WARNING - Nude Drawings

One of the requirements in art school is attendance at life drawing classes. It's a discipline of the ages and practiced by the masters for hundreds of years. Throughout my career, I've joined artists groups whenever available that offer life drawing. It's sound practice to maintain drawing skills. Some of these classes have been arranged by a group of artists chipping in for a model and some are hosted by art centers/organizations. All are interesting...it's the nature of the study.

During my time in California, artist's models formed a union and received a decent union wage. Most are well paid for an unusual task. Sometimes we can talk family members and friends into modeling for us. I tie old reins around a doorknob and ask Michael to lean back and pose extreme jockey hands. Make 'em white knuckled and gnarly, please. In fact, almost all of the hands in my racing paintings are his.

To be an artist's model, one must sit still for long periods of time while vulnerably naked. We do our best to keep them comfortably warm and not insist on any poses that would cause cramping.

The model above is holding a doll that had been modified into a creepy "Chucky" character. Another artist created this cottage industry of doll customization to make extra money. It was Halloween and an absolute hoot to pose the female model with the demon doll. When creatives get together, imaginations run rampant!

The models will often fall asleep as the one above. Or they have an itch and never put their hands back into the same position. Or they put themselves into an uncomfortable pose and fidget. Most of us do our best to remain patient and professional, after all, it's not an easy job.

Some models are innovative and will show up in costume. Some have a sense of humor that we artists thrive on. Yes, we do have our favorites. One time a very plump girl posed with a bridal veil and beautiful white silk gloves up to her elbows and of course, nothing else. Some models are naturally graceful and slip into elegant poses. The model above was eight months pregnant and announced that this was her last gig until the baby was born. It was a beautiful and sensual session.

There are some instances where an artist won't find a model inspiring. No one's fault, just one of those vague energy things. Then we turn to studying body parts, as above.

It's a classic,
Sharon

The Remaining Drawings

My Kickstarter project "Renderings of Historic Saratoga Race Course" for the 150th Anniversary is nearing completion. Four of the eight original drawings are available. They're 11"x14" and created with pen and ink followed with a wash of watercolor on paper. They can be purchased framed or unframed.

Sanford Stud Farm

The history of this farm and Saratoga Race Course are closely woven together. Located just north of Amsterdam, New York, three generations of the Sanford family bred and raced some of the country's best horses beginning in the 1870's. On the Oklahoma side of the barn area is a section named “Sanford Court” in honor of the farm. The Sanford Stakes is still run today (the only loss for the great Man O' War by a horse aptly named Upset). I visited the few remaining buildings and took this reference photo of what were once the mare and foal barns, adding my own horses and grooms in period dress from my imagination. It's said that the horses were walked from the farm to the race track...about twenty-six miles...and people would line the streets to watch them go by.

The Paddock

Circa 1910's, notice the paddock is comprised of gentlemen only, all wearing straw-type hats (very in-style) as they observe the horses entering for saddling. African-American grooms walk their charges through thick grass with no gravel paths such as those that exist today. The trees in front of the stalls are mostly gone now, and the few that remain are fairly large. The red and white striped awnings were added much later.

                                                              Harrowing the Track
Before it was mechanized with tractors, the harrows that comb the surface of the track between races were pulled by draft horses. The starting gate was also moved around the track with teams of horses. Many years ago when I was a young teenager, my dad would take me to Narragansett Park in Rhode Island and I remember being awe-struck by the massive size of these reliable horses. Take note of the trees in the infield. Most are gone now but there are a few left that have grown huge and momentarily block out the field of horses from the cameras as they race down the backstretch.  

The Loose Horse 

This is my take on a drawing that appeared in the Daily Graphic newspaper in 1877. Long before photography became a staple tool in news reporting, illustrators had to quickly sketch out the day's events. Note how all the horses are all in the same extended stride and the two horses with riders behind the loose horse were drawn much smaller, a means of creating spacial perspective. I think these artists did a great job back then, drawing quickly and effectively to capture the essence of a story. 

If you are interested in acquiring any of these, please email me: sharon@sharoncrute.com

Got a Horse Crazy Kid?

The book is published!

