Donate to our project!

You can support our work on the Stewart Park Carousel by donating at the Friends of Stewart Park website

Thursday, December 11, 2014

The history of Heavenly Blue

I wanted to tell you the story of the second horse from November.  When we cleaned this one up, I felt a real affinity for her, something about her arched neck was very strong and appealing.  She's from the outer circle, and I always want to do an extra-fine job on those horses.

A while ago I posted a photo taken by local photographer Polly Joan, of one of the carousel horses as they looked a long time ago, before Annie painted them in the '80s.  Here's another look at that image:
This is one of the same horse models, and I noticed the morning glories on the breastplate.  As the rest of Stewart Park is also going through a big renovation project, with an emphasis on the park's history, this seemed like a good opportunity to play with honoring the history of the carousel as well. 

So let me introduce you to Heavenly Blue.
She's not quite done yet, so I will post more photos later after that happens.

I also took this really cool photo when I started painting, showing the old paint (on the left) and the new (on the right):
-Christi

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Samurai!

Let me introduce you to the 13th horse: the samurai warrior's mighty steed!



I had some fun researching Japanese motifs and crests.  So she has a classic gold and red lacquer color scheme, a chrysanthemum on the saddle, fish scale (I love fish scales!) and a wood sorrel circular crest.  I love the red against her black coat, rather bold and spirited, don't you think?

This horse is from the middle rank of the carousel, and was also originally black. 

-Christi

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

November's horses - catching up

During the month of November, I was able to paint in the Downtown Visitors' Center on the Ithaca Commons.  The space is shared with the Community Arts Partnership, and I'm very grateful to both the Visitors' Bureau and CAP for allowing our project to use the space.

The wonderful maintenance staff brought two horses to the Commons at the beginning of January, and I set up camp with a dropcloth and all the paints.  You can see the brushes have seen a lot of use.  Some of the most recent cash donations will definitely go to a new set of brushes, as these paints are pretty harsh on the bristles.

Here they are before painting.  I will make an entry for each of these ladies in the next few days, so you can see their new look.

The holiday season is exceptionally busy in the rest of my business (I make notecards and other paper products from my artwork, and have many fairs and markets and orders, and this year I also have a solo show happening too, and a series of freelance clients), and so the horse-painting has slowed a little while I survive the season and Julia gets through finals.  We are anticipating painting again in the lobby of the Tompkins Trust Company later in December and January, while Julia is back home from school.  Meanwhile, there will be a little break until the big holidays are behind us!

Speaking of the holidays, the T-shirts are currently for sale at the Cat's Pajamas, in the Dewitt Mall in downtown Ithaca!  These are a great gift, and all the proceeds go to our project.

-Christi

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Prep work

Since the carousel has been taken down for the season, the horses are all tucked into their winter crates.  The newly painted ones are in their usual storage shed waiting for the spring.  The horses who still need work are all in the maintenance building waiting their turn.
Here's the Pony Express and Fairy Princess horses, before crating.

Julia was home for a few days (see her post below to meet the horse she painted!), and we spent a little time prepping some of the horses for painting.  All of them need to be sanded to remove any flaking paint and smooth rough edges, washed off, and primed.  Since we didn't have a lot of time that morning, we didn't bother asking the guys to take them out of their crates for priming, but it was great to get some of the sanding and washing done while the weather was still OK to hose them off outside.  Definitely not the most glamorous part of this project, it's a dusty and greasy job, but it needs to be done.
Looks like they are at the starting gate!
Insert Darth Vader breathing noises.
 A few of the horses are going to require some more extensive repair, where the aluminum has really chipped and pitted.  We're probably going to use something like Bondo, and I for one am excited to give that a try.

Look for us during the month of November at the CAP Artspace on the Ithaca Commons!  We will be moving two horses in the front room by the windows, and I will work on them a few days a week.

Word is that our fundraising is going well, keeping pace with the painting.  Many thanks to everyone who has donated to make this possible.  Speaking of fundraising, we will soon have T-shirts available for sale/donation, and will be sure to let you know as soon as those arrive.  Many, many thanks to PSP Unlimited for printing our shirts!

-Christi

Sunday, October 19, 2014

The Circus Horse

Our 12th horse! Home for a weekend, I got to paint! If anything could cure a case of missing Ithaca, it was the perfect fall day by the lake this Friday, and a horse that needed some new colors. My before picture came out a little bright, but the horse was a black and white spotted horse to begin with. I turned her into a pinto circus horse, inspired by the stripes on the awning of the carousel. You could say this horse is a small tribute to the carousel itself. Here she is, nestled cozily in the workshop after the weather turned a little colder.    -Julia





Saturday, October 18, 2014

She's wearing a tiara!

So we've been a little quiet for the last few weeks, as I've been very busy attending to the rest of my freelance business...but I'm happy to introduce you to the latest of our horses! 



