Karen Brenner's Horse Paintings Blog

Pennsylvania Pleasantries!
Posted July 2, 2009

As I sort through the 6,400 photos I took last week for my Beautiful Horses of Pennsylvania series, I can't help but get excited! The horses were BEAUTIFUL! And their people were so proud of their horses! I just had too much fun!! This is going to be a great series of paintings!

It was difficult to choose just one photograph from each horse for the painting series, but I've done it! And my local lumber yard, Curry Lumber, has cut the masonite to my specifications. So I'm ready to paint! Well, the first paint job is gessoing all the boards (my least favorite part of the whole project). But it has to be done. Maybe tomorrow....

In the meantime, I'd like to share some of my PA photos with you. Here are some that bring back wonderful memories of our trip. You'll see my sister Sharon in some of them. She lives in Erie, PA, so my husband, Will, coerced her to accompany on the trip instead of him.

The horses found Sharon much more entertaining than my non-horse-enthusiastic-husband! Of course, having learned from previous trips that we sometimes need something to perk up horse ears, we were prepared this trip. In the picture below, is my horse entertainment system --- a yardstick with colorful plastic bags attached and a little, orange toy maraca that rattled. To our surprise many horses assumed there was grain inside the maraca and gave their full attention! These Gypsies are checking out the plastic bags Sharon is holding up.

 

 

The Garmin/MapQuest routes we traveled through southeastern Pennsylvania were absolutely beautiful. We saw dozens of very old stone houses and barns. Some of the farms we visited had their own stone structures!

 

 

This farm-filled valley near Gordonville was one of my favorite places in PA.

 

And of course there were mountains.

 

Many people went to great lengths to get their horses ready for their photos. I love horses in braids, so I was thrilled to get to take photos of three all perfectly braided horses! Here's one! You will see more in the upcoming paintings!

 

Here are some neat things we encountered:

This horse had the most exquisite shade shelter I've ever seen! I had to share a photo of it with you! The steeple is modeled after Churchill Downs.

 

The same horse had a companion that was a bit unique:

 

And we got to see a horse water treadmill - Aquaciser. It was at Kendalwood Farm, where they use it for training, conditioning and rehabilitating horses. Owner Tara Crowley told us that Barbaro almost got to come to the farm to use it. Sadly, his recovery never progressed that far. Visit the farm's website for more information: Kendalwood Farm.

 

 

We saw the most cutest mini ever--Spongebob.....

 

 

And, we got to see many BIG horses in Pennsylvania! The Drafts were wonderful! Big and Beautiful! I can't wait to start painting them! Here are photos of Woody and Dutches as they pose with daylilies! That was another thing I really found lots of in Pennsylvania. It must have been the perfect time of year for roadside daylilies to be in bloom! I love daylilies!

 

 

And speaking of BIG Horses . . . when we walked into the barn to photograph Meadowcreek Jake -- Carolyn and Carol and Adrien had their other horse, Black Jack, in cross ties for us to meet. Sharon and I both wanted to get our photos taken with Black Jack - the biggest horse I've ever met! Here we are:

me

Sharon

 

And this is the blurriest photo I took the whole trip, and it's one of my favorites! You can see from the photos above that the barn stalls are large, but Black Jack's taller!

Black Jack

posted by Karen Brenner

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AAEA Summer Show -
Pulling Their Weight - Draft and Carriage Horses in Fine Art
Posted July 1, 2009

Today is the opening day for the American Academy of Equine Art's summer show on Mackinac Island, "Pulling their Weight - Draft and Carriage Horses in Fine Art." I am delighted to have one of my paintings, "Friesans of Majesty's Alfons and Deiderik," included in the show!

Mackinac Island is the perfect venue for this show -- and the show is the perfect subject for the Michigan island! Talk about a win-win proposition! If you've never been to the island, it is like being transported back in time. There are no motorized vehicles permitted. Transportation is provided by wonderful horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. Lovely homes and businesses grace the quiet streets. The pace of the island is in cadance with the steady clip-clop of a Draft Horse walk - relaxed and slow.

If you are lucky enough to travel to Mackinac Island this month, you'll find the AAEA show on exhibit at the public library. If you cannot make the trip, you can find the show online. Here's a link: See the show online!

posted by Karen Brenner

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