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NEWS RELEASESBeautiful Moments in the Lives of Horses, Paintings and Photographs by Karen Brenner |
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NEWSLETTERHorse Paintings Newsletter Riding news Warm weather is finally here and I’ve been riding Sorpresa and Echo. For Sorpresa I securely fasten my helmet to my head and beg my husband to stand down at the far end of the arena between the fence and the neighbor’s woods, aka the wicked forest full of frightening creatures who may pop out and attack you at any time — well, that’s what Sorpresa thinks. Last night my husband was too busy to stand guard, and I was too lazy to lead down his substitute (my calm Quarter Horse, Ollie) and tie her to the fence for protection, thus Sorpresa refused to venture further than 1/3 of the way down the arena — and it’s a small arena. Then, one of the scary creatures of the forest came creeping right up to the fence line. It was my neighbor’s calico cat. OMG. Terrorized is the only word to describe this trembling Andalusian.... And I hope to take her trail riding on Saturday at Mohican State Park! Actually she’ll be with other horses, so I’m hoping for a better ride. Echo, my very green, very tall, eight-year-old Quarter Horse, is finally getting some attention. Riding her in the arena is the opposite of riding Sorpresa. She’s laid back and super calm. Getting her to move at all is my biggest problem! I kinda like that! Fiesta Midwest in OHIO! Calling all lovers of Andalusians lovers. The Fiesta Midwest 2008 is a new show debuting June 5-7 at the Roberts Arena in Wilmington, Ohio. It will be a celebration of the Pure Spanish Horse. The "¡Viva la Vida!" Expression of The Zest for Life! — a special evening exhibition —will be Friday, June 6, at 6 pm, (previously scheduled for Saturday). It will include an amazing liberty performance by Laura Amandis and her super talented Andalusian, Acierto, who you may have seen at the Equine Affaire. There will also be a fantastic Liberty class, where Andalusians strut their stuff and much more. It’s not to be missed! The Fiesta Midwest will also include classes for the PRE horses, seminars about Spanish tack and Spanish breed standards, and an ANNCE Inscription and Revision. Of course the highlight of the Fiesta Midwest will be my booth in the vendor’s area! (Don’t tell the event coordinators I said that!) I’ve been pulling together my favorite Andalusian paintings — and even painted some new ones just for the show! (Check my website in upcoming weeks and you’ll get to preview the new paintings.) If you are planning to attend the Fiesta Midwest and would like me to bring a specific non-Andalusian painting for you to see in person, please email me. If I can fit it in the car, I’ll bring it! My email address is kmbrenner@hotmail.com. And if you are bringing your Andalusian to the show, please let me know! Of course I’m bringing my camera and hope to take hundreds of paintings…. I’m already planning of a new series of paintings, “Andalusians from the 2008 Fiesta Midwest.” You can find out more about the Fiesta Midwest at their website: http://www.fiestamidwest.com/My_Homepage_Files/Page1.html Rolex Cross Country (from my Blog) My friend Becky invited me to go with her to watch the Cross Country portion of the 2008 Rolex Kentucky Cross Country. What a wonderful opportunity it was to take photos for reference material for future paintings! If you've visited the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, you know what a beautiful setting they have for cross country. This year the cross country jumps were outstandingly massive--seemingly impossible for a horse to leap, but leap they did! When we arrived we decided to try to see as many jumps as possible, so we watched a rider or two at each numbered fence, shooting photos as best we could. It was so amazing how many people were clustered at each fence, many armed with cameras and long lenses, eager to photograph the riders and horses! Spectators are free (well after paying admission of course) to roam the course. The galloping lanes are roped off with occasional openings along the way. Every 10-15 minutes or so a new horse and rider team sets off from the starting line to jump the course. As the horse travels along the 3.9 mile course a whistle blows to alert crossing