Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”
I have attended the Blessing of the hounds at St. John's Episcopal Church in Glyndon, Md for the last couple of years. The church is a charming neo-gothic cathedral nestled in the heart of horse country. It has always been pet friendly. For instance; my wife and I often attend Christmas morning service there where our dear friend Father Frederick Hannah has been the guest rector. I grant you it is a tiny church but I can only surmise that the bulk of the congregation was in attendance on Christmas Eve since the 10:00 am morning service never boasted more than two dozen or so parishioners. One Christmas morning, as we knelt at the alter awaiting communion, we notice a tiny nose poking out of the jacket of the man next to us. He had a tiny puppy with him. Father Fred gave the man the host and blessed the little dog, he did not let the puppy drink from the common cup.
I don't normally cut off heads in my compositions but this painting cried out for ambiguity and abstraction. The negative spaces, the pull of red and green, and the free brushwork came together to form a very pleasing painting (at least to me).
20 comments:
Beautiful! Love the colours, the contrast of the red and white. And the horse is painted sooo well!
Congratulations, Mark!
Thanks, Liza. I'm trying to loosen up a bit. I had fun with this one.
BRAVO Mark! Stunning!
I'm flattered, Carol.
Thanks for following me BTW
A perfectly captured animal.... as always. Love the shading of the horse's white coat... and the contasting leather tack.
Thanks, Diane. It's a horse of a different color.
This is SPECTACULAR!!!!
Equine Perfection in Paint.
Very Nice !!!
OMG! absolutely stunning! love how the horse is "listening" to its rider (reminds me of a mare I used to have!)..sigh- so lovely!
Alice, I'm glad you still check in, after my TMI tag offerings. Thanks for the praise.
Thanks, M
That means a lot coming from you.
Roxanne, you really know your steeds (sorry). Nice pick up on the pricked ears. Do you still have horses?
hehe! my husband swore I married him for his name! (I was a horse-crazy girl!). No, I sold that mare to a pony-clubber in San-Diego.It was a perfect match, nice-kid, really nice older horse. We were moving back to cold-country & she was thriving in SD...& I wanted more time to paint...& my kids did not get the horsey-gene from me, multiple reasons, but those were 10 of the best years of some very intense fun! whew- does sound like I miss her at times! ;-)
Roxanne,
I was a big Avengers fan back in the day and John Steed was my hero. I'm sure there are a few people out there who still remember me briefly wearing a black bowler hat and carrying an umbrella. (I told you I liked costumes)
hehe, I can see it now! very cool duds...
Wow - not only are you a great painter of cats and dogs, but now I find out you are an equestrian master painter as well!!! I love how you have shown that "white' is never truly white in a painting. As someone else commented, the color combination is striking... and I love the little bits of negative space throughout this piece. Hard to believe it is only 6 x 8". Beautiful, Mark! BTW, I forgive you for the 3rd tag...
Joanne, You're right. This painting has more holes than a Henry Moore Sculpture. I'm quite happy with it. Thanks for the kind words.
WOW! this is amazing. Mark, you have really topped yourself with this painting. It may be small, but it makes a big impact.
Thanks, Rhonda.
You have captured the majesty of this horse beautifully. I am in awe. Perfect.
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