Thursday, April 17, 2008

Head in the Clouds



I just finished my most recent painting and I'm really excited about this one. When you're making them they become your babies and it's so hard to let them go!
For this painting I used a photo I took of a friend's horse named Woody.
Woody is a Tennessee Walking Horse who has had a very interesting life. I believe he was supposed to be a show horse but didn't make it. He then switched careers to become a police horse in the city of Lancaster, PA. One day Woody was out with his officer and they were keeping the peace at a parade that has a reputation of inciting some violence. A riot broke out and Woody dashed into the thick of it. One of the rioters smashed poor Woody over the head with a bottle and grabbed his bridle. Being on a curb Woody lost his balance when the man pulled him and he fractured his pelvis. His officer didn't know that he was hurt so badly and being the brave soul that he is, Woody got back up and continued his duties as a police horse. The next day he was in really bad shape so they took him to New Bolton to diagnose the problem. Needless to say the Woody was on rest for quite some time even spending awhile in a sling to keep weight off his hindquarters.
When Woody was healed my friend took him in to use as a mount for her husband. He could no longer perform the rigorous task of a police horse but he is an excellent trail horse and companion to her other horses. He is truly a gentle giant standing at 17 hands. In the portrait I made I have painted him in his sunbleached summer coat. Click here to view the auction.


Thanks for looking!

Just started the painting.



A little more work.




Detail

3 comments:

Christopher A. Klingler said...

Lovely new work Jen. :)

CK

Jennifer Rose said...

Great piece of work with a wonderful story to go with it :)

vintagepaletteart said...

Jen, your paintings are absolutely amazing!!!!!!

Hugs! *Lori