guards in the immediate area to stop pedestrians from crossing. It was fun to watch all the photographers (me included) hoist their cameras toward the closest jump at the sound of the whistle! The ideal time for covering the 33 jump course was 11 minutes. If you'd like to see the course, here is a link to the official course website. Just click on the number of each jump to see details and photos: http://www.rk3de.org/virtual_course.php Of course I took hundreds of photos! According to online reports after Sunday's stadium jumping (the third and final portion of the eventing competition, after dressage and cross country) Phillip Dutton won the Rolex! Just who I wanted to win because he and his wife Evie have moved to Aiken, South Carolina (where I dream of retiring one day!). In fact when we visited Aiken this spring, we drove along the paved road of the beautiful Bridle Creek Equestrian Community where they have their Red Oak Farm. Maybe someday I'll get to meet them in person! If you've followed the Rolex news, you've undoubtedly heard that two horses had to be put down due to injuries suffered during the cross country. What a tragedy. Becky and I were standing between jump numbers 4 and 5 when Frodo Baggins galloped from the Downhill Oxers to the Flower Basket. Becky turned to watch him approach the giant basket and saw him catch his foot on the basket and go down head first and flip over on top of his rider, Laine Ashkir. Almost instantly the hundreds of spectators near that portion of the course were hushed, silently watching as horse trailers and medics approached and pulled a huge tarp (or tent) over those involved in the tragedy. Focused dread stilled the crowd for over an hour. I wish I could report good news, for after about 90 minutes, the announcer informed the crowd that Frodo was being taken across the road to a nearby medical facility. But I read on the internet that he did not make it. Laine will hopefully recover. Another horse also was injured on the course and had to be put down. Here are links to Nancy Jaffer's reports about the cross country and stadium jumping and what she learned about the tragedies on EquiSearch.com: http://equisearch.com/equiwire_news/nancy_jaffer/rolex_crosscountry_042608/ http://equisearch.com/equiwire_news/nancy_jaffer/rolex_jumping_042708/ Nancy's reports include comments by USEF President David O'Connor about the risks of participating in eventing. Please say a prayer for Laine in hopes that she has a full recovery. You can see some of the photos I took that day, including the photo I took as Frodo and Laine passed me, seconds before approaching the Flower Basket, on my blog — www.karenbrenner.com/blog.html.
Beautiful Horses of Michigan—a work in progress It was so fun to read the 98 nominations horse lovers sent in for my Beautiful Horses of Michigan project. Of course I wish I could choose everyone! But time does not permit such luxuries. Darn. The list of 34 horses who I will visit to photograph at the end of June are posted on my website. I’m excited that there are LOTS of Paints! And quarter horses, Tennessee Walkers, a Haflinger, Thoroughbreds, Andalusians, Friesians, Morgans, Saddlebreds, Appaloosas and crosses. I am so lucky! I can’t wait to hop in the car with my camera and husband and notebook full of MapQuest directions and head for MICHIGAN! Well, I hope to see many of you at the Fiesta Midwest! Til then — Happy Riding! Karen
Horse Painting Newsletters Hi Everyone, Time to unveil my TOP SECRET project … It is a book, Beautiful Moments in the Lives of Horses, with LOTS of my favorite horse paintings and photographs I’ve taken while visiting horse farms and equine events over the past seven years. In fact there are so many horses in the book that it comes with a warning! “WARNING—For Horse Lovers only.” I was so excited about this book, that I decided to start a blog so I could write more about it on my website. So, for this newsletter I’m just going to take the easy way out send you what I wrote in my blog about the book! I am a huge fan of books -- especially those with lots of pictures -- and ESPECIALLY those with lots of pictures of horses! So to have the opportunity to create a table top book filled with pictures of my paintings and many of the photos that I've taken as I've travel around visiting horse farms and equine events -- well, I