Ligonier: Polo for the Cure

For the past several years Jack & I have participated every September in Ligonier Polo Club's charity match for the Leukemia Foundation. Jack umpires the match and I donate a percentage of the sales from my paintings. He has the harder job! I probably get to see more of this game then when he was playing and I was grooming for him. This past weekend the weather was beautiful and this isn't said lightly as the event has coincided often with hurricanes coming through the area. It is a gala event with the large white tents lining the length of the field. Everyone, people, horses, hounds are beautifully turned out. Rolling Rock Hunt parades their hounds before the match and then the game starts. This year it was closely battled throughout the six chukkas and excited for those watching.

It is always a fun weekend with parties and dinners. It is good to see polo and other horse friends. Watching some of the young players go from gangly teenagers to handsome young men is also fun. Mountain Meadow Farms where we, and our horses and dog, stay is ever so beautiful and pleasant. It is always a joy being there and we appreciate the warm welcome we get! This year the affair raised about 150,000, about 1% of that was my contribution from sales. Hey, every bit helps! As Jack says, When the umpire isn't shot and I sell some paintings, it's a good day!

Saddle Seat

Jack much admired a set of stools a friend has, comfortable with a stylized saddle seat, a small horn and turned legs. They inspired a project for Jack. Without the tools to turn or steam and bend wood, and wanting more "horse" under the saddle, he glued and carved his saddle seat with legs fit for a draft pony. One of our friend's stools was a guide for the shape of this seat but there were no plans to follow for the legs. Jack gave me the blanks he had made and asked for guide lines drawn onto them. He got that, along with some sketches. Through much of late winter and spring he carved the seat, the horn, the legs. As he had no experience joining things, he left extra length to the tops of the legs. Which we used as it was a challenge getting it all balanced and to sit right that, for a while, thought we might need to shave the legs down to the fetlocks!

A farrier friend's version of an old ditty inspired the stain & paint job: "One white foot, try 'im; two white feet, deny 'im; three white feet, buy 'im. Four white feet and a snip on his nose, cut 'im to pieces and throw him to the crows!" While this pony's a keeper, there are no plans to breed and create more.

Hit the High Note

This is a fellow I've painted before, just like his expression! This sketch and two others also of hounds gave me chance to try some new colors I just got from Natural Pigments. I had ordered several colors and as a special a few extras were added to my order. One of these, a red earth called pozzuoli has turned out to be very nice and I like it a lot!

Pinto pony

Caught this fellow dozing in the early morning light of a warm July morning and did this small sketch. No, not from life, as lazy as this model seemed to be, the flies and interest in grazing kept his poses changing. A digital camera helps jog the memory in these cases!

J Loon

Early this spring Jack took a one day workshop on carving at the Ward Museum and came home with, as he called it, a painted "Folk Duck". It is a cute palm-sized thing and, proudly, I promptly put it on a pedestal. A day or two later he came home with a hunk of basswood and declared his next project. A good friend has admired a loon carving we have, gotton quite awhile ago at auction. Jack decided to copy it as a bithday present for Joel.

Having the original was helpful and it has been a good learning experience for Jack. That it came out rather nicely for his first real try is pretty cool. Since he is color-blind, he declared painting it would be my job, which was fine. Although one friend did comment, "Yeah but, so, loon's are just black & white." True, true, I'll call it experience for me because the next bird on the block is a mallard.

Out the Back Door

Some days it is easiest to just set up the easel right outside the backdoor. There are some great sunsets over the fields and marshes leading down to the Pocomoke River. Also, plenty of good shade, something I really like if I'm painting outdoors. Plus, there's usually a pretty good breeze coming up the river from the bay. Around here, helpful against humidity and bugs. We do have bugs. Having all the amenities of home, literally, ain't bad either!