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Headstrong


"Headstrong," 10" x 12," acrylics on a museum quality canvas, depicting a post parade pairing from Saratoga Race Track in upstate New York. This painting is $599, with free s&h to your door (inside the US). Please inquire. And take a peek at the in process photos which are here.

At the end of this month I am heading to Saratoga for my annual visit. A group of equine artists and dear friends gather together for a long weekend of gallery visits, shop talk, pastries (mmm, Mrs Londons!), ice cream and wine, good belly laughs, and all things equine.

One of our special pleasures is seeing horses being bad. Perhaps we are a little juvenile in that regard, but we take great pleasure in following their antics. And when we are able to capture the troublemakers on film (or, err, digitally, as in my case), we are especially pleased.

Once I happened to be on the rail when Johnny V (the Kentucky Derby winning jockey on Animal Kingdom that year) was thrown during the post parade. His mount decided he was done with him, dropped his head, broke the lead rein, flicked Johnny off, and, after a few giddy bucks and leaps, happily trotted off on his own. Johnny was so disgusted with himself for getting unseated - he dusted himself off and duly waited for his horse to be brought back. (Both horse and rider were fine - Johnny got back on and they ran the race - I can't remember how they finished.) I'm still trying to figure out how to paint that series of photos!

This particular guy (in the painting above) wanted nothing to do with his pony horse, and gave him attitude from the moment he came out of the tunnel. He just wanted to go and look and do his own thing. I love the tension between the outrider and the racehorse - it's a nice balance at either edge of the painting.

Now what to paint next? I have an empty house until 10pm tonite. Perhaps another bad horse..... I do need to get some racing pieces completed to take to New York with me!

Thanks, as always, for following along with my artwork,
Warmly, Kim 
ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com
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