Fresh Off the Easel - "Running Free"
Jun 30, 2020
My journey with this painting began early last November quite by accident. I was prepping a very large canvas, 3 feet by 4 feet with bright magenta and orange and listening to Mozart. Without realizing it, I had pressed my hand on the canvas and left a white print. Hmmm, that looks interesting. So I playfully put several hand prints on the canvas and called it a day.
A couple of weeks went by while I pondered what to paint on this bright canvas. The size seemed perfect for a landscape. But it still needed something more. Finally after Thanksgiving, I began sketching a herd of horses "Running Free" through a meadow.
Once more, I set it aside in the studio to work on a couple of commissions. Over the months, the white horse would catch my eye every now and then. Saddly, I had lost interest and the world was being turned upside down with the pandemic.
Finally, at the end of May, I place the canvas back on the easel and began working in earnest to bring these beautiful animals to life using a reference photo from Missouri artist and photographer Karen Broemmelsick and several personal iphone photos of my granddaughter's horse.
As the pandemic grew and the "Black Lives Matter" movement was reborn, I took solace in painting a inspiring sunrise breaking through the early morning mist in the Colorado mountains. Stroke by stroke, I added a grove of cheerful aspens waving in a strong breeze as a storm approaches. In the distance, a dirt road winds around a corner beckoning to be explored.
For the past two weeks, I have worked late into the night as fireworks in neighborhood make it quite impossible to sleep. My brush strokes in the shadows of the running horses were energized with the unexpected bursts.
Yesterday, I signed the painting and put down my brush. I hope this painting will bring you a moment of peace knowing that nature overcomes chaos.
This July, I plan to put my energy into creating smaller pieces with a Southwest theme, for a live auction at the end of the month. I will be sending information on the auction in my next email, along with previews of the paintings in progress. These specially prices works of art will only be available in the auction.
Stay tuned!