War Horse - Mars
51.5" x 34.5" Watercolor, Ink, Gouache, Acrylic and Graphite - May 21, 2021 to September 30, 2022
- I have a collection of images I find exciting or inspiring with several images of rearing horses carrying warriors into battle (one is a Disney magazine spread with Beckham as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty with the Disney castle in the background). If you don’t know about my life-long love of Disney - well - it runs very deep. We lived in Los Angeles when I was a kid.
- This is a Sorraia Horse, critically endangered and a rare ancient breed. I am so interested in these small populations that have ancient origins. They are like a living island. I might focus a body of work on this topic in the future. Sorraia horses are from the Iberian peninsula, Portugal, the Sorraia River Basin. They have primitive features (convex profile, and a black dorsal stripe, a dark muzzle and horizontal stripes on the legs. They have a bi-colored mane and tail that has black and buff colors streaked through. They are gorgeous.
- There is a wolf in me... fangs pointed for tearing gashes... a red tongue for raw meat... and the hot lapping of blood - I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me and the wilderness will not let it go. Carl Sandberg, Wilderness.
- Wild horses are so impressively wild. We don’t think of them the way we think of wolves - but "Mars" is like a wolf. This horse has teeth for tearing gashes. I can feel the wind winding up the mane and tail - whirling the hair into a frenzy that would drive an animal mad and set them running - so dangerous and so beautiful. A primordial steed.
- A battering ram as a chest plate for battle.
- The creature is an ark, self contained and mobile.
- Scalloped armor - with holes for passengers. Like holes in a giant block wall that birds nest in. I visited a wall like this in Puerto Rico.
- Gashes and scars earned in battle.
- A blanket of woven birds for a saddle with needle beaks that fuss and buzz and never lie still. Don’t ride me.
- He carries and keeps his dead. Skulls and bones - they tag along and rattle out a drum beat. War drums.