Back to the barn
Maybe you can think of a better name for this painting?
In the very middle of the last century, a very small girl who lived in a big city picked up a pencil and started drawing horses. I do not understand why these big beasts are so important to so many little girls, but no matter their background; girls who grow up on farms and girls who grow up in fancy houses and girls that live in shabby apartments in cities that are filled with asphalt and too many cars become captivated with horses. But this particular little girl who loved to draw horses drew her first horse at the age of three. By the time she was 12, she realized that the pony she wished for every Christmas was not coming, she was realistic; no one else in her neighborhood had a horse anyway. But reality did not interfere with art, now her horses were a lot more life-like and managed to impress a few adults, she even gave a few of her drawings away.
When she was 18, she left the big city and moved to Idaho where people did have horses. By the time she was 21 she had a horse of her own named Freckles. And she kept drawing horses. Her 9 years in Idaho gave her the opportunity to live with horses and know them intimately, and her understanding of how to draw them grew. Life changed again and she moved back to another big city where once again having a horse was a luxury beyond her means.
That person was me if you hadn’t already guessed. I still draw horses a lot but I haven’t painted many, because I didn’t want my horses to be trite, so I have pretty much avoided them entirely until just recently. This is one of a series of paintings I have been working on. I don’t think I’m “there” yet, but I feel like I am making good progress. Can you help me name this painting? What does it say to you?
I remember that little girl! Her first drawings were spare and reminded me (in retrospect) of the Japanese style of charcoal painting.
Give the rightmost horse a tail and it might be called we’re coming on down!
I like a title with “Dawn,” as suggested below, or “Sunset.”
Your horses look great to me! And I think they look like they are heading back to the barn, it’s a fine name.
Sue, there are no palominos here (palominos have light colored manes and tails) but I like the name you came up with! thanks for your kind words
Palomino dawn? Actually, wasn’t that a book title? Love this painting Mimi, I feel quite inspired by it.
I did the drawing, girls horse stories and Christmas wishes. As a pre-teen, I never understood why my grandfather could own race horses and I wasn’t allowed a pony.
I haven’t drawn any horses for a while, and certainly can’t do them as well as you, but hopefully this weekend I will be drawing Arabians and camels 😀