watercolors – The Ravens Landing

Pet Portraits for Christmas

Posted on November 4, 2022 by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, Bearded Dragon, birds, brush pen, cats, Christmas, colorwheel, Commissions, dogs, Equine Artist, Etsy, Gifts, Gouache, Holidays, home, home decor, horse, ink, inktense, Pet Portrait, sketches, Uncategorized, watercolors

I can’t believe it’s November. 2022 is nearly over. It was a pretty good year for me in a lot of ways. BUT, this post isn’t about that. This post is about Christmas gifts, because it’s that time of year AGAIN. ALREADY. WHAT.

I wanted to do something I’ve never done before, and that’s offer $25 mini portraits. These are wallet sized pet portraits, done in watercolors, inktense, and brushpen, and shipped straight to you at no additional charge.

The minis are a lot of fun, and I prefer doing fun things with them.

How does it work?

Place an order in my Etsy shop. You pay when you place your order. Let me know what I’m painting, tell me your pet’s name.
I’ll reach out for a good photo, preferably multiple good photos of your pet.
I sketch, then send you the initial sketch for feedback. These portraits are small, so are most likely going to be a bust or headshot.
I add color to your pet! My portraits usually don’t include a background of any kind, but sometimes a wash.
I will ship your original portrait to you, or to your intended recipient if you prefer, in a cellophane sleeve and a stiff card for protection.

To get a good portrait, I need a good photograph to work from–preferably multiple good photographs.

What makes a photo GOOD?

Clear, well lit, photos are best.
If you want a flattering portrait, send me a flattering photo.
If you want a goofy portrait, send me a goofy photo.
Multiple photos help me get a feel for the shape and true color of your pet. Maybe you have a great photo of your dog in action, and that’s the one I use for the primary reference–but I have to use one of the other photos to find out what your dog’s eye color actually is.
Multiple photos let me choose the one best suited for modeling, but also allow me to supplement for an even better composition.
If you keep a social media account for your pet, feel free to send me that.

What kinds of animals do I paint?

Cautiously, any kind! But, most often I paint birds, horses, dogs, and cats.

Framed original watercolor $75
Framed original watercolor about 4×6 $100
Framed fine art print $100

I make each portrait with a mix of media, primarily the water soluble kind. I combine watercolor, gouache, inktense, and sometimes brush pen, to bring each piece to life. I use a setting spray to protect the work once it’s finished.

Anyhow, that’s my Christmas experiment. Pet Portrait Minis! Be sure to check out my Etsy Shop and order yours!

The Coffee Cup Critters aka the “Cuppa” Series

Posted on April 30, 2021April 23, 2021 by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, big cats, birds, brush pen, cats, colorwheel, Commissions, Equine Artist, Etsy, Fantasy Art, geek, Gouache, ink, inktense, Redbubble, sketches, tiger, watercolors, wildlife

I really love drawing animals. When I’m stuck for ideas, I find some reference pictures and draw an animal.

And then…..and then I give them a coffee cup.

I don’t know why.

It just makes me happy.

So, here they are (most of them, anyway). I hope they make you happy too!

If you aren’t a coffee person, think of them as giant, steaming, mugs of tea.

Several of these are up on my Redbubble shop already–the rest are pending! I’m also hoping to get some of them as stickers for sale on my Etsy. But that’s a project I’m *just* beginning. Let me know in the comments which ones you think would be the best stickers.

What animals would you like to see cherishing a nice steaming cuppa?

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The Haunted Dog

Posted on April 23, 2021 by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, brush pen, colorwheel, Equine Artist, Etsy, Fantasy Art, geek, Gouache, ink, inktense, watercolors

It’s been a quiet year at the barn. What with 2020 and all. I mean, it’s a quiet little place to start with, but especially quiet the past 12 month.

But then came the fake goose dog.

I noticed the dog when I drove in. A little black silhouette of a German Shepherd type dog slowly rotated in the gentle breeze at the end of the drive way. Closer examination revealed he was part of a goose deterrent effort, and he was on the way to one of the fields we frequent.

Knowing how distrustful Midas is of changes in his familiar landscape, I decided we’d come see the fake dog in hand before riding. I didn’t think it’d be a big deal, Midas likes dogs. So I tacked up completely and then led him down the driveway.

This isn’t the first time I’ve done that, but Midas saw the dog and was interested immediately. Midas likes dogs…but there was something off about this one. We went up, he warily sniffed it, shifted around, looked at it with the other eye. I made sure to touch it and wobble it so he could see it was safe. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he was calm, and so I led him back up the driveway to the woodpile to get on.

While I fussed with the girth and stirrups, he looked over his shoulder at the fake dog. Then he looked again, more alarmed. Then he began to snort, and looked again, shifted his feet nervously.

Then I realized what was happening.

The fake dog MOVED every time he looked away.

