Australian Horses Series no. 2: Colonial Arabian

I did mean to write this post a little earlier, but was interrupted by the arrival of our beautiful little boy, Will. He decided to give us a scare and stayed in the hospital in intensive care for a week, but is now very well. My first question for the physio - how long can you ride after an episiotomy?  They looked a bit surprised that I would even be daydreaming about something so uncomfortable ...

‘Colonial Arabian’ describes those Arabians (mostly Crabbet bloodlines) sent to the colonies. Some of these bloodlines are still bred today. The Australian colonial Arabian is very tough and well-suited to endurance. They should have good solid bone and their beauty is on the elegant and tough side rather than the hyper-pretty (in my opinion!). To use an Americanism, they are very far from being all hat and no cattle. The first Arabians arrived in Australia very early, along with the first European settlers and are beautifully suited to the hot Australian conditions and our love of riding out in the bush. I always love to be handed the reins of an Arabian type on a long trail ride – you are pretty much guaranteed a smooth, responsive, untiring ride, and they might like to go googly-eyed at things from time to time – but that just adds to the spirit!

I always loved seeing photos of the stallion Fenwick Phantom as a teenager and he’s what I picture when I think of an Australian Arabian type. Check out those clean, powerful legs!

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Australian-Colonial-Arabian-Horse-and-Endurance-Riding&id=2078251

sketch book: Arabian foal

Arabian foal - pencil sketch

arabian head study in ink

An ink painting of an Arabian horse. Art Spectrum Ink on watercolour paper. Through my detailed drawing practice I have improved my quick and gestural paintings. I love using rich, dark ink.

chestnut arabian - oil sketch

A sketch of an Arabian horse on Colourfix paper.

byerley turk II

work in progress - rearing horse II

See Feb 25 post for the first phase. I have began working in more light/shade contrast and adding some detail. I like to put the eye in at an early phase, because then I really feel that the image has began to develop its own presence - its own spirit!

arabian horse pencil study

imagination

I remember thinking, when I was thirteen, that I wanted to stay the same age forever. I was aware that the ability to dream and imagine seemed to become more elusive the older I got. I was not willing to give up these imaginary worlds that were as rich as the everyday one. As Ursula Le Guin puts it, rather starkly, 'The creative adult is the child who has survived.'

courage

Recently my husband blogged on courage - inspired by Jelena Dokic’s return to tennis after the break-up of her family and a battle with depression. I never really thought much about every day courage, but it’s something I’ve begun to relate to both in my horse riding and my drawings (I am often feeling the need of it!).

One of the great gifts that horses give people (especially women, who may not otherwise be supported in this area) is the opportunity to build courage. From a beginner taking their first canter to the Olympian rider flying over a 1.60 metre jump, horse riding requires bravery with each new step. As with many things, we soon find that the act we feared is not so alarming after all!

Courage is something all horse riders are familiar with – perhaps because we often feel that we are lacking it. It seems that riders often focus on being afraid of something, but don’t stop to really congratulate ourselves when we go ahead and do it anyway. Of course this is true for non-riders too! It’s something that I’ve started thinking about more carefully when I ride.

After thinking about physical courage, it may be surprising to consider courage in the context of art. Art, as an expression of your deepest beliefs and feelings, requires vulnerability. It seems like those who open themselves to physical risk, are not always comfortable being vulnerable to the psychological risks of creative expression. This can be a really alarming thing. How many people have artworks that they destroy for fear of other’s judgment, or novels hidden in draws that are never shared?

A friend recently spoke about the challenge of teaching young musicians to improvise. Exposing yourself creatively is scary at first but – like a first canter on a horse – it often turns out far better than you expect (exhilirating actually!).

Courage begins with small steps. Here is a list of three small acts of courage I have achieved in my artwork that may not seem at all significant to others, but are certainly significant to me!

1.Using deep blues rather than blacks (a matter of choice. I used to really get into the black, but now I rarely use it at all in my coloured paintings)
2. Attending life-drawing sessions surrounded by professional (and often opinionated) artists.
3. Regularly sharing my work with others.

One of the benefits of living with a life coach, is being reminded that on the other side of fear is courage!

I’d love to hear what others think about physical and artistic courage. Please take a moment to leave your thoughts.

James’ post is at:

http://beyondthecall.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/courage/

dreaming

Today we're all dreaming of a hopeful future.

Inspiration from film

A lot of inspiration for my drawing has come from film - especially films seen in childhood. The Black Stallion (MGM) was definitely one of those films and I'm sure many people have wonderful memories of seeing Cass Ole (the black Arabian stallion) galloping across the screen, with Alec apparently hanging on for dear life. As well as sending the Arabian breeding industry into overdrive, and rocketing Walter Farley (the author of the book) to fame, the image of the boy playing on the beach with the Black really entered into many people's dreams. The beach scenes expressed something about the relationship people have with horses that is very hard to put into words. Something that seemed to diminish after Alec and the Black return to civilisation.

I watched this film again recently and was blown away by the absolutely beautiful cinematography of Caleb Deschanel. Although there have been many beautiful images of horses in film since (Seabiscuit, Legend, Hidalgo, LOTR to name some that come to mind), this is really the original horse film for me and will continue to inspire me for many years to come!

Watch the trailer at the MGM site for a trip down memory lane ...

Arab horse in ink

Arabian horse in ink. This was a reasonably quick sketch (due to how quickly the ink was drying). I wanted to get that floating feeling across, that is so typical of the way Arab horses move. Also the way they can appear to be gazing serenely into the distance while thundering over the ground!