Autumn Spirit-A Horse's tale

My mother
Picasso
Anna Sewell (Black Beauty)
Arabian
Los Alimitos, California......

My earliest fondest memories of horses began with the sources posted above. My mother is an artist. As a child I thought she was the most beautiful mommy and sooo talented. Of all the paintings she completed, by far her horses were my favorite. I would stare at her horse paintings in awe. She would paint them in the Chinese brush style and later on, which would influence my work tremendously, she completed a series of collage and cubist style horses. I loved her paintings! Then I found a book in an old abandoned garage that had black and white pictures of Picasso's horses. I was around 9 or 10 at the time and I remember thinking, "Wow! Picasso was 8 when he painted this!" I tried to paint like that but it would be many years later that I would actually come around to it.

At age 12, I think, I read "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell. The story touched me so much, I must have read that book a dozen times. I loved her message through this story, how to treat animals and people with kindness, sympathy, and respect. My children make fun of me when I see a new horse movie. I love them. 

At age 14, I spent quite a few months off and on with my cousin in Torrance, California. I met a girl, which I cannot remember her name, but she had two horses. A beautiful Arabian and a buckskin. I was invited quite a few times to go riding and loved it. We would clean the stalls, bathe the horses and comb them. It is incredible to work with horses. They truly were a source of joy and comfort in those days. Later on my sister and I would ride regularly in Long Beach with friends. What great memories. 

Then there was the Los Alimitos Race Track. We went to a couple conventions there when I was a preteen and before the program started we would see horse and rider practice Harness racing. I would just stare in awe. I wish I had a camera then just to have some of those pictures around but I guess my memory will just have to suffice. 

Now here I am painting horses. In my next exhibit on the 19th of May, 2012, I will be including my latest experiences with horses through paintings. I was able to work with people and their horses and look forward to seeing their expression as I reveal these new paintings. The painting posted at the beginning of this blog is an Arabian painted with aged slake limestone, marble and pigment using palette knives. The collage above are some of the paintings completed for the May art show. They include watercolors, tea paintings, and finally aged slake limestone/marble paintings.