My multi-year project of illustrating the equine-related riddles for children that were written and compiled by my book partner Dale Sue Wade is complete. In hindsight, the drawings were a respite from my usually formal painting. The goofy, silly me was given free rein to have fun and revel in the fact that I'm a fairly decent draughtswoman (yes that's correct, I looked it up). I'm learning to accept and honor the positive aspects of me. It takes an entire lifetime.

In a few days the book will be available at Amazon.com. Extended distribution will take on countries across the pond and translations will occur: ¿Qué tipo de caballo de Picasso se prefiere?

A bit of a snafu has occurred in transferring the files to Kindle but that will be handled later. Call me old-fashioned, but I still love the tactile experience of holding a book in my hands and thumbing the pages while inhaling the aromatic scent of ink.

Dale Sue is an educator and wasn't satisfied with the just the riddle and it's accompanying answer. She's compelled to teach and harnessed the riddles as a learning opportunity. You'll find puns, wordplays, idioms and homophones plus a history lesson or two thrown in for good measure.

Got a horse crazy kid and need a little gift? You can pre-order at the publishers website here. It's only $9.95 and I promise you'll love it as much as your kid. Think of me when you chuckle at the nonsensical drawings.

Drawing on life and love,
Sharon

101 Whinnying Riddles for Horse Crazy Kids

Three solid weeks. That's how long it took me to format the children's riddle book I've been working on for years. Why now? An offer from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame for a book signing during the Saratoga race meet was incentive enough to pull the project back to the front burner. Again.

Being a painter, my knowledge and understanding of publishing software is limited. A very old version of Quark, 5.0 to be exact, somehow keeps getting transferred over to the next generation of computers in our office. After a brief frustrating struggle, I downloaded the trial version of the latest QuarkExpress 9.0.

It was easy to import the text and images and compose the pages. However, the entire book had to uploaded to the publisher in one pdf file and that's where the insanity began. My book partner, Dale Sue Wade (who wrote the overly clever riddles that only children can solve), my VP of Sales, Research and Accounts Receivable (Michael) and I decided to self-publish. After intensive research, we chose CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Many, many revisions and several hair pulling sessions later, the book is in "review" as of this writing. I felt like I was trying to build a mansion with toothpicks, the toothpicks being my lack of knowledge about anything book creating.

Revisiting the ink drawings did put a smile on my intense grimacing. Humor me as I share this ridiculous drawing with you:

What do you say to a horse when they sneeze?

Horse-SHOE!

101 Ways to Drive a Horse Artist Mad,

Sharon

Life Drawing Class

Big perk: life drawing class with a nude model sponsored by the Saratoga Arts Center. Time-honored method of honing drawing skills that's been practiced for a few hundred years or more by the great masters. Volume, line, form, negative space, direction, etc. not to mention depicting personality and mood are the challenges for wannabe draftsmen (and women).

I'm a bit rusty. It's been several years since I've had the opportunity to participate in life drawing class, but I promise you, I'll get better.
Love, Sharon

Not bad Mom, but you may want to consider composition so that next time
you don't cut off the head and feet.

Splashing Equines, Redux and Update

A dear reader has requested more info regarding my working method. As I mentioned in the previous post, I  woulda, coulda shoulda documented the first drawings right on the canvas. You know the ones - an afternoon of work rubbed out in aggravation and re-started with heavy sighs of disgust. Ugh. No place for romance. Alas, very rough first sketches survive...the first brainstorming thumbnails whipped up in a stream of consciousness onto the pages of my journal/sketchbook.

I love these - straight out of the friendly cooperative side of the brain. They're fresh, inspired and so lively. If only to discover a way to continue that free flow into the oil paint...

The early horse on the right was supposed to be throwing down it's head into a buck, but the head would be in the water...thus that troublesome lunging beast appeared in it's place.

I'm comfortable with the composition...finally. My splashy water is fussy and will be put off until the end. I ask myself why I spent so much time drawing out the legs if they'll ultimately be undefined in water. Geesh. If you look closely you'll notice a chalk line a bit higher than halfway across. Below is shadow, above will be bright warm light to mimic a dramatic sunset. A long way to go with lots of work ahead

"The centipede has rhythm and flow in its hundred legs precisely because it does not have to think about it. Consider this the next time you move the instruments of your art." - Robert Genn

Un-reliance

We artists can sometimes get lazy. Relying too much on photographic reference, our paintings can conjure a feeling of artifice. They stiffen and fall flat. Feel contrived. Overly orchestrated.

To avoid the bland, I turn to drawing from scratch. I love to draw and wonder why I don't sketch more often. Other artist's drawings intrigue me. Drawing can illustrate line, direction, speed, chains of bodies in space, ovoids, nuance, milieu, tenor - okay, so I'm sounding like my art history professor and you get the point.

In an attempt to express the dynamic:


I considered foreshortening the front leg. In a large canvas this could be effective, on this small panel I decided it would look awkward.

"Lively Wave" oil on panel, 14"x11"

Fun exercise. It ended up with a slightly Asian feel. Like it? Make me an offer...

“When you do dance, I wish you a wave o' the sea, that you might ever do nothing but that” - William Shakespeare

I'll Paint YOU and Your Little Dog too!

Well, my last post may have been just a tad vague.

To be a bit more specific, I'm considering re-inventing myself. When word got out that I was stepping back from painting horse racing subjects for awhile I was confronted with exclamations of jaw dropping, eye popping: "what ever will you paint now?" A decent artist who can draw well and understands color should be able to paint anything. Even my closest friends seemed astonished that I would endeavor to paint something non-equine.

Seems I've branded myself into a very tight little niche.

Therefore, I'm opening up the phone lines, the studio, the paint box and this blog to announce this amazing one-of-a-kind painting dynamo who will paint your kids, your yacht, your trophy bass, street machine, prize-winning cucumbers, favorite NBA player, copies of Kinkade nirvana...heck, I'll even paint your house. But don't send your money yet 'cause there's more: I'll even paint your champion Jack Russell! And if you call within the next twenty minutes, I'll throw in a free t-shirt! (while supplies last)

“People like to feel they are buying of their own good judgment as a result of the information given them” - Paul Parker

Working Hands

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Look closely at this amazing photo of Calvin Borel being led back to the winner's circle aboard Derby winner Mine That Bird. He's dropped the reins in his lap yet his left hand still grasps firmly with a half cross while the right has put away the whip (or maybe still tapping a shoulder).

Hands are an integral, expressive element in my paintings. Rider's hands are literally holding onto over a thousand pounds of pulling, jerking, grabbing-the-bit horsepower. Tendons stretch, joints enlarge. Okay, you imagine that I study them endlessly, and I do, but here's a secret: almost every hand in every one of my paintings is Michaels'. Props keep company with art supplies in the studio - from helmets to silks. Tied to my storage rack is a set of reins that I coax Michael into taking a hold of, pull back hard, and make 'em gnarly (then sketch like mad)!

Hands from "Harrowing":

Twirling the stick.

Reaching for a new hold.

Getting ready for the drive.

And, from the Farrier Series:

Clinching down the nails.

"Hands to work, heart to God" - symbolic Shaker saying.

P.S. I think Calvin should be designated the official ambassador of horse racing.

I Create Large-Scale Canvases

Here's my introduction, used as required (and sometimes tweaked):

My name is Sharon Crute and I create dynamic and passionate equine oil paintings on large-scale canvases.

Museums are full of big canvases. Huge, monumental paintings of the gloriously romantic or dramatic historical narratives to rival a battlefield. They're in your face, command attention and invite the viewer to step right in. Pre-television eras, most. Size is all relative. Michael has somewhat discouraged the grandiose in this "economy" but large canvases is what I do.

Rough oil sketch on canvas, 48"x68"

I always lay down a neutral ground, this one being raw sienna. Roughly sketching out the shapes and composition in charcoal, I then go back and do a more detailed drawing in a red-toned conte crayon. Painting more accurately than I draw, I spend a good amount of time on my oil washes. When completed, that's the time to step back and make changes, some will be major.

I also try to work out problems in my sketch book as I lay in the washes. In the horse without the noseband, the tight rein on the bit would pull the mouth wide open. It felt like the bit had to go back further, then even further. I may pull it back even more for dynamic effect.

"Gate Okayed", oil on canvas, approx. 36"x48" circa 2000.

Becoming concerned that the new canvas may resemble an older piece, I dug this one out of the archives. This painting was created before I figured out that I really should document all my artwork. Duh. Anyway, it's somewhat alike but I'm comfortable with the arrangement of the new horses.

"Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long / To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?" - William Shakespeare