Sunday, January 31, 2010

Painting a Mule Study from Life



This was the first really nice day we have had in a while, and I got out to Mammoth to paint horses from life. The second quick study I did was a portrait of of mule, "Charlie" is his name. He had wonderful color transitions around his nose, eyes and jaw area. Plus, there is something beautiful about mule ears. Curious and engaging at the same time. His rider had to leave before I was able to finish, but I enjoyed the time I was able to work on the study. (In the first photo, you can see him on the left.)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Arizona Horse Expo


Ginger Kathrens, producer/Cinematographer of the PBS series on Cloud, the Wild Mustang along with Michael Blake, author of "Dances with Wolves" were the keynote speakers at the first Arizona Horse Expo. In addition to these advocates for the Mustangs, there were quality trainers giving demonstrations in a variety of disciplines. The weather was perfect for those that Exhibited and the crowd was large enough that it will be held at a larger venue next year.
It was a special honor for me to have some time to talk with Ginger Kathrens about the her experience chronicling Clouds herd and the status of the Mustang herds. The herds are currently being rounded up and put into holding pens at an alarming rate, and at great expense. Without an independent audit on the herds population and the BLM's fiscal mismanagement, Americans Mustangs are in grave peril.
Most of you know that I had the opportunity to observe and photograph the Onaqui herd last June with Gene Praag. This was a deeply moving experience, and became the basis for a series of paintings, "Among the Mustangs". Please visit The Cloud Foundation's website for updated information on round-ups, the role of the Ruby Pipeline, and who you can contact.