am super excited about that!!! When I started researching creating a such a specialized book, I stumbled on a wonderful internet company named Blurb. (I hate to admit it, but for a few weeks I thought their name was "Blurp" -- they did come up with that spelling on Google!!) The exciting thing about Blurb is that it is a print-on-demand type of internet business - much like Cafe Press where I have some shops. So I would not have to buy a whole bunch of books like a vanity press and then try to sell them. And anyone who wants to order a book, can order it straight from Blurb! And pay by credit card! I love the internet!!! Blurb gives away the software needed to design your book. Anyone can use their templates, although I opted to design all my pages in Photoshop and upload them to blank pages in the Blurb software. After about four months of designing, writing, photographing paintings, and fine tuning the layout I placed my first order. I was holding my breath waiting for the book to arrive..... In the back of my mind, I was rationalizing that the first copy would be an "artist's proof" and I could change things for the second copy. When the book arrived --- I LOVED IT!!! Enough about Blurb..... I should tell you a little about the book, Beautiful Moments in the Lives of Horses. It features over 80 of my equine paintings and over 250 photos. Most spreads show a photo or series of photos of the horse that is in the corresponding painting. There are 160 pages. All full color of course! It's a real table top book, with a hard cover and very beautiful book jacket, if I do say so myself! The artwork is in breed specific chapters -- Andalusians, Arabians, Appaloosas, Quarter Horses, Morgans and the all inclusive, More Horses. That’s my entry from my new blog… Want to preview the book? Blurb lets you take a look at the first 16 pages! There is a link on my home page to the preview of Beautiful Moments in the Lives of Horses. Just go to www.karenbrenner.com. While you’re visiting my website, check out my blog! I plan to use it to unveil my new paintings as they are completed — so I can write lots of stuff about each one! When you visit my blog, keep in mind, it’s homemade, so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that “real” blogs have, but it does have a “Comments” link! I’d love to hear from you! Think Spring! Karen February 16, 2008 Hi Everyone, First the big news! I’m on Western Horse iTV! Pat and Marlane came to my “Beautiful Horses of Ohio” exhibit in November and brought their movie camera. They taped a segment about the paintings including a short interview with me. Now you can see the “Beautiful Horses of Ohio” exhibit on Western Horse iTV. It appears at the end of the Northern Ohio Shooters segment which is about riding and shooting a gun at the same time! No, don’t worry—I’m not in that part. Knowing me, I’d accidentally shoot my horse while aiming at a balloon. Here is a link to the program: www.westernhorseitv.com. My horses and I are patiently waiting for spring to arrive… they are looking forward to the green grass and I am looking forward to riding. In the meantime, I’ve been busy painting. My first painting completed in 2008 is of Sorpresa, my Andalusian mare. You can see it in my newly created online gallery “New Paintings—2008.” I know, what a clever name! Here’s a link: http://www.karenbrenner.com/new_paintings.html My second 2008 painting, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” is on my home page now. It’s based on a photo I took back in the fall of 2006 at the Camargo Hunter Trials near Cincinnati. My favorite event of the day was when teams of three riders/three horses rode the jumping course together. It really looked like fun! There are lots more paintings in my studio (okay—living room) in various stages of completion. You’ll be seeing them soon on my website. It is so exciting to see dozens and dozens of nominations for my upcoming project “Beautiful Horses of Michigan” arriving via email and regular mail. The deadline for entries is March 31. It’s going to be so tough to choose! Thank you to all who have entered. Will and I are planning a spring trip to Aiken, South Carolina, to check on our tract of land at Windsor Trace in March. I planted lots of seedlings last spring, and it turned into a true test of survival for the little plants with last summer’s severe drought. I am curious to see if any are still alive (sorry National Arbor Society) …. We’re not taking any plants with us on this trip. At the end of April some friends and I are heading down to watch the cross country jumping at the Rolex. Always a wonderful place to photograph horses! I am also working on a TOP SECRET project that I hope to announce in my next newsletter. Stay tuned….and stay warm! Karen
