to its new home. (It should be there the 31st!) It's insured and being sent via UPS, they'll e-mail me the tracking number later. The lady at the counter was quite slow in getting everything inputed, though. I remember when I worked at Kwik Ship and having to do a much, much quicker job. By the time I was done there were three other people waiting to be served. I could hear another person in back packing things. Ah, yes, the old memories of working for shipping places!

The next stop was Marley Feeds to pick up some joint pellets for Mom's horses. When I pulled up around noon some crazy person was out working a horse over jumps. My thought is either she was exceptionally dedicated or extremely stupid. Not only is it hard on the rider, but 105˚ at 20-30% humidity does NOT agree with the equine athlete. That's a rough guestimate, I don't actually know what the humidity was, but the temperature is about the same and since it's the monsoon season the dewpoint and humidity are both up. As I was pulling out I noticed that they changed riders and a second person worked the horse over some low jumps. I don't know, I can work outside until about 11.00 without too much worry, but I will NOT work a horse after 10.30 in the summer. It's just stupid and foolish and it most definitely isn't worth the health of the horse or the risk of some sort of heat stroke or exhaustion for both horse and rider.

As I wandered back home I hit the feed store to grab some oats and pick up a few things for Marty. I finally made it home a bit after 1.00 and have been working on page 24 for Shifting Times, which is just about finished! I'm quite excited, I haven't had this quick of a turn-around for pages in quite some time. I hope I can keep it up and get myself a bit caught up and then maintain once school starts. It would be REALLY nice to be able to finish with the first chapter before the end of next year.

Speaking of next year ... did you know I will be graduated in less than 10 months? WOHOOOOOOO!!!!! *Dances happily.*

I need to finish the re-vamp for my site next week and try and get some more information down for Kashian. I don't think I ever mentioned that I finally have Aitnu's family line figured out, mwah ha ha, but I can't tell until after I'm done with Merging Worlds (the first part/book of the Shifting Times series). Part of me can't believe that I've managed to stick with it this long, and the other part knew I was quite stubborn all along.

Once I finish Chapter One: Runaways, I plan on re-doing the first two pages (at least) and then possibly getting it published, just a small self-published run. It'll mostly be for myself, but if anyone's interested I'll make more copies, probably to sell near cost (unless I manage some massive following in the next year, which, given my current track record, is highly unlikely).

Which brings me to the ever-present curiosity that occasionally plagues my mind of why I don't get more recognition for my art. I know I have a small, fierce following, but they are friends more than fans, which is actually quite a good thing, but it can get frustrating because at times I don't feel like I get the recognition that my ability deserves...? I think part of it continues to fall back on the fact that I don't really promote myself much (or well for that matter). I might have my art a lot of places, but I don't always go out of my way in trying to engage people. I'm not very good at self-promotion and I feel a bit self-conscious and don't want to get obnoxious.

Ach, whatever. I'm still in college (for a little while at least). As I've figured before, I won't worry too much about promoting myself until I'm through and have the time for such pursuits, like more conventions and the like (if I have the money for it, and I should, I WILL be at FC in 2010!). And checking out local galleries and getting into the First Friday thing down in Phoenix where they have the artwalk and other activities once a month.

Of course then there's the consideration that both horses and art take up a lot of time and I do have to consider that there will be a bit of give and take there. I don't ever plan on doing a whole lot of showing, but I do think it would be a fun experience to compete and get a sense of how good I actually am compared to other riders.

Time to wander off the computer and feed horses, or at least get them their Psyllium, Kash already had his this morning, but the other three went without due to lack of oats.

But not really.

I finished two of the three pieces that are due Monday. Of course, the third one will be the most time-consuming as it is a colored pencil piece.

Our final project in Drawing III will be a massive triptych with three 22X30" pieces. I think I might do pastels, but I don't know.

I have a sad attempt at starting the final paper for Teaching Art Processes and an inkling of what to do for the second half of the paper for Stokrocki.

