The
Horse Power Project
My
earliest drawing passion were Horses. Always the hero in my summer reading as a
fourth grader were in the Zane Grey books along with All of the Black Stallion
books by Walter Farley. With my math book propped up on my desk as a school
girl, I drew horses and forever was the problem child for my teachers....of
course there were Black Beauty and Thundehead. Later came my history heroes
and their horses as exemplified by Bucephalus.
With my childhood
passions still intact, I go to the race track to "see" the Horse. The
race of course is thrilling and another story in and of it's self, but it is
the component I don't need. My need is the Horse. In the paddock, I watch the approach
of the great ones. As they pass by, the eye meets mine, and we speak.
I remember Magnum, a
great dark bay who paused by the paddock rail, and we had the conversation of
expectation. He who runs, and I who love. That's all I really need and my day
is complete.
"Horse
Power" is in our lexicon in so many ways in our western culture... I often
wonder how we would express the power of a modern car in terms other than Horse
Power. These drawings are about the Horse Power which is inherent in the gaze
of a Horse. The sweet glance of the mare towards her foal, the experimental
gaze of the young colt, the magnetic power of the stallion waiting for the acknowledgment
of his worth, the loyalty of "Sergeant Reckless".
Some of our
connections through words:
Horse sense, Hold
your Horses, Wild Horses couldn't keep me, Cart before the Horse, Horse Power,
Pony Cars, Horse of a different color, Horsing around, Horse Hair, Horse
feathers, lead a horse to water but, Horse Play, death rides a Pale Horse, Pony
tail, shank ponies, there are many more as found on Google. http://www.lrgaf.org/guide/equestrian_terms.htm
These drawings were
created in the beloved "Art Building" in Artists Alley Oceanside. It
is here that the painting 'Kublai Khan' was painted and the little bronze
sculpture series the "Cloud
Dancers" came to life.
