All the pretty little horses

I had this prompt from Milan gallery in Florida to paint a picture depicting horses, I have to admit I haven't had a lot of experience with horses. It would be so foreign to me to care for a horse, they are so big, and a lot of responsibility.

I did have an experience when I was just a tiny girl, 3 ok 4 years old. My grandfather had a pasture that he lent to a friend to have a couple of horses on. He had asked if his grandchildren would be able to ride them, of course we were 7, 5 and 3. I was the youngest at the time. We would all get a ride together, and it was grand.

The story goes that one of the horses was not tame, and we couldn't go near him. My mother and grandmother were in the kitchen when they realized I had escaped the house, and they saw me in the pasture. They ran to the fence, and there I was, I had been hugging the horses back leg (The horse that was not as tame). They called for me to leave the horses side, afraid that if they approached the horse would be spooked, luckily the horse was still and didn't move until I had returned to my mother.

I have no memory of this event, but it is a cool story.

I decided to paint two horses in regards to this story. It was a blast to challenge myself, I have a ways to go when painting horses, but it was a fun thing to jump into.

Here I am 3 years old I'm riding the friendly horse, but I would say the wilder one is pictured behind me.

It is like a life time ago, but man I wish my hair was still kissed by the sun, that grandparents never left us, and that summer days lasted much longer.

Here is a never before shared picture of a very basic source. I didn't' know all the details, and I wanted to add a lot of my own spontaneous ideas.

This image is actually 3 paintings in one, I learned recently that this is a triptych, and so when it is all done, I'll get some beautiful gold frames and this piece will be an absolute show stopper. I'm thinking off naming this Natures Crescendo .

So school has started again, and the long and unscheduled summer days are done for this year.

I have a week of painting a head and a coloring book to create.