Karen Keene Day

Spring Creek Wild Horse, Disappointment Valley, CO. 12" x 12", Sold

Wild horses  peeking  out from behind bushes, though still visible, feel safer.  They make me laugh when they do this.  I always wanted to share this humor, being sure to keep the energy of this wild horse  intact.  I used an open weave of Japanese rice paper, dipping it in light green acrylic paint to signify bushes.   The gold leaf is for how precious wild horses are to our nation’s history. The map is from Disappointment Valley, where this horse survives.

Moments With Wild Horses 81 8x8 inches Dec.2010

A closeup of Duke, a magnificent wild stallion in Disappointment Valley,Spring Creek Basin. This herd is located in the desert between Norwood and Dove Creek,Colorado. He is an older stallion, living with horses whose families were broken up by the 2007 Roundup by the US gov’t/BLM(Bureau of Land Management). He seems to be the wise one and stands in front of the bachelor stallions to look at the unknown intruder. He acted as a protector of the “teen guys” when I last saw him in Sept.2010.  Last year I saw him with a mare and foal, whom he had lost, regained, and is now without again. It is important that wild horses find members to stay with when they lose their families. They need protection and companionship. Wild horses are herd animals.

In august of 2010 I saw this Spring Creek wild horse in