Fur In The Paint

Do you remember that conversation I had with Carol about not wanting to get stabbed in my sleep Well it turns out we did actually wind up in the Bates Motel.

The First bad sign, we couldn’t find the hotel and after calling them a couple of times we find out the name of the place has actually been changed in the week or so since Carol Booked it. (Yeah I know Right) With the correct name we do find the place and as we circle it a couple of times trying to find the lobby, we see a parking lot full of battered and broken cars with garbage bags taped over their windows. We parked under the biggest brightest light in the lot.

We spent most of our first not feeling comfortable enough to go to sleep. So we amused ourselves telling scary stories of dumpy hotels and beg bug scares. Carol had the best story with her having woken up to multiple spider bites all over her face and arms from hatchlings in her pillow. Yup the stuff sweet dreams are made of.

The next hotel Carol got a suite. And it was stunning. “I’m like “ah how much is this?” This place had a beautiful king bed with Marble topped posts and a huge leather couch. Flat screen tv’s everywhere but the bathroom. Nice. No more scary nighttime stories for us while staying here. I do wish I had taken picture of both places though. The difference was shocking

So here’s some horse pics as promoised. I just dropped off 13 rolls of film to be developed so I should have some really good ones then.

Here’s The World Champion Stallion. Isn’t he a stunner?

Not sure why but I relly have a fascination with horses being bathed.

I kinda forget just how big they really are.

The view from our seats during the 6 horse hitch show. Close enough to be pelted by the dirt clods as they passed.

I thought I’d plug my Squidoo lens on the World Percheron Congress. It’s awaiting the photos to be developed but I did add a few videos from the event.

So as has been the way all along, this event was chocked full of surprises. I suppose that’s to be expected though since I do primarily art events and Carol does Dairy and Stock shows. We are talking different crowds of people here.

The first surprise was when we discovered that yes the event ran 7 days but it was only open to the public for 3. Meaning we had to be there for 4 days where all there would be was breeders. I’m like “Ah crap.” My first days sales total was $15. Carol had a sale before we even opened for one of her cold cast porcelain pieces of a trotting Percheron though so there was hope.

But those early days were really one long yawn. Fortunately I adore Carol so we spent much of the time laughing. Also Carol Eilers (Yup totally kicking myself for not getting a pic of Carol E in her booth) was there from Apples ‘n Oats fame and so we all went out to dinner together and in general just made a party of it. (And by “party” I mean an exhausted over-indulgent eating spectacular. Oh wait that might have been just me. )

Carol (photo right working hard on a sculpture for some sheep trophy due the day after we returned). As the event went on it slowly got better and the final day was a bit of a feeding frenzy for both of us, which is always fun. Though I’ve already had one check come back bad. Art Fair patrons almost never write bad checks. Not so sure about horse people.

Another surprise was our booth had a wide open view of the horse barns (which I planned on getting a snapshot of but didn’t as after the first couple of days they closed the doors.) We kinda missed watching the horses get groomed and harnessed less than 40 feet away but closing the doors definitely cut down on the draft. Somehow the dust still blew though. We had no heat for the first few days and Lordy it was cold. But on day 3 or 4 they kicked it on. Mind you I’ve been through worse. The MN Horse Expo one year I wore a heavy winter coat and blanket for the entire event. This wasn’t nearly that bad.

I’ve included a couple of shots of our booth. I think our work really looks good together. Carol doesn’t have much for horse art as I say she’s primarily a cow artist. In the end we both made enough money to make it worth the trip but not enough to consider doing it again.

NEXT POST: Will contain actual pictures of draft horses.

It’s been awhile since I did the start to finish and I figured I needed to intersperse all my chatty posts with some art. I do have big plans for painting this weekend. I’ll have to see how it plays out.

Strength & Glory- Percheron Team
Original Oil Pastel Painting
19 x 29

Well . . . as official as anything can be a year away from the event. Let’s just say a booth has been reserved with my name on it. Um . . . well actually with Carol Herden’s name on it. (but you know, it’s kinda the same thing.)

My good friend and bovine/equestrian artist extrandinaire, Carol Herden and I will once again be sharing a booth with our equine (in this case Percheron and draft) art at the 2010 World Percheron Congress in Des Moines, Iowa. This is our second artistic (ad)venture together. You may recall our trip to the Kentucky Horse Park for Breyerfest 08.

At any rate I am excited. Mostly because the idea of spending a horsey week with a friend is one of my favorite things to do. I am not thinking this is going to be a money maker. (Mostly because people aren’t coming to these kinds of events to buy art.) But it is certainly going to be loads of fun.

I plan on packing both cameras (digital and film.) Despite having many thousands (yes, that’s literally thousands) of Percheron reference photos, my motto is “one can never have enough.”

Upcoming Posts
I know I need to post my Frieisan painting but I’m soooo close to being done, I keep putting off posting it, because I want to post it as done. Not as really, really close to done.

So tomorrow will be Ask The Budda (Halloween edition) And on Halloween I may post a ghost story of my own. Or I may just delete it as a bad, bad idea.

