Perfect day for a horseshow at Harvard Milk Days

Perfect, that is, except for the sudden gusts of wind that threatened to blow everything away. Otherwise, sunny and pleasant. I thought I’d just make this post mostly a picture show, short and sweet. This was my third year at Harvard Milk Days, and I like the continuity of sequential appearances. It’s getting rather common now for people to come up to me at shows and say “haven’t I seen you at ….?” Only took three years, but the name recognition is encouraging!

That’s my big white tent, as usual. The copper-colored one in front blew away in the wind. At least it blew away from me! Don’t know why people have such a reluctance to use tent stakes.

Here’s a corner of my tent, with the wind blowing the tablecloth under the table and the side curtains outward. The ground was really hard because it hadn’t rained in a while, and I couldn’t get my usual corkscrew dog tie-outs into the ground. I use ratchet straps to secure the corners of the tent to the tie-out, but had to settle for tent stakes this time.

Harmilda picked up a rider this year. Guess she got tired of the flower wreaths around her neck from past years.

I’m not a competitive trail rider, so I don’t know much about this, but I think the object of this test was to grab the rope and back up with your horse until you pull over and drag the jump standard that the rope is attached to. The palomino was having none of it!

Same palomino wants to know what the heck these water buckets are doing out here with flowers sticking out of them. Not going to walk between them either forwards or sideways. Heck no, no way!

Ah, success. No problem trotting right over this little crossrail obstacle.

Why is it that the tiny tots on big horses are always the cutest things?

 

Drafts finished, along with a little made-up story

Drafts done!

I’m betting that a harness maker could have produced a finished product faster than it took me to paint it, but at least I pushed on till I got it done. I had been working on this painting concurrently with the one of Fred, but put it aside to concentrate on Fred.

Last spring I took several photos of this pair, and what made this view stand out was the position of the horses’ heads. It seemed like they were having a little conversation, with the one on the right side looking totally distracted while the one on the left was urging, “Come on, get with it and let’s get this rig moving”. All the other photos were fairly ordinary, so I was happy to have snagged at least this one gem.

Finally Fred

I made a few changes that I hadn’t predicted in my last post about Fred, but I won’t detail them here. I’ll let you play the “how many things can you find in this photo” game instead…naughty me! Anyhow, the photo has been sent to my client for approval, and we’ll see what happens from there.

Meanwhile, I have to get cracking and finish the painting of the drafts. It does have a lot more work done since I last posted a photo, but it’s still got a bit to go. I really want to have it finished and framed by next weekend when it will go with me to the annual Harvard Milk Days horse show (where I took the reference photo last year).

 

“Coming on Lightly”

On the gallery scene, my painting of the old Marlowe feed mill in Huntley, Illinois has been accepted into the “Culture and Agriculture” show at New Visions gallery in Marshfield, Wisconsin. This is an annual show which I have exhibited in before, and am pleased that they have chosen me for a repeat appearance. The show will run from July 9 till August 31. Now all I have to do is locate a suitable gorilla-proof box to ship it in, since I gave up dealing with heavy wooden crates that were a pain for both me and the galleries…

Quick update on Fred

 

Fred is very close to done. I’ve softened the muzzle, added detail to the mane and some fuzzy hair to the ears, and gone over the background again. Now what’s left (unless I change my mind, as often happens…) is to get a little more foggy effect into the background, and to add some gold-gray shadow areas in the mane and forelock. Upon client’s final approval, he gets to dry for a couple of weeks to make sure he’s safe for shipping. Then he’s off to home and hopefully a warm reception from his owner for 29 years!

Do not mistake for a unicorn

Maybe it's just the fairy-tale background, but Fred could easily take on a unicorn identity

Today’s progress–getting there! The mane needs some more detail work, but what I really discovered is that after refining the horse the background could also use another layer just to smooth it out a bit. The whole thing has a fairy-tale quality about it which I really like, but I can imagine myself having a little chat with Fred to talk him out of adding a lovely spiraling horn to his forehead! He looks like just the kind of playful guy who would love to have an alternative identity. Oh well, not this time, my friend…

A different kind of horse race

I’ve got two paintings in the running here, working on one while waiting for layers on the other to dry. First off is our friend Fred, who now has a background and a preliminary layer of color on him. Not to worry, he won’t be pink and blue and violet. As I often do, I’m undercoating a white horse with color, which will then become shadow areas that reflect the colors of the background.

Fred's early colors

 

And the drafts are coming along right behind. I have a second (and final) coat on most of the harness, haven’t touched the wagon yet but am not worried about it, and will need to put one more transparent coat on the horses. Still debating whether to make the sky a little richer blue. Will wait to see what the horses look like against the current sky, then decide.

Drafts should be able to make their debut in mid-May at the Harvard Milk Days horse show--right where I photographed them in the first place.

The puzzle of Fred

Fred--ink underdrawing

Fred is no longer with us, but he apparently had lots to say to those around him when he was here. My client tells me that her grandfather had Fred for 29 years and that he was quite a character. He was a show-off and loved to prance for parades, but put any kid on him and he was quiet as a mouse. The world could be crashing around him and he wouldn’t have cared. As are so many of our equine friends, he was also a sucker for treats. The way to a horse’s heart is through his stomach? Must’ve learned that from his men friends…

As often happens when beloved horses have left us, there were many photos of Fred but none of them were ideal. I’ve assembled some of them below, so you can see the puzzle pieces I used to put the whole picture together. The areas under the saddle and bridle had to be invented, but the reference photos were very helpful nonetheless.

I plan on doing the background first. Can’t say why I do that sometimes and sometimes I don’t, but at any rate the next time I post you will see the background so I won’t say anything about it right now.

This is the pose we wanted to use, but it turned out Fred's lovely mane was on the other side of his neck.. So I had to flip the photo around...which meant I needed references for the other side of his face.

This one gave me a good look at the mane, and also details around the eye and nose.

Some forelock detail, along with a little more angular view of the eye and muzzle.

A better idea of the left eye (not covered by the wayward forelock) and the bone structure of the front of the head. Also the nostrils--they had distinctly different black patterns. Leave it to Fred to throw a little extra challenge into the work!