Recently I was asked to participate in a benefit for a young man who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He has a young family and it has really hit everyone hard. A wonderful member of his family Vickie Corbett has organized an auction to help keep the family solvent. When I say these people are horse people, these guys are Horse to the Max. The auction started out as a Stallion Breeding Auction with top of the line stallions but morphed into offering custom tack, bits, equine sports therapies, weanling colts, vacations, longhorn cattle and many more things including custom art and jewelry.
Vickie, in order to give back to the donors graciously offered to advertise our services to patrons of the auction. For instance in my case the bidders bid on the opportunity to have me paint a commission especially for them. Being somewhat of an abstract artist I wondered how my work would be received by a group so seeped in western culture, but I wanted to help.
It's not like I didn't appreciate their world, I think "horsie" was my first word. My daddy was a cowboy and grew up working horses in West Texas, and of course I adored my daddy. My first pictures I ever drew were of his horses with long flowing rainbow manes and tails. I wore my parents down and in junior high I got my first horse and I kept drawing the whole time. Family life took over and my horses and art went by the wayside.
Its been many years since I've attempted to paint that magnificent animal. I knew to remain true to my style I needed to use colors not necessarily related to true coloring. My friend Vicki sent me a candid shot of Jackie her favorite amber eyed brood mare. She caught her grazing in the pasture , unbrushed with hay in her mane- which I loved. Jackie is a broodmare from their award winning Corbett Creek Ranch which is a producer of champion horses. I painted Jackie in Prussian blue and Nickel Azo gold, Benzimidazolone yellow and Quin magenta. The background was a simple abstract in those colors as to not take away from the focal point. What fun! I remembered the muscles, the nooks and crannies, the shine patterns and the familiar proportions. It was all there from the hard to get to parts of my old tired brain!
This painting has renewed my love for the animal and the art surrounding it. I hope whoever commissions my work will be blown away by the emotion that I feel when I relive those younger days.
If you would like to participate in this worthwile auction for Dusty Stanglin you can see all 68 items donated at https://www.32auctions.com/stanglinbenefit. For more information call Vickie Corbitt vb@ccr-ranch.com (580)775-5989. The auction starts Dec 15,2022 - 8:00 am CST.
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Happy Trails,
Mary