But after that, my horse painting will be done. I know this for a fact because my deadline for the next Apples ‘N Oats issue is November 1st.

Group Therapy
Last week a friend came by and swept me away from the gallery to have some quality horse time with a herd of Percheron brood mares. Since my Percheron raising neighbor moved away several years ago I have been going through withdrawals. (umm . . . just so you know, those are birds on the ground, not poo.)

My friend is an animal person and has rekindled her love of horses. She is new in town. (And by “new” I mean that she’s been here only 3 years. For small towns it’s kinda like dog years but in reverse. After you’ve been here seven years you are no longer considered “new.”)

At any rate she is struggling with this feeling like home. She is a single mother who works nights and being awake only a couple of hours in the middle of the afternoon (before she leaves again for work) makes it hard to socialize and have a little fun.

But she has found her bliss standing among the giants, scritching their itches and talking in soft horsey whispers. She is happiest (as am I) when covered in horse dust and slobber. As she’s rubbing a favorite young filly she declares “This is the best. This is better than men. This is better than sex.” Since I am married I don’t comment on that, but I so understand the feeling.

I don’t remember who said this but it seems appropriate. “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” In this case “man” is viewed in the broader sense.

If you squint they kinda look like Friesians
Not that they aren’t totally gorgeous in all their Percheron glory. I am pretty sure I’ve got a painting from the few new rolls I took. I love all the drapey hair and expressive eyes.

Just so you know I wasn’t deliberately trying to crop out their noses in my photos. They were just too close. (Happy Sigh)

One of my favorite horse quotes as well as a personal sentiment.
When I can’t ride anymore, I shall keep horses as long as I can hobble along with a bucket and a wheelbarrow.

When I can’t hobble, I shall roll my wheelchair out by the fence of the field where my horses graze and watch them. -Monica Dickens

Tomorrow’s Post: Ask The Budda

Updated: Carol Eilers (editor of Apples N’ Oats magazine) tipped me to the fact that it was Winston Churchill who said my unknown quote. I should have just asked her, since she is wise on all things horse. Or had I been a responsible blogger I could have googled it. Thanks Carol!

Show Girls - Oil Pastel 20.25″ x 9.625″

Here is my painting inspired by my last trip to the Britt Draft Horse Show.

I created it when I was participating in a gallery exhibition. I felt kinda uncomfortable about the whole thing as mine was to be of a handfull of representational works. I was going to stick out like a sore thumb among all the abstract and contemporary works. As I have participated in many shows where the representational works tended to fall at the bottom when it came to curators and judges I felt a little . . . ummm . . . snarky about it all.

It amused me to no end while I painted it, as well as while it was hung in the show. Frankly even though it is years later it still amuses to look at it. Plus the title is always worth a chuckle. And for those of you wondering, it sells really well. Especially among the draft horse people.

Sweet Smells.
There are some smells that trigger emotions and memories. You breathe them in deeply and it takes you to another place and time. Say for instance . . . baking bread brings back fond memories of my grandmas warm kitchen. And the other smell that puts me into a bucolic trance . . . horse sweat and fly spray. Nothing quite like it. And yes it does rank right up there with baking bread.

Today I treated myself and attend the Britt Draft Horse Show held in Britt, Iowa. For such a tiny town they put on one heck of a good horse show. I spent the morning milling around the barns. Most horse events find me in the behind the scenes areas. Whether it be shows, competition or races I love to hang out in the staging area. Often missing the actual event in hopes of capturing something special happening in the quiet moments. So thats how I spent my day. Not too many ways I would have rather spent it.

Trends
You may have noticed that nearly all the photos here are of black Percherons. I found this odd. Not so many years ago the horses were far more varied in color and breed. Today there was a few Clydesdales, a few more Belgians and a whole lot of Percherons. Apparently black is now the color of choice for Percherons since that was what they all came in with the exception of a few grays which were so dark they were probably black last year. I love dapple gray and the lighter and whiter the better.

Similarly the Clydesdales were all pretty much the same color. That would be Budweiser Clyde color and marked. No roans or blacks or splashes of white on the belly. Just clones of the famous hitch. I have to say I was slightly disappointed by this.

The other thing I found interesting was some of the horses had shaped hooves. (like on this guy) Very cool look but it makes me wonder of the hoof integrity.

I remember a few years back I was talking with my neighbor (the proud owner of around 30 Percherons) and he was telling me everyone was liking the platter foot. The bigger and splayed out the better. But he felt that the horses had more hoof problems because of this. It all comes down to looks in the end. You gotta follow the trend in order to win the awards. Which in turn allows you to command better prices for your horses.

Critter Fix
At this point I am bit weary. I am sunburned and have a headache from a little too much sun exposure. Plus I feel gritty from all the dust. (for those horse savvy among you, you realize what I’m actually saying is I’m covered in dried-up pulverized horse poo.) My immediate plan is to shower and flop down in front of the air conditioner. I was in need of a critter fix and it was so worth it.