Horse Paintings Newsletter It’s winter in Ohio…. With snow on the ground and more coming down as I write, it’s not hard to get in the holiday spirit. (Just hard to drive to work!) ANNOUNCING “Beautiful Horses of Michigan” “Beautiful Horses of Ohio” Exhibit The painting with the most votes was (drum roll….) “Teddy,” who now has his own Café Press Shop. Congratulations!! “Peanut” was second, and “Tucker” was third. They each have their own Café Press Shops too! Just click the “Shop” link on my website to see some of the gifts available. Everyone who voted was entered in a drawing for $25 worth of Café Press merchandise. Karen L. of Dalton, Ohio, was the winner. Congratulations! More New Café Press Shops World Friesian Horse Show But the House of Friesian horses were not the only fantastic horses. Friesians from Michigan, Wisconsin, and the Netherlands, and Vermont — and more — came for the show. Sandy and I both expected more horses. Some classes only had two or three entries. But the longer we were at the show, the happier we were that it was relatively small because we had many opportunities to talk personally with almost all the horse owners and find out from the experts all about the breed. Another highlight of the show were the liberty classes. If you’ve never seen a liberty class, here’s how it works: the horse enters the arena and is turned loose with two handlers. The horse is judged on movement (I think), so the handlers are there to be sure the horse isn’t just gazing at the crowd looking for treats during his three minutes of fame. Music, chosen to compliment the horse’s movement and style, is played during their timein the arena. If you’ve seen a Friesian going full speed — or doing a powerful extended trot — you can imagine the beauty of the Liberty Class. We’re both hoping the show returns to Springfield in 2008. In the Studio . . . Well, I better sign off so I can start planning more projects! In the meantime…. Have a Very Merry Christmas! Karen
October 24, 2007 Horse Painting Newsletter Beautiful Horses of Ohio show — November 4! America’s Horse and American Carriage Driver Stranger than Fiction New iTV about Horses! - - - - - - September 2007 Horse Paintings Newsletter Vote for your Favorite Beautiful Horses of Ohio Painting! All the Beautiful Horses of Ohio paintings are now online, and you can vote for your favorite! I wish I could say all 48 are done, but that would not be QUITE true, because I cheated and put up one “in progress.” That would be “Dynamo and little Diva,” which is just about halfway done—it won’t be completely finished for about a month. But you might like to see what a painting in progress looks like! If you use your imagination, you can guess what it’ll look like when complete! To vote, just go to my website (www.karenbrenner.com), and click on the “Vote” link. It will take you to a page with all the paintings. At the bottom of the page is a form to use to cast your vote. Everyone can vote one time online. Plus one time in person at the show on Sunday, November 4 from 1-5 pm at my home studio — 3613 Triway Lane, Wooster, Ohio. Everyone is welcome to come to the show! Please invite your friends! The Beautiful Horses of Ohio project includes stories about each horse. The paintings with their stories are divided up —and appear on four pages of my website. Newly added stories include fellow OHC member Bob’s horse Fuego Del Sol (I love what he wrote about his horse — it’s good reading!); a wonderful Friesian mare, Alectra; the fabulous Quarter Horse stallion Tucker; the Gypsy Vanner Romany King; and LOTS, LOTS more. You can read about all the horses before you cast your vote! (But it’s not required.) Why vote? The horse painting that gets the most votes will be added to my line of Café Press gift items. And there will be a drawing of all the people who voted online and/or in person, and the winner will receive $25 worth of merchandise from my shop.