I did, however, finish page 22 of Shifting Times, which makes me happy. Hopefully I'll get page 23 done in time even with school gnawing on the back of my neck.

( Shifting Times, page 22, with detail shot! )

It's good to get back into the groove of lessons. While two ended up being postponed this week, I will still have taught five lessons come Saturday, which is good. March will still be a woefully bad month and February wasn't much better, but there were a few things that were beyond my control and being absent a week didn't help any.

I'm tempted to throw some of my older students on Kash again, but I figure get them back into regular lessons before we think of that. I do want to allow them to progress into the canter, but Chewy does not have anything resembling a smooth, balanced canter and neither does Panda. Sunny needs a thorough tune-up and isn't the best on the lunge line, forget about doing anything with her in the roundpen with a rider on her (she gets terribly excited, responsive, but too fast and a bit unbalanced for a rider to get used to the movement). Thus it leaves the boy, which means I need to get him worked three times a week or more to keep him on par. Four more weeks and school will be finished for the summer (not counting Summer School) so we might just be able to get 'Brose and Nat up again.

Speaking of Kash, he did fantastic in training today. There were a couple of wobbly moments, but overall he performed wonderfully as we worked a bit on shoulder-in, trot-canter-trot transitions, and moving from working to extended trot. We also did a little jumping, and my have I missed it! As soon as school is out I am going over to my parents' and getting the holes drilled for the jumping standards so I can start practicing at home. That's really what has been keeping me from doing it more at Kim's because I haven't been able to exercise him over them at home and I haven't really had the time to exercise him period. This last week he got a bit so I figured he'd be good to go.

And now I must be off!

I had my first official driving lesson yesterday from JJ. It was a bit hap-hazard, but I think I'm learning and it should be quite interesting. She sent me off on Juliet and it took me a while to get a feel for the reins as they're quite heavy. It didn't go too badly and, though Juliet wanted to speed up "going home" she was pretty good on the aids and listened fairly well. I must have looked a bit like a drunkard at first trying to go in a straight line, though, heh.

We worked with JJ's Pintabian filly and also tried Seven in the cart. He wasn't terribly fond of the shafts at first, but we got him walking around fairly nicely by the end of it.

I'll be going back again Friday and, hopefully, will set something up to go somewhat more regularly. JJ mentioned a show/event in the begining of Feb. with the possibility of me driving Juliet and JJ driving Seven, but we'll see. I didn't mention it to Chris yesterday as I had three lessons to teach right after I got home, but perhaps he'd be interested in helping us out.

As such, one of my resolutions is now on its way to being accomplished!

In other news, page 20 of Shifting Times is almost done. Finally. The last page was finished in October, which means I've had a two month lull and haven't paid the attention to it that I should have. The good news is that I'm getting to the point where the inking isn't three years old and I won't have to rework it so much after scanning.

And time to be off and accomplish things. I have a few errands to run and plan on visiting Judy, whom I haven't seen since last Christmas and haven't talked to in a couple months.

Well, another page is, at least. And since it's been so long in coming and I'm rather proud of it, I'm sharing it here with y'all.

I do have to admit that I secretly enjoy drawing Rirhe when he is spazzed out. Ignore the fact that the lighting is wrong in panel four, I noticed it, but only AFTER I was finished coloring it and really didn't want to redo it.

( Shifting Times: Part One, Merging Worlds: Chapter One, Runaways, page 19 )

The whole comic can be found here for those interested.

Now I just have 20 more pages to go and I'm finished with Runaways! I should have it finished by the end of 2009, which is actually quite close, if you think of it, especially compared to how long it's taken me to get to this point! Nearly 20 pages in four years, and I hope to finish another 20 in two!

Each page I finished gets me excited all over again about the story. I'm slightly disappointed in myself that I don't get them finished faster, but I have to remind myself that each panel is quite near a full completed drawing in and of itself at the size I'm working. To give you an idea, the "finished" product that you see is about 25% of my working size now.

P.S. I find Rirhe's accent amusing too.