The Whoa Sketchbook charity auction

Wow, no posts for three weeks, and then 2 in 2 days! This one is to tell everyone about the WHOA sketchbook auction. Some of you may well have seen the link to the sketchbook blog before, but for those who haven't, I'll explain. I belong to an international group of horse artists, WHOA. A while ago, Jennifer Macneill Traylor had the bright idea to pass a sketchbook around us all, and have us all complete four or five pages, and to auction the final product in order to raise funds for the Shiloh Horse Rescue and Sanctuary. This project has been a couple of years in the making, as the sketchbook has winged it's way around the world, and it had grown along the way as several artists have added 'stand alone ' creations to the package, but finally it is completed and now up for auction on ebay HERE. It is a beautiful book, and would be a treasure for any horse lover to own, and on top of that, 100% of the proceeds are going to help horses.

These are a couple of pages that I have contributed to the sketchbook.

While this beautiful original painting below , "Hunter's Moon", by Linda Woolford, is also included with the sketchbook.

Gail Ragsdale has 5 of her beautifully detailed drawings in the book

While this is possibly my all time favourite - a print of this painting by Kerry Nelson ( I am lucky enough to own the original of this! You can just see it on the wall of my daughter's bedroom in one of the photos)
ALL the contributions can be seen in more detail on the WHOA blog, which has documented the sketchbook from start to finish. Please go and check out the auction, and pass on the info to anyone you think may be interested in bidding :)

Thankyou xx

The WHOA sketchbook

Time to remind everybody about the WHOA sketchbook project! This is a fabulous charity project which is really gathering speed and nearing completion. WHOA is a group of Equine artists - there are some great talents among them! Earlier in the year Jennifer Macneil Traylor of Gypsy Mare Studios came up with the idea that we should pass a sketchbook around the group, completing five pages each, and auction the finished book for charity. I had the dubious honour of being the first artist, and the sketches shown above are a couple, depicting the wild Dartmoor Ponies. ( Actually I was only first because I am in the UK, and it was more practical for Linda Woolford and I to do ours first before mailing it to the states)

Anyway, after a slow start -partly my fault- this project has snowballed, and is nearly finished, and we are hoping it can be completed in time for Christmas. You can check out each and every sketch by looking at the WHOA Sketchbook blog.

And finally, a charity has been selected to donate the proceeds to. This is the very deserving Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue.

We are also looking into the possibility of having the sketchbook printed, so we can sell copies of it, although the costs are looking a little prohibitive at the moment. Any suggestions here are welcome!

And I couldn't resist a couple of pictures of my ponies - all in full winter coats suddenly, looking like teddy bears, rather than their sleek and elegant summer selves! The black mare is Marlene ( Mardle Mitchelcombe) a 3 yr old dartmoor hill pony. The bay filly is Piper (Holmedown Sandpiper) a yearling . She is a part bred Dartmoor / Highland.