MJ International Riding News We are hoping to go to the Chili Cook Off at Mohican on Saturday, September 15. Not to camp, but to ride and eat. Maybe we’ll see you there! Sorpresa and I continue to frustrate my wonderful dressage instructor Deb Gasser. We practice very hard at it! Sky Bus Utube First, for anyone who isn’t familiar with dressage, or who loves dressage, here is a lovely clip from Casa Lusitana: Speaking of dressage, here’s one you MUST see: And one for my friend Becky and others who like horse raceing: Happy riding! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- June 21, 2007 Horse Paintings by Karen Brenner Newsletter Painting News Today I’ll start drawing the final of my 50 Beautiful Horses of Ohio paintings! Since I first began the project in January 2006, I spent most of last summer traveling around Ohio photographing wonderful horses, and started drawing painting number one at the end of last summer, I have to say this is an exciting day for me! I’ve spent most of my lunch hours at work drawing. What will I do after this drawing is done???? No fear, I have paintings planned from photos I took at a ranch in Texas that had fantastic Spanish Mustangs, plus the American Gold Cup stadium jumping photos, and photos from the fun hunt club trials that I dragged Will to down near Cincinnati. Wow, I don't think I'll ever run out of inspiring horses to paint! Plus I’ll need to start organizing that exhibit—Sunday, November 4— of the Beautiful Horses of Ohio. Life is just so exciting! Since the last newsletter, I’ve completed paintings of Stetson and Walnut Creek Sun, who are Rocky Mountain Horses; Sharpsburg, an American Saddlebred; Wildfire, a bay Arabian; Potentially Famous, a quarter horse; Gable’s Secret Sun, a Morgan; and Aarial, an Arabian. Here’s a link to these Beautiful Horses of Ohio: http://www.karenbrenner.com/beautiful_horses_of_OHIO_gallery.html. (You’ll need to click on the link on the far right of the page to go to a second page in order to see all of the paintings.)
California Here We Come! Because one of my sons moved to Oceanside—near San Diego—a few months ago, Will and I are planning to travel there early next month. I hope to visit a ranch or two to photograph some West Coast horses. Let me know if you know of any interesting ranches in that area. We’ll be flying on a new airline that goes out of Columbus, Ohio, called SkyBus. We could have gotten one way tickets for $50, but I procrastinated, and instead had to pay $125 round trip. (What a deal!) I hear they make money by allowing advertising on the plane, and am wondering if I’ll be sitting by an insurance salesman who gives me his sales talk, or end up buying a condo, or what???? I’ll let you know what happens. Riding News I’ve started taking dressage lessons with Deb Gasser (instructor) and Sorpresa (my horse). I have to say, we’re not very good, but that’s what makes dressage interesting. There are so many things to learn and perfect. So far we haven’t perfected anything. But believe me we’ve tried hard! Sorpresa, who does a fantastic Spanish Walk, likes to revert to that when she should be trotting forward. Plus I’d taught her the beginning of how to do a piaffe, which she decides to do sometimes when she should be doing lateral movements in a forward motion. And now we are privately working on the Spanish Trot. Don’t tell Deb, because in our dressage practice Sopresa is now throwing in some rough attempts at Spanish Trotting when she should be trotting strongly forward. Can you tell we are struggling with anything “forward?” I wonder if we have to master forward before Deb will teach us the mounted capriole — that’s my ultimate goal! (And, as I tell my friends, my other goal is to join the Spanish Riding School—but I’m not serious about THAT one.) Horse Tricks Have you seen the video of the horse who is an artist? Check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmYrXAdZziw Inspired by the video, I’ve started teaching one of my Quarter Horse, DJ, to paint. So far he’s just done the barn, … his next project —the window trim of the house. My husband just hates to paint. Just kidding about those paint jobs… but DJ has learned to hold a BIG paint brush — I learned that size is VERY important after DJ swallowed one of those GIANT playing cards a few years ago when I was teaching him a card trick. He can also make brush strokes on the side of the barn and then hand the paint brush back to me! Next - actual paint - but since he sometimes misses the barn and "paints" me, I've been putting that off....Someday I’ll make a video!
