Stuff I Drew

Years ago, I really, really liked to draw.  I would see a photo and want to draw it.  By no means do I consider myself an artist because I think artists see objects or things and want to draw them.  I only saw photos and wanted to draw them.  So, I did.  I would literally sit down and draw for hours straight through until the drawing was finished.  I remember one taking five hours.  I don’t remember if any took me any longer.  When I was done, I’d hang it up on the wall and over the course of a few days, I’d tweak the drawing here and there until I thought it was right.

The other reason why I wouldn’t consider myself an artist is because I never used any fancy materials.  I found that I liked to draw on heavier weight paper.  I’d use some card stock I’d get from scraps from the printing company where I worked.  I’d use whatever #2 pencil I had lying around and I had a good eraser, which was given to me by one of the graphic artists (back then, graphic artists did things by hand) at work. 

My favorite drawing

I don’t mind saying, I love that picture.  I really need to frame it at some point.  Unfortunately, when you click on it to see a larger version of it, a lot of the quality is lost.  It looks much grainier than the original and the version above.

Yes, note my signature reflects my maiden name.  I also don’t mind saying I did a damn good job drawing it considering I’ve had no formal training.  I should also add that I got a C in art in college because I refused to draw a clay pot with the mouth of the pot straight, when indeed it was crooked.  The art teacher could not figure out why I wouldn’t do it and didn’t seem to understand that if I added something that wasn’t there, it would put the whole drawing out of whack.  Another reason why one could not call me an artist.

On this horse, I left off three things that were there.  His number on his bridle, his martingale and his flash noseband.  Well, also, I left off the rider’s boot and I made the horse’s mane all lie on one side.  I have no idea why I left those things off.  But I love how I managed to draw the veins in his ears, catch the detail in the stitching on the bridle and the hardware (I did those sort of things with a mechanical pencil — again, real fancy stuff) and I love how I did his mane.  It looks real and soft to me.

Apparently, the horse’s name is Argus (I’ll have to google him now to see what I can find) and he was ridden by Hap Hansen.  I pulled the picture from Horseplay magazine, which is no longer in existence.

Below is the picture I drew it from.

Argus ad

Arkansas

That was Arkansas.  He was a Dutch Warmblood that my idiot first husband (yes, he was and I’m sure still is an idiot — I think I’ve stated that before) bought for something like $21K at the Sporthorse Auction Spotlight Sale that used to (and might still be) held at Chestnut Lawn in VA.  I don’t have the original picture for this one but I can guarantee, this is a 100% likeness to the photo. 

Back in the 80’s, the Germans named a lot of the horses after states in the US.  You’d see these sale catalogs with horses named after every state.  At one point, we also had a client’s horse in the barn, a mare, named Nebraska.  She was cool.

The horse was a stallion when Doofus bought him.  He was a nasty tempered stallion at that.  I did find, however, while the stallion was nasty to Doofus, he was never nasty to me.  In fact, the horse flirted with me often and hugged me with his neck when I’d pass underneath him to get from side to side. 

When Doofus ran off to Florida to do some riding, he asked me to ride the horse while he was gone.  Of course, I drove the absurd drive from Dumfries, VA to Poolesville, MD several times a week to help out the one I loved (this sort of effort was never reciprocated) and get the horse ridden.  I was pretty scared of the horse having seen him reach back and bite at Doofus a few times and rear with him.  But, none of that went on when I rode him.  Looking back, what a good horse he was for biting Doofus.

Anyway, eventually, the horse was gelded and he sold him at a loss — I want to say it was something like $17K.  That’s how Doofus did biz.  Always in the red.  One day, a few years after I’d left Doofus, I was watching a grand prix on TV.  Maybe it was the Duke Classic?  Can’t recall.  Seems odd that would even be televised.  But I knew the young man that bought the horse had changed his name.  As soon as I saw the horse and the new name announced, I knew it was him.  Now, I can’t recall the name but I’d imagine ol’ Arkie is no longer with us.  I hope he had a good life.