Thursday, March 13, 2008

Lipizzaners and others

Usually in this blog I post photos of the paintings I have been working on, but that ugly little bug that has been flying around, has landed on me, so I haven't done much quality painting during the last week and a half. I did spend some time on a new oil painting of a White Arabian in radiant lighting. It is almost finished, but I won't show you this one as a work in progress; it might diminish its impact if you see it before every last hair is in place.

However, I do have something to show you. My husband and I went to see a performance by the Lipizzaner Stallions on Sunday afternoon. Seeing these beautiful creatures dancing to classical music was overwhelming. Like a little bit of heaven. I took along a sketchbook knowing that it was unlikely I would get the chance to sketch, but my dear husband took lots of pictures for me.

Here is just one of them:

Photobucket


This is not just about animals performing funny and cute little tricks to entertain humans. It is a joint effort between horse and rider, called "dressage," which refers to perfecting the natural gait with long, patient training and mutual appreciation. The result is a beautiful, touching ballet in which the horse and rider work as one. You will be seeing paintings inspired by this wonderful experience during the next few months.

1 comment:

mousewords said...

I can't wait to see what you do with it! :-)