Black Feather Farm

I finally got back to Bricktown to get some photos of the land run bronzes there. Its taken a long time for me to pull out the new slr camera and start shooting with it. Intimidating to say the least. I feel like I could run mission control with it, it has so many functions, bells and whistles. The instruction book will take a while to get through, so for now I experiment with it. After I get more comfortable I will be adding new lenses to really see what it can do. Right now I feel like I'm taking shots in the dark. Which is what I will call my little journey as I learn to build a working relationship with this camera. Sometimes I will hit, and sometimes I will miss. Life is kinda like that too... you just have to keep shooting.

The holiday spirit around here hasn't improved just yet....

These artworks started when I took a horse I had drawn in pen and filled it in with photoshop brushes, just playing around. I loved the outcome, but decided they needed to be filled with my original drawings. So I bought some pens the other day and started creating these horses. I have added them to my Zazzle shop, along with some other new designs. Let me know what you think of them.

The holiday season is in full swing, but me ? Not so much. Normally I'm playing the Christmas music a month before, have all my shopping done by September and am ready to bake cookies. This year I'm just hoping for it go away - quickly. I imagine it is just because my mind is elsewhere this year. My head is crammed with other things. Things I want to accomplish, things I want to create, places I want to go. This will all work itself out of course, by June I will be wanting to paint Christmasy things and listen to Carol of the Bells. In the mean time I had better get cracking, those gifts don't just materialize under the tree.... oh, what tree? Its still in the box.

At present I'm creating a series of pieces inspired by Spanish mustangs and wild horses. Some of these images will be incorporated into jewelry and onto my Zazzle shop items.

For me this is the best time of year ....crisp air, pumpkins, holidays... and the flies are gone.

Well it seems I've been Sooooooo busy I simply forgot to do a Halloween post !!!! I just plain missed it... I usually write a fun spooky poem and add a photo to set the mood. I guess I have all year to get the cobwebs out of my brain and get it right next year.

What is it about women and horses that just makes them such kindred spirits ? What ever it is I'm grateful for it. Indi and I Oct 2010

My art doesn't really get very dark, but I am working on a few of these type of paintings, and jewelry, inspired by Halloween and everyday spooky things.... "The Witch's Horse painting and Raven Heart necklace are available on ebay.

If you don't get it quite right the first time....you can always try again. photo from my collection

I'm doing some handpainted clay work right now....

In my living room sits a lovely black antique sidesaddle with ornate tooling on the leather, a Fall colored tapestry seat and a heart shaped metal stirrup. I absolutely adore it, it is like a piece of art to me, but with a real history. I often wonder about the lady who rode it, the horse who wore it, and what their lives were like. I've been doing some research lately for a book I plan to put to paper and came across some articles on Suffragettes and sidesaddles. I had never really put the two together like that before, but it doesn't take much reading to see how they are entwined. One article states " And while it is common knowledge that the Suffragettes achieved the right to vote in 1920, what has gone undetected is that these brave women rode into the voting booth as second-class citizens on a sidesaddle, then galloped out astride." Sidesaddles were conceived as a political and social tool of oppression to women and this is why the Suffragettes rode astride, and

Most everyone who reads my blog knows I collect vintage photographs, a lot of them are the old time cowgirls, but I also collect images of the more typical victorian women and horses. I sometimes think they fascinate me so, because I often feel I should have lived in those eras instead of my own. When I look at them I feel some kind of connection, something resonates there. I always wonder who they were, how they lived, and what part the horses played in their lives. If you have never heard of Evelyn Cameron 1894 -1928, please google her. She was a fascinating person and lived what I think is an amazing life. She came from the elegance of England, riding side saddle and fox hunting, to the remote Montana lands to live on a ranch with her new husband. She trained horses and learned photography as a way to make money. She traveled many, many miles alone with her horse hauling her camera equipment to photograph the land and people. She journaled her life in writings and photographs. I hav

This work titled "Contemplation," shows more of the technique I have been working on for my new pieces. After much - contemplation, I feel like I am finally "home" in this artwork form. It is meant to replicate the look and feel of vintage photos, though not photo realistic. I am very busy in the studio with painting and jewelry making, there is so much more to come ! Prints are also going to be available now, on Etsy and my website.

October 8th I will be at the movies. It is the opening date for the new Secretariat film. If you don't know Secretariat, I won't explain, if you do, then you know why I will go alone, because it will make me cry. Not only for Big Red but for Sham as well, whose brilliance would have stood alone had he raced at any other time. Secretariat, who bounded into my heart, like that of a whole nation, will again bring me to tears. I'm not only okay with that, I'm looking forward to it. "Oh Lord he's perfect" as one article stated back in his day. Those that criticized Secretariat as a stallion apparently did not understand he was one of a kind, the horse God built. See you at the movies....... To read about Secretariat check out these books: The Horse God Built, by Lawrence Scanlan or Big Red of Meadow Stable, by William Nack. The Secretariat video link on my sidebar might be of interest as well. This one will take you to Youtube.

