Charlie

Meet "Charlie"....As we have been living in a Covid19 world, with limited access to parks and trails, I took the opportunity to park along the lake in Lowbanks and walk along Lakeshore Drive. Along that drive is a beautiful horse, who I have lovingly called "Charlie."  He is an extremely friendly horse that comes running up to you if you stop to have a visit...he is behind an electric fence, so he doesn't get too close to you (a proper 6 feet), but will gently encourage you to come to the gate so he can visit with you...the sign on the fence says, do not feed the horse, so I just walk slowly by, yearning to take some time to give some attention to this absolutely beautiful animal. 

The painting is done with soft pastel on velour board. It is from a reference photo I took on my walk. The green on the outside of the painting is painters tape, that I will remove when I frame it...the painters tape gives the painting a crisp edge. I had fun squinting my eyes to pick out some background colours for the mane and started painting rather flamboyantly, enjoying a relaxing painting, without any stress about the end result.  Once I had some base colours down, I worked on his eye, giving life to the painting, which helps me finish the painting, feeling the love and admiration I have for the animal that I felt when I initially walked by him.  Periodically, I still do that walk, just so I can have a walk-by "visit" with "Charlie."