I’ve really been enjoying the warm Ohio weather! Hope you're having good riding weather wherever you live! - Karen April 29, 2007 Wow, April is flying by! The Ohio weather has been a mix of good days to go riding combined with cold and rainy days — which translates into good days to stay inside and paint! Beautiful Horses of Ohio Keep Sunday, November 4, free so you can come to the Beautiful Horses of Ohio exhibit and see all the paintings! I’m planning to hold the show at my home in Wooster, Ohio, and everyone is invited. Celebrate 50 Any other almost-50 or 50-something out there???? Thanks, Boomer Girl, for including my artwork on your groovy website! Exploring Art It's so inspiring to see what artists are creating! I put a Favorite Galleries page on my website with links to my eclectic group of — well —favorite galleries. Some of their artwork is representational, some of it modern. Check it out. You'll see a variety of subjects and styles with one common theme -- these galleries represent beautiful artwork. Click away and enjoy! Aiken was HOT! Barbaro Memorial Fund Calling all Friesian Lovers - - - - - - - - - - March Newsletter March 7, 2007 It’s March and spring is on the way! I was talking with a friend who said they’ve been riding a lot this winter, which struck me as odd until I remembered she has an indoor arena! Ah ha! It simply hasn’t been riding weather in Ohio since — say October. My lovely horses are lounging in the barn at night and spending leisurely days outside. They aren’t complaining! (Just me.) Of course a few weeks ago when we got 20 inches of snow in one day, I had to have them pose for some photos. The wind chill was about 20 below, so the photos are a bit blurring because my hands were shivering violently as I was snapping away.
Noon Lions Presentation Last month’s talk to the Wooster Noon Lions was really fun. The crowd sat nicely through the Power Point presentation of my photos and paintings. They really liked the photos of Amos, the West Chester police horse, who demonstrated crowd control on my husband! Amos is part of the Beautiful Horses of Ohio series, and is the current feature of the week. I’ve included some of the “crowd control” photos in Amos’ write up on the Beautiful Horses of Ohio page, so you can see how he uses his head to push people around. Going South! Later this month, we are traveling to Aiken, South Carolina, (warm weather here I come!). We plan to visit with Lydia at Equine Divine, maybe see Besty Lamb, our fantastic Realtor, and plant a few trees on the land we got last year — the site of our future retirement home. Then we’re going to Charleston for a few days. It was fun researching trees that grow in the south. I’ll get to try lots of new plants! If you like trees, check out this website for the National Arbor Day Foundation, which sells trees: http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm. I thought the trees would be 2 or 3 inches tall (like we ordered from our county many, many years ago when we first bought our Wooster property —– those were so small that after we’d planted about 25 tiny trees, my husband (who’d helped plant them) accidently mowed over them! Didn’t hurt them at all! Anyway, as I was placing my order, I realized some of the National Arbor Day trees are 3-4 feet tall! Hope they all fit in my car for the trip south! Southwest? I just found out my son is transferring to California. His new job will be in San Marcos, CA. He’s excited! I guess I’ll have to plan a trip to California soon! Equine Affaire The Equine Affaire is held in Columbus each spring, with dozens of trainers doing seminars, hundreds of vendors selling everything horsey and breed demonstrations where you can see some fantastic horses! I’m sure most of you know all about it, but if you don’t, here is a link: http://www.equineaffaire.com. It will be April 12-15, 2007. Links: Here are a few other links that my friends have forwarded to me that you might enjoy! Police horses in an amazing show (don’t try this at home): http://www.olympiahorseshow.com/show/metvideo.htm Outstanding freestyle Dressage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQgTiqhPbw&mode=related&search= Happy riding to all! Karen