A horse reaches out with his nose to sniff a black silhouette of a German Shepherd dog that has been stuck in the early spring grass. — Looks like a dog, but doesn’t smell, move, or have shape like a dog. Not a dog.

This is not normal behavior for inert objects–things he’s confirmed with his own nose are not living.

Without getting on I led him back to the fake dog, telling him it was just cardboard turning in the wind. Midas did a lovely little piaffe the whole way there, and then when we arrived he swung his rear at the fake dog menacingly. He didn’t kick, though, because he’s a hunt horse, and you don’t kick dogs.

I was surprised and delighted to see him trying to scare it away. Midas is the responsible guard horse at the barn. He’s the one who stands watch when everyone else naps. He’s attentive and watchful, and while he likes dogs,

THIS WAS CLEARLY NOT A DOG.
FOUL MACHINATION OF SATAN.

I tried to reason with him, and honestly he was calmest walking in a circle around the haunted dog, but being in sight of it was, overall, NOT OK. The Cardboard Weeping Angel Dog that would surely attack if he blinked.

With a sigh I decided to start my ride in the ring–from the ring we could still catch glimpses of the fake dog, but Midas considers the ring as SAFE, so he’s pretty brave in there. We had a great ride.

I caught him eyeing the dog now and then.

We cooled out outside the ring–and went past the Haunted Dog, giving it a wide berth and goggly eyes so it wouldn’t try anything as we went past.

The next week, the Haunted Dog was still there.

Midas still DID NOT LIKE the Haunted Dog. But then I noticed that there is another Haunted Dog in sight of the pastures. The horses had probably been watching it all week. We still gave it a wide berth, but apparently this was a peaceable Haunted Dog that wasn’t going to eat him.

The Haunted Dogs have been patrolling for geese for weeks now, moving around the yards every couple days, turning in the wind.

We ignore them now.

Mostly.

Midas keeps a casual eye on them in case they’ve just been luring us all into a false sense of security.

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Art in a Time of X

Posted on March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, Bookish, Equine Artist, Etsy, Fantasy Art, home, Redbubble, RPG, sketches, stir crazy, style, watercolors, writing

I did some sketching on my tablet–it’s been a while. Apparently, i’m better at it than i remember. This looks way better than I remember art on the tablet looking. I’ll have to mess around some more!

The CEO of Tee Public had a great reminder for artists, so I thought I’d share it here:

“Today, you don’t need to be Pablo Picasso and you don’t need to have something poignant to say. But you are an artist. You do have a sword to wield. Can you push through anxiety and find the space to be creative? Can you find your voice and whisper to us, a joke, an idea, or a memory of some better time? “
Adam Schwartz, CEO Tee Public

Read a book, look at art, make art…get out those coloring books, the beads you were going to do something with…If you can’t get outside, you can find solace in art or escape in stories. We’ll do our best to keep you supplied!

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gouache, coasters, and summers on the porch

Posted on March 6, 2020 by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, Arabian, artist, bird watching, Equine Artist, Gouache, home, horse, horse crazy, Pet Portrait, sketches, watercolors

Paint is funny. Colors come from mostly the same selection of sources, what changes is the binder. And that binder makes SO MUCH difference. Gouache is more opaque than watercolor, but shares some of my favorite features in that you can wet and reuse after its dried. This piece, the rearing rose gray, is me trying to get a better grasp on layering and start to mess with mixing wet paint again. With my watercolors, I have gotten so absorbed in my many little trays that I forget to mix the colors while they are wet. (Can you tell the horse is free-hand with no reference picture? I can :-P). I appreciate the way white gouache behaves. Makes dapples easy.

And yes, that circle was done with a coaster.

This particular coaster set belonged to my grandparents. It’s woven wicker inside wood. It was the outdoor coaster set which we used on the screened porch. After we made our sandwiches with deli meat and filled our plates with chips (a treat!) we’d take our soda (also a treat) out to the porch and eat on the blue stained furniture while we talked and watched the birds at the feeders. They had a lot of bird feeders. Thistle, sunflower, peanut butter, suet, and of course sugar water for the humming birds. My grandfather had built an elaborate baffle (or three) to keep the squirrels off. He also had a heated birdbath for the winter and every year asked for birdseed for Christmas. We’d easily spend hours watching the local wildlife–and there was plenty–besides a bazillion song birds there were the rabbits, squirrels, doves and fox.

Every time I use one of those coasters to draw a circle–or keep a drink from leaving stains–I think of those lazy summer days. A lot of my early fiction writing was on that porch, too, thanks to the advent of laptop computers. I cherished that time. Soaked it up like a sponge, and look at the memories with gentle fondness. I try not to wish to return to the past…but I would go back there.

Someday, I want a screened porch in the shade of my own. While I have invited quite a lot of wildlife onto my deck by attempting to maintain a container garden, it’s not quite the same. My kitchen, sadly, is not arranged for me to sit and watch the bird feeder.

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