The Fall Line-up

It's shaping up to be a busy fall!

SHOWS: 51st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists “Art and the Animal”

Opening September 17

Dennos Museum Center

Traverse City, MI

Continues on Tour, details on future locations to come.

“Get Lost”

with Beatrice Bork and
Joe Kazimierczyk

Nov. 11 – Dec. 4, 2011

Opening Reception:

Sat. Nov. 12, 5 to 8pm,
all are welcome!

Artists' Gallery,
18 Bridge St., Lambertville, NJ

WORKSHOPS/CLASSES:

"Art in the Garden"

September 1, 2011 (rain date Sept. 2)

9:30 am - 3:30 pm

at Leonard J. Buck Garden, Far Hills, NJ

Workshop/Hunterdon Watercolor Society

Topic: From inspiration to the finished painting

September 12, 2011

7 - 9 pm

All art © Beatrice Bork

Horses. Part 4

After comments from the client, as well as my own thoughts about the previous drawing, I've incorporated the changes into this new sketch. The challenge of a commissioned piece is the requirement of not only creating the composition and being accurate to the species, there is the additional component to also being true to the character of each individual. I've sent this drawing to the client and will probably generate one more drawing before I move into the painting. Because I work with watercolor, I need the drawing to be precise before I start. Unlike oil or acrylics there isn't much room for error, I can't really edit a piece in the process. You could say that watercolor is "extreme painting" like a sky diver, once your out of the plane you can't go back. :)

Horses © pencil drawing, Beatrice Bork

Dog Days

I was inspired by our furry friends who seemingly are getting a little too much of our summer this year. I'm finishing up the framing for "Dog Days" and will be presenting him this month at Artists' Gallery (18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ) as well as a few more locally inspired works. Artists' Gallery is a cooperative gallery I'm proud to be a partner of since 2007, we are entirely run by 18 members who are selectively juried by our artists into membership.

"Dog Days" watercolor painting © Beatrice Bork

Horses. Part 3

I have now completed basic drawings of all the horses and started to compile them into one image, and refined it somewhat. There are things at this point that I still need and want to rework, but because this is a commissioned piece, I feel that this is a good place to start getting some feedback from my client, before I take the drawing too far. She will let me know if I'm on the right track with character traits, and any other changes she would like to see.

Pencil sketch #3, horses © Beatrice Bork

Everyday wonders...

Just thought I'd like to share this image, the beauty of nature is all around, you don't have to look very far... this was just outside my door.

Photo © Beatrice Bork

horses: initial drawings part 2

After I have roughed-out a basic first draft (which gave me a general idea of where the horses will be positioned), the next step is to work on each individual horse. I am studying movements now, and will work-up each one into a sketch using vine charcoal. From here I can move and position them in order to create the next step which will be the initial sketch for the client, who will then let me know how the personalities match up with the real horses.

I'm working on having the image be about 3 feet long. (once this is matted and framed it will be close to 4 feet in length). At this point I have a fairly good idea of not only where the horses will be but a good idea of how I'm envisioning the color and style, but I won't worry about that too much until I get the horses tightly drawn.

© rough sketch of paint horse by Beatrice Bork — work yet to be titled. 2011

Horses!

I have been presented with a unique challenge to paint 11 horses, but not just any horses. This piece will be focused on 3 generations of paints. I have been given photos, with detailed descriptions of their personalities—and will be depicting them running as a herd, starting with "grand-mare". While I generally do not work on many commissioned works, this venture seemed too exciting to pass up! I am looking forward to the weeks/months ahead as I go through the process of creating this from sketch to final watercolor painting.

I will be posting a series of progression... I'll just need to keep a camera close by and remember to take a photo now and then to show the progress ;)

In this first drawing I've created a very loose sketch to get a feel of where each horse will be positioned. I used vine charcoal to do this, as it's easy to get quick lines down, and rub off as needed.

© rough sketch of paint horses by Beatrice Bork — work yet to be titled. 2011