February Newsletter February 5, 2007 Happy Winter! Yesterday and today are the coldest days so far in Ohio this year. Minus 5 with a wind chill of minus 20. And the good thing is the school where my husband teaches was cancelled due to the cold and he volunteered to do the barn chores this morning! Yesterday Holly Clanahan, the Assistant Editor from America’s Horse magazine came to interview me for a story in a future issue. I asked her how she’d heard of me and she said that someone had forwarded her a copy of my newsletter! I want to thank whoever that was! Holly was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met! We had fun chatting. Because America’s Horse is of course a Quarter Horse magazine, we went out to the barn and she took some pictures of my Quarter Horses, DJ, Ollie and Echo. Despite the 5 degree temperature they were very well behaved and even did some of their tricks for Holly. DJ does a cute stretch — although he usually only does it between 6—7 am —but he did that for Holly mid-afternoon! Ollie did a nice bow. And then DJ and Echo smiled for the camera. Holly lives in Oklahoma and has seven horses, who her husband was caring for as she traveled around interviewing Ohioans for stories. She had been to a hoof care seminar in Cincinnati and was going to visit the owner of a cheese factory and Swiss Restaurant in Charm, which is located in Holmes County just south of here! He has quarter horses! It was fun being interviewed by Holly. I only got one question wrong— but corrected myself quickly. (How could I have forgotten—even for an instant—how many children I have????) I guess I was a bit nervous. Speaking of nervous, I get to talk to the Wooster Noon Lions Club this week about my paintings. I’ve never given a speech to a big group, so I am a bit nervous. I’ve put together a Power Point presentation so I might be able to fall back on visuals if all else fails! One thing the Lions might be interested in is my “Beautiful Horses of Ohio” series. I have about six paintings done, with 44 more to go. I’m starting to draw number 24 at work this week, so you can imagine how many are lining the walls of my studio/living room in various stages of completion. Many of you know I’m posting one new painting each week on my website with a short story about the horse and owner. This week Roxi and her foal are featured. What a beautiful splashy paint! Did you know I’ll be celebrating my 50th birthday this spring? I wanted to do something a bit crazy to celebrate, so I created “CELEBRATE 50 — an art event that is all about 50.” Right now I am hoping to get 50 galleries to each sponsor one of the 50 paintings on my special “CELEBRATE 50” website for the 50 days around my birthday. If the painting that gallery sponsors, they get a 50 percent commission! See—it’s all about 50! If you know a gallery that might be interested, please let me know! The other part of CELEBRATE 50 is “CELEBRATION STORIES.” You are the first to find out about this special addition I have planned for my website. It will feature stories about how other people who have celebrated a special birthday in unique way. Do you have a special celebration story? Please tell me if you do! I have a handy form on my website for you to use to submit your story! January 1, 2007 Happy New Year! The first painting in a project I began early in 2006—Beautiful Horses of Ohio—is done! For those of you who are not familiar with the project, a year ago I invited horse owners in Ohio to nominate their horses for this new series of paintings. Many were nominated, and many were chosen, although unfortunately I could not include everyone. I did pick 49 horses, and my husband and I spend many weekends in May, June, July and August traveling around my home state photographing beautiful horses and meeting the wonderful people who had nominated them. It was tons of fun! (And I still have three more horse to photograph, so I’m not done with that part of the project yet!) In September I started painting, and because it takes three months or so to complete a painting, the first paintings are just now getting DONE!! I will be posting one painting in the “Feature of the Week” section of my website each week. Yes, it’s going to take most of 2007! Along with the picture of the painting, I’ll include an excerpt from the horse’s nominator, and perhaps a bit of information from my visit with the horse as well. Don’t miss the FIRST horse in the Beautiful Horses of Ohio series—Rease, a fantastic standardbred race horse! His painting is this week’s Feature of the Week. And I just loved what his owner had to tell me! See Rease on my website at www.karenbrenner.com. I’ve added a “Beautiful Horses of Ohio” Gallery on my website where you’ll eventually be able to see all 49 paintings. When all the paintings in the series are completed I will exhibit them in a show at my studio. I hope you’ll be able to come! Pencil in November 4, 2007, on your calendar. That’s my goal! I’ll let you know as the date approaches if I’m going to make it! Only 48 more paintings to go! What are your goals for 2007? I hope you all have high hopes and that all your dreams come true. Start making them happen today! - Karen
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