Artist Rides

"Rebecca"

36X48

oil

This is really an oldie...currently in the Walking Horse Gallery in Ben Wheeler, TX. I always want to call this gallery the "Whispering Horse", though that doesn't really make sense. Horses don't whisper. Though I hear their trainers sometimes do...

So I did this painting at the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale, AZ...can't say I remember the year. Probably 2000 or 2001. The model - conveniently named Rebecca - is a professional artist's model who has all her own costumes, etc. Until I moved to Arizona, I had no idea where western artists got their photo references - especially Native Americans and cowboys. 

I've mentioned before that I went out to Arizona in 1999 (going through a divorce) for a visit and bought a house. I'm aware that this was spontaneous in the extreme. Don't judge me. During that same visit, I was introduced to a western artist who assured me that there is life after divorce...having been through 5 (or maybe it was 6) divorces herself. Anyway...she invited me to a weekly Artists' Breakfast. I attended regularly until I moved back to Texas. It was at the breakfast that my fellow (mostly western) artists told me about Artist Rides.

They informed me that one of the best rides is in South Dakota, and that sometimes there is a waiting list of artists. Therefore, they said, I must contact the organizer and try to get in asap. Which I did, dropping a few western artists' names in the process, hoping that it might give me an inside advantage. Apparently this ploy worked, because I got in. Or maybe it was an off year and they would have taken anyone. It's hard to say.

I think that I will separate this post into several consecutive posts, in that...well, there's a lot to tell. And I don't want to tax my readers - especially those who read multiple blogs every day (you know who you are). Suffice it to say...my first Artist Ride enlightened me to a whole new world. FYI...I will end Part 1 of this post by informing you that there is actually no riding of horses on the part of the artists. So I have no idea why they call them Artist Rides. To be continued...