I'm calling this the Fairy Princess pony, a straightforward and unabashedly feminine tribute to pink and lavender and tiaras and sparkly things.  And of course she's a sweet palomino, since all the cool fairy princesses ride palominos.  I have four nieces, and they all went through a phase when everything in their chiffon-and-satin wardrobe was in this color range, they absolutely lived for sequins and sparkles, and their career goal was to be either a princess or a fairy... but preferably both.  The two young girls in my life have both started to reject the idea of pink, but truly love sparkles and still adamantly claim they have seen fairies in the woods behind our house.  This horse is dedicated to the tiny girls who are princesses of their worlds, and can still pull off wearing a tutu and wings to the grocery store.

I had the pleasure of painting this horse in the window at Handwork, our local artisan cooperative right in the center of Ithaca, for the first two weeks in October.  This was a great spot on Martin Luther King Jr St. (State St.), with wonderful light and many kind and interested passersby.  Many thanks for Handwork for hosting us for this project!

-Christi

Thursday, October 2, 2014

At Handwork this week

Just a quick update: I wanted to let you know that I'm painting the next horse in the window at Handwork in downtown Ithaca.  Stop by the window on Martin Luther King Jr St and watch the Fairy Princess horse come to life.  She's a pretty palomino, and I'm indulging in all of the classic little girl favorite colors, pink, purple and lavender with tiaras and sparkles.  One of my friends told me that when she was little, she always looked for the girliest horse on the carousel to ride, and they were hard to find.  More photos to follow in the early part of next week.
-Christi

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Sleeping under the stars with the Pony Express

I'm happy to say that we are one third of the way through painting the horses!  I'm also happy to report that the fundraising is almost keeping pace with our painting progress.  Many thanks to the many kind people who have donated to our work so far!  If you feel led to contribute, you can do so here.

Our tenth horse is one of the two horses who have historically had names on their saddles.  You saw the Wells-Fargo horse a few entries ago, and this little beauty has been the Pony Express pony through her last few painted incarnations.  Here she is before her facelift:
So when I think about the Pony Express, I have a pretty romantic notion of brave riders and strong ponies dashing across the plains, camping out under the stars in the wild prairies, dodging storms and skirting mountains.  So of course she had to be a pinto pony, definitely what comes to my mind when I think about the early American plains.  (I'm hoping this pony can hang out near the Native American war horse, they'd have a lot to talk about.)  I also really wanted to give this horse a quilt for a saddle blanket, for a couple of reasons.  My mom is a quilter, and I grew up steeped in the lore of the traditional American quilt, pieced together by brave pioneer women using the fabric scraps and worn-out clothes they had to keep their families warm.  And not just a practical boring-but-serviceable blanket, but a beautiful patterned expressive quilt.  I can imagine that a Pony Express mail carrier might take a quilt with him on his trips, made with love by someone at home.  So this horse is dedicated to my mom the quilter, who sent me with a handmade quilt and a lot of love when I went out into the world.

Here she is:


I never really took to the sewing machine like the rest of the women in my family, so this might be the only quilt I will get to design.

Here's two bonus photos of me working on this horse down at lovely Stewart Park on one of those fine mid-September days that make Ithaca so delightful.  Thanks to Rick Manning from the Friends of Stewart Park for these photos!

-Christi

Friday, September 12, 2014

Pretty as a Peacock

Another horse is DONE!  Julia started this one from the outside circle of the carousel before she headed out to school, and I finished up the saddle and decorations.  She's a peacock (well, a peaHEN technically).
 Here's a detail, with the top of the carousel in the background.
 It's really hard to get good photos of the horses' faces, they always look really freaked out with their open mouths from this angle.  But they really have a better and more friendly personality than this.
The inside.
The outside.
 Detailed look at the feathers.  I used royal blue to represent peacock heads and necks, then the saddle is based on the transitional feathers between the birds' back and tail. 

-Christi

On the radio!

I was fortunate enough to get an interview on WHCU with Lee Rayburn this past week.  It's archived at
http://whcuradio.com/morning-newswatch/audio-help-repaint-the-carousel/

I think I only said "ummmm" a couple of times.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Pony Express, part 1

I took a week off there, for a well-deserved camping vacation, but am now, ahem, back in the saddle.  I'm back working at the maintenance building at Stewart Park during these last few weeks of nice summery weather.  I will sorely miss Julia this fall!

This past week I started on the TENTH HORSE!  We are 1/3 of the way there already!  This particular horse has been the "Pony Express" horse since before Annie painted it.  We decided to keep this one and the Well Fargo horse as part of the history that is constantly being layered onto this public piece of art.  Here's a photo before:


"Pony Express" to me implies dashing over the plains, with a generous splash of the pioneer spirit.  To that end, she will become a pinto pony (that's what those "cow spot" horses are called, but I hope mine will look realistically equine rather than bovine) with a quilt for a saddle blanket.  I'm imagining what the pony express rider would have taken with him to keep warm as they ran across the country.

