Grey and pink with wings

We are making progress!  Julia has been quite busy and is almost done with her second horse, and I just finished the first of my horses.  It has been lovely to see the carousel in motion while we are painting, and to see the bright new horses in place and being enjoyed.  Currently we are painting at random times at the maintenance building at Stewart Park, and have met a lot of nice people who walk by wondering what we are up to.

I'm feeling very pleased with the horse I just finished yesterday on a gorgeous Ithaca summer day.  Here she is before, with Annie's painting, a very pretty dapple grey with a very decorative saddle:

As I mentioned in my last post, we heard that this horse was a particular favorite of a little girl fighting cancer, and the request was to keep it a dapple grey.  So I did some research and observation of grey horses last weekend, and learned how their colors fade from light dappling on the top down to darker legs.  I chose a white mane, and a young girl I know said that a pink saddle would be appropriate for honoring those who are fighting cancer.  Then I thought about wings!  WINGS!  Ya know, like Pegasus but also like hope being the thing with feathers.  So here she is, completed:

I am really enjoying working on the faces.  It seems that the horses are all designed to look a little frantic, like they are galloping along at their fastest while the kiddos saw on the reins.  I'm trying very hard to give them realistic eyes and as pleasant an expression as possible.

I'm becoming more familiar with the paints, exterior latex enamel is definitely NOT fine art paint but it mixes well.  Some colors cover better than other.  It's really hard to get around the inside of the horses' legs.  And in case you were curious, they are all mares.

We are arranging some other places for painting, and will keep you updated as we start to bring the horses out to play around the Commons and elsewhere!

-Christi