The Dallas Divide

The Dallas Divide (which is in Colorado, not Texas) is the title and subject of my latest painting. It features Mt. Sneffels and the Sneffels Range of the San Juan mountains and seems to be my favorite mountains to paint.

The Dallas Divide           11" x 14" / 28cm x 36cm

It's fall, and the cottonwoods have put on a coat of bright yellow leaves as a woman rides her horse in the morning light.

The Dallas Divide is the name of an area that includes this scene (actually, it overlooks part of Ralph Lauren's Double RL Ranch). Behind where you would be standing is the Dallas Creek, and a smaller wash runs in front of you which -- according to the maps -- is called the Dallas ditch. Typical of areas that receive extra water, the ditch is lined with trees and shrubs.

Autumn in Colorado was always my favorite time of year -- the weather tends to be pleasant, and the colors are phenomenal. In addition, the jagged, sawtooth peaks of the San Juans are what I love to see in mountains.

Fall is yet a ways off, as is the heavy snow fall that is bound to come. For now, I'll simply enjoy the peace and beauty of this special place.

Mark Junge
www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.MarkJunge.com

The Lady and the Horses

My latest painting, Jan with Candy and Mango, is a commission that features a long-time friend and two of her equine pals -- a pony named Candy, and Mango the half-Arabian horse.

The horse owner Jan is dressed in 1930s-era attire and is posing with one each of her ponies and horses. I saw a picture she had taken, and it already had a dreamy look to it. So I wanted to capture that look, make Jan the star of the painting, and render the horses as accurately as possible. I "zoomed-in" on the original image, giving the subjects what photographers call a "telephoto perspective." So we don't see the normal foreshortening of the lady's or horses' features.

I worked mostly from a rather pixelized digital photo, but I was able to supplement that image with additional pictures I was able to obtain. Some items I had to do a little educated guesswork -- thankfully, I had additional pictures of all three critters☺, and I've been around horses enough in the past so I remembered sufficient detail about horsie anatomy and tack.

Best of all, the horse owner has seen MY digital images of the finished painting, and SHE seems pretty pleased with the result! I'm in the process of varnishing the piece now, and I expect to be able to deliver it to Jan next week.

Art and Horses

This weekend The Wiffee and I went to the Los Angeles County Fair , a fair that is larger than most state fairs and certainly larger than most/all county fairs. One can see and do all kinds of things there, but my personal favorites are the art show (no duh!!!) and the draft horse show.

This year, the two shows had something in common -- the art show featured artwork about horses! So besides spending hours watching those big boys and girls trotting their stuff around the ring, we saw many examples of horses depicted in various art forms. (I guess I'll have to do some paintings of horses some day).

The photo on the left shows a horse that is not a draft horse but happens to be in my favorite coloring -- a paint horse (appropriate for a painter like me!) The other picture appeared in the art show and is a reproduction of horses from cave paintings in Lascaux, France.

Art and horses -- the best of this world!