I'm working on a new art technique right now that mostly involves stepping back to where I started, with sketching as a base. DaVinci's art has always inspired me, and now I'm working in that direction for some new pieces. It has finally dawned on me that I do have a "style" of sorts, no matter what technique I'm working in. I felt I was wandering in my art for so long, but as I gathered some of my pieces together I could see the style base, even in the different techniques I used to create them. I guess all who wander are not lost....... "Fuego" mixed media ~

There does come a time for change. I tend to fight it most times, thus the longstanding original banner. You might still like your current situation or creations, but you can't sit still too long, or the chance for something new you might enjoy will pass you by. So it goes with art and life. The new banner is a sign of change for me, in my art and my life. So I tell myself - take the leap of faith and embrace the new.... but you know you can still hold on to the old in some ways if you need to, so its always going to be okay. So another art adventure begins....

I figure you have to have a photo, even if it has nothing to do with the actual post. I have been busy writing as of late, and thought you might enjoy a quick peek at the book I'm working on right now. Crusader was next and gave a quick stop and a loud whinny before walking through the gate and quickly dropping his head to crop the grass. He was such a beauty, nearly solid black with a jagged bolt of white streaking from his neck close to his shoulder. Three white socks and a white shape on his near hip resembling a cross. I had named him for the Crusades, after outbidding the killers for him at a local horse auction. Apparently he had ended up there as a result of a bad injury to his right foreleg. All of about a year and a half old at the time and healed to perfection after a few months of proper care. He so obviously had Friesian breeding and showed it well after he had taken on more growth. Under my breath, I had cursed the heartless fools who sent him to the auction as he was

I still can't figure out why she calls me "Hurricane Tessa".....

With the addition of a full time job to my life, my blogs, my art and a few other things have been suffering. So I've decided to put one out of its misery, so to speak and lay my art blog to rest. It will be combined back into this blog. I have been back in my studio working and you will see the results here along with my other postings. It is not a step back, but rather a step forward to simplifying life, spending time on fewer things, and doing those better.

You already know I collect vintage photos and how I use them, but I also decorate my house with them too. It is so easy to slip them in here and there and they don't need to always be framed. I display these on an old floral frog that sits atop a vintage jar of glass seed beads. A photo or place card holder gives the photos a little height in this display, and yes I mix rabbits and horses in my shabby chic western style. Here I use them framed but mixed in a vintage needlepoint. Stick them in an unusual vintage jar with other little keepsakes on a bed of white rice to hold them up, hang them from the collar of your little steif dog or teddy bear with a ribbon. Stretch a wire across your wall with office clips to hold the images for a unique accent. Use your family photos as they are or sepia tone them first, and find your own style and fun ways to enjoy them.

I don't know how many of you grew up on Roy Rogers and Trigger, but I certainly did. If truly "good" men are considered heroes, he is certainly one of them. I could go on about Roy, how amazing Trigger was, and how much I enjoyed watching his shows, but we all know these things. I'm posting about this because I just learned that the Roy Rogers Museum has closed and all of the items are being auctioned off, including Trigger. This just breaks my heart. All of these treasured items so dear to Roy and Dale will be forever scattered. How I wish I had the money to buy them all and open a free museum to keep them as Roy wished, and to keep his memory alive. The closing of the museum shows that we tend to forget things and people in our past that we should hold dear. Roy Rogers and his movies held up old fashioned values, doing what was right, even when it isn't always easy. I don't know about you but I don't think we can afford to forget men like Roy Rogers. ph

Photo courtesy of the internet

Some pretty impressive storms have been rolling through Oklahoma, luckily I have no damage, just photo opportunities. I seem to have a love affair with clouds. These are taken with my inexpensive little camera, and it still turns out decent photos. As soon as I get "the big boy " out and learn how to use it, I'm hoping my photos will go from good to great! Yes, that little bright sliver is the moon....

Yes thats "Her Highness" Indi, on the front porch, looking for someone to do something for her no doubt. Where is that servant woman?

I knew from early on I had a passion for horses, and loved watching westerns. I rode many miles on my beloved stick pony. When I was a kid we had 89'er day at school, I always dressed up and hated for that day to end. Of course, tomboy me, played a sheriff, not a prairie gal like ALL the other girls. I spent my day locking up all the cute boys. My love of all things old west is reflected in my art, jewelry and vintage photo collection. The fact is that I think I should have lived in that era. I sometimes daydream about living back then. And this is why I ride english -dressage ? About as far from western riding as you can get. I ride dressage because it is the ultimate relationship between horse and rider. Your body language blends with your horse's movement in a way no other discipline can. I can wear chaps while teaching my horse a half- pass anyway. There are a lot of things about my personality that probably strike people as odd. I find insects, while annoying at times, to

Spring fever sets me in motion to add things, remove things, and move things around. Working on my land is no different. When I do any landscaping, I do it in a haphazard, wild, kind of way. I like things to mix & mingle and look natural. I do have some designated flower beds, but most of my landscaping is just- throw some iris bulbs there, let them grow in front of the wild berry bushes... The wisteria grows in and over the photinia, the crabapple tree is set amongst pines and cedars. My pond is a natural pond and I will keep it looking that way, but I do plan to add more rocks, plants and fish. My yard as it is, is covered in wild flowers before the first mowing. Don't get me wrong, perfectly manicured classic gardens are lovely wonderful things of beauty, but give me the wild and unruly, thats where I live !