Sadly I don't have a good photo of my progress to show you, because during the afternoon I stopped painting to (drum roll) be interviewed for Time Warner cable news!  And then it was about to rain so we scooted the horses and paint cans all back inside, and I totally forgot to take photos.  This has been a big few weeks of great media coverage and curiosity, and it was rather a thrill to be talking about our humble project on TV.  Also a little nervous-making, my introverted self would rather be quietly painting than be all over the media, but I think I did alright.  If you are a T-W subscriber, you can find the interview on their website.

I want to also thank my Farmers' Market community for their generous contributions in the last few weeks!  The public support for these horses has been amazing.

Also, we have a Facebook page now!  Like us at facebook.com/stewartparkcarousel for quick and easy updates.

-Christi

Monday, September 1, 2014

Goodbye...But Only For a While

I have left Ithaca and returned to Baltimore for school. Class begins Tuesday, and I'm very, very excited. However, leaving the carousel painting project was a hard goodbye. I've been having so much fun with this project. Painting's been a dream come true, and the love and support coming from so many Ithacans has me wishing for a couple more weeks in town. I want to say THANK YOU to anyone who has donated...you are supporting me as an artist, which has me so unbelievably inspired, and ready to head into a new year of school. I won't be too far away, and I will stay very involved in the project. I will be back in December for over a month, and I plan to continue painting then. In the meantime, have a great fall, and I'll see you all soon! With love, Julia

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Clear vision, speed, and a safe return

I have so many ideas for horses.  I am really trying to make each horse have a distinct personality and theme, since I know that the kids riding the carousel will have their favorites and use their imagination to tell a story as they ride.  Who doesn't love dreaming about thundering across the plains, bow and arrow at the ready, on your smart and trusted steed?  I really wanted to create a Native American painted war horse, so I started with making her a realistic Appaloosa, dark brown with those distinctive white and brown spots on the rump.  Then a leather saddle and patterned blankets in Southwest colors, added some eagle feathers, and then I did some research on symbolism and traditions in horse painting. 

Here's the code:
-the circle around the eye is for sharp and clear vision
-the lightning on the legs is for speed (and also an arrow, which means it will go poorly for your rivals)
-the left handprint on the hip is a mark reserved for horses that have brought their rider safely back from a dangerous mission...this is also my handprint, and happens to be the way I sign large paintings!

Once she's back on the carousel in natural light, I'd love to get a better photo.  As Julia said, working at Sarah's Patisserie these last few weeks has been a pleasure.  Thanks Tammy!

I wanted to include a photo of this horse before painting.  As part of the outside circle, you can see how much the colors have faded and worn.  She was originally cream-colored, but the years had turned her slightly green.  I really love bringing them back to colorful life and can't wait to see the whole carousel bright and shining.
-Christi

Friday, August 22, 2014

Dragonflies and Sparkly Eyes





I finished this little guy today...I'm pretty happy with the colors and patterns...and I'm especially happy about the eyes and face on this one! More painting next week.     -Julia

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Painting and Chocolate: My Favorite Things


Painting at Sarah's has been so much fun! The girls who work there (Allie, Kiera and Francisca) are the sweetest, as is Tammy the owner. There is a constant stream of curious people who are very excited to see and hear what we're doing, as well as delicious treats for when the artists need some chocolate and a cup of tea. We've been kept dry and cozy in the patisserie this week, happily painting out of the rain. We'll be there through the weekend at least I believe, so feel free to stop by and say hello!          

Rick Manning, from Friends of Stewart Park, got a nice picture of Christi and I painting together yesterday.
Thanks for the picture Rick!
-Julia 


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

2 more!

The past two or three weeks have been absolutely crazy for me, so painting has been an hour here hour there. But! I did manage to finish two horses, one down at the park and one at the Patisserie. Both places are so pleasant to paint. Maybe painting anywhere is pleasant to me. Anyway, here is Wells Fargo, one of the two named horses on the carousel, and the other medium sized horse. Apologies for pictures taken through the fence-I'll get some better ones-but in the meantime, you might have to head to the park and check them out!       -Julia






Meet Jungle Jane

It has been a blast painting the horses at Sarah's Patisserie.  People walk by and wave all the time, stop in and chat with us too, and then there are these cases of pastries which have wreaked havoc on my resolve to keep to a gluten-and-sugar-free diet.

I wanted to share some photos with you all about my last horse.  While I kind of want to call all of these horses "Trixie" for some reason (I think it's the look in their eyes), this one is definitely more of a Jungle Jane.  Both Julia and I have been talking a lot about trying to mix good horse-y brown colors, and I think this is pretty close.  And then I kind of went a little nuts mixing animal prints.  She has a leopard saddle blanket and a zebra saddle, ready for the safari or to prance around at the circus!  You can see Julia's white horse here too, who is very colorful and happy.
 I mean, look at the look on her face, doesn't she look like a Trixie?
 That's my Theobroma cacao mural in the background.  And loads of amazing truffles on the counter.
We have some good news on the fundraising front: we are almost 1/3 of the way to our goal!  Please keep those donations coming if you feel led to do so, it's easy on the Friends of Stewart Park website.  Every little bit helps.  We will continue painting at Sarah's this week, please stop in and say hello.

-Christi