Horse Romance

"Romance"

Acrylic on Canvas
36" x 24"
© Renee Fukumoto
NFS - prints pending

This painting was inspired by the horses of a couple of my friends. On the left is Jazz, who remembers his stallion days and courted Friday (on the right) so sweetly. He trotted big fancy circles around her, showing off, then came to her quietly and curled his neck over hers. She tolerated him quite well. I took the picture of them in the sand ring; quite a poor photo really, and an uninspiring background. So, I gave them a domain of their own with the Niagara escarpment in the background.

I'd like to make prints of it, once I locate a place to have professional digital image made - anyone interested?  Contact me at reneefukumoto@hotmail.com

Norwegian Face!

Just thought I'd post a picture of Thai, the Norwegian Fjord horse I painted for a friend's birthday. He's really such a handsome guy. Hope the sun shines again soon so I can get out and take pictures of him on a sunny day - before the snow flies again! This picture was taken about 2 years ago. Funny how times flies!

I think I'll use this image at Zazzle. Would make a really cute card!

A Personal Favourite!

The photograph I took of a friend's frollicking horse herd has become a favourite of mine. I'm using it as the banner here, on my T-shirtmonster and my Zazzle sites. I believe I may yet work this into a logo for my Ravenwood Studio ventures.
In my Dreams Horse Herd Poster or Print by ReneeFukumoto
See other posters from Zazzle.com">

And yet another Zazzle tee sale! How weird!

Horses Rock and Roll! by ReneeFukumoto
Buy t-shirts at www.zazzle.com">

So, July seems to be off to a great start at Zazzle! So far I've loved the quality of any of my own purchases. They hold up very well to washing and wearing, and I am never easy on my clothes, so its been a good investment.
Enjoy, Mary of Brentwood, CA!

Another sale!

First Love: Horse Lover Kid's T-shirt by ReneeFukumoto
Design a Customized T Shirt at zazzle">

Happy Dance!
Well, there is a sale on at Zazzle, which must account for some of this activity.
17.76% off all shirts - sale ends today - use code ZAZZLEUSAUSA when checking out

You know, this is motivating me to do more artwork...:)!

Jazz - such an excellent subject!

My friend Patricia's horse Jazz is a recurring theme in a lot of my paintings and photography. He's very photogenic - and cooperative! He loves attention and showing off. He's the subject of the digital painting I did of the galloping horse with the verse seen below... So, here I go again! Taking pictures of Jazz Man!

A Zazzle Paint Horse Tote Bag

Fine Paint Horse Tote Bag by ReneeFukumoto
Create a Photo bag at Zazzle.com">

Zazzle has so many cool products. A variety of tote bags have been added recently, in various colours, styles and sizes (and price points!). And until the end of June, Free Shipping! Just enter the code FREESHIPON25 when checking out.

A Sunny Afternoon

And where better to spend it than with horses? Just had to go hang out and take pictures, of course! I think I may have some good action shots from which to develop a painting too.

Pony Club Fundraiser Donation

Just thought I'd mention that I'd been asked if I'd like to donate something for the silent auction at the 50th Anniversary of the Caledon & Credit Valley Pony Clubs (for members and Alumni at the Caledon Riding Club on Saturday, June 27th at 2 pm). The above pic is my offering. I'm hoping it will be a good introduction to the local horse people and raise some funds for this worthy cause.

Such A Fine Paint Horse!

Just finished a new t-shirt design for friends Vic & Patricia of their horse Rio. Rio passed away just a couple of days before Christmas. He had HYPP and apparently over time the strain on the heart has consequences. Rio was the loveliest horse. A great heart, so giving and patient: a four year old began to learn to ride on him (on a longe line, of course), yet he could do dressage and win ribbons competing against some big showy Hanoverians. He is deeply missed and touched many lives. This link & image above belong to my T-shirtmonster shop. I'll be setting up a variation of it at my Zazzle & Printfection shops too!

Love Me Love My Horse!

Here it is finally. I've really reduced the image quality and size. You can check it out on T-shirtmonster at my store, Ravenwood Studio!)

I have a friend who is so "horse proud" she makes it fun and easy to come up with artwork and designs that suit her attitude. I've painted and drawn her horse a few times now. One of the paintings is presently living on my kids' orthodontist's office wall in Georgetown. A couple of the designs are on products and t-shirts on my various online shops. I'm trying to post one of the most recent ones - we'll see if the link works, as I'm new to computer-ese and blogging! I'll describe it though. One Sunday afternoon we took her boy to the arena to let him blow off steam and I snapped a ton of pictures while he galloped around. I chose one to create a digital painting, which was rather a lot of fun to do! Now I've put it on t-shirts, mugs, aprons etc. If you are Canadian, then check out http://www.Tshirtmonster.ca/designer/RavenwoodStudio to see it there on tees.

ACEO's

I've begun my foray into Art Cards, Editions & Originals. I'm offering reproductions at Zazzle and hope to open an Etsy shop soon to offer originals, there and through my own website. Several artists I've conversed with have convinced me to give it a go and now I'm pretty excited about it. Of course, according to my husband, he's been telling me to do this sort of thing for years and I just wouldn't listen... he's usually right! Anyway, the lioness above is one of my first forays into this art form. The original is somewhat larger than the 3.5 x 2.5 format, done in pastel pencil on Strathmore Pastel paper. She's called "Vigilant", and I used my own photograph as reference material. Really makes me look forward to more visits to the Zoo!

ACEO's are a phenomena that has been around for quite a while. The term refers to Art Card, Editions & Originals. These are tiny, collectible pieces of art: by regulation they are 3.5" x 2.5" and can be originals or reproductions. Artist Trading Cards or ATC's were begun by artists who wished to trade and collect art from artists they admired, sort of a parallel to sport trading cards. The ACEO's came along as a way to include the general public. There are terrific articles on Squidoo, or you can Google and learn more.

Fun with Portraits

I think some of the best or most interesting photos often happen impromptu, as with this portrait of a friend with her horse after a workout earlier this year. I look forward to doing more portraits that capture something of the unique essence of relationship between rider/owner and horse or the unique dynamics of other relationships, human or otherwise.

Over the past couple of years I've begun using my camera for more than reference photos for my artwork. Recently I had the great opportunity to photograph a client's several horses. Lots of fun and interesting personalities to capture. Next time I'm definitely bringing an assistant. Somehow the client never has an extra pair of hands on site. No matter, my youngest son is eager to make a few bucks!

There is something very appealing about the immediacy of a photographic capture...and the tweaking one can do later with programs such as Photoshop Elements 5, which I'm presently using. See how the dream shifts and enlarges? Now the Dream encompasses a faster, stronger computer and camera....and printer.... LOL