Grazing Horses, Nebraska - Colored Pencil

"Grazing Horses, Nebraska" Colored Pencil

“Through art we can change the world.” ~ #twitterartexhibit

It’s a warm summer day in Bridgeport, Nebraska and a pair of horses is grazing peacefully in a prairie paradise. The grasses carpeting this Garden of Eden are a patchwork quilt of verdant colors.

A few cottonwood trees are topped with a full canopy of dense foliage, casting blue shadows that offer some cool relief from the oppressive heat. Hopefully the gathering of bulbous clouds will result in an afternoon rain shower.

Colored pencil is applied over a stipple-textured paper, portraying a fleeting impression of this pastoral scene. Flecks of white paper show through even the darkest passages, creating a pointillistic effect that sparkles with light.

The optimism expressed by this picture is derived from the beauty of the two animals on display. An Appaloosa and a Red Dunn Quarterhorse, they reveal a perfect harmony that can only be found when immersed in nature.

During this digital age, the world has become much smaller. People can connect internationally with a single touch of the keypad. There seems to be an insane lust for speed, technology and profit.

Despite the demands of a modern lifestyle, we must continue to search for a healthy balance between the artificial and the organic. Working with an animal naturally can therapeutically restore your sanity because it requires patience, trust and sympathy.

Grazing Horses, Nebraska is my contribution to the upcoming Twitter Art Exhibit: Canberra, Australia. This unique event is an international exhibition of original postcard art benefiting Pegasus Riding for the Disabled of the ACT Inc.       

Pegasus Riding for the Disabled of the ACT Inc. provides horse facilitated therapy programs and activities for people living with a disability. Their vision is a world that sees the ability in people with a disability and they are the only Riding for the Disabled Centre in the Canberra region.

Pegasus ACT provides over 2000 sessions a year to more than 100 people living with a disability. They provide mounted (riding) and unmounted programs, Hippotherapy (physiotherapy on horseback), school holiday, garden and early intervention goal-based programs – all according to ability and need.

All proceeds from sales will support Pegasus ACT’s horse facilitated therapy programs that are developed in collaboration with qualified coaches, therapists and families.

Twitter Art Exhibit: Canberra, Australia is the eighth installment of this open international exhibition of handmade postcard art for charity, donated by artists from around the world.

Social media plays a major role in the Twitter Art Exhibit. It is their intention to tweet, share and promote contributing artists to thank them for their participation, and to make this event a success for all involved.

The event will be highly publicized and well attended by art buyers and enthusiasts, members of the press, local artists and the TAE community.

For more information, please check out this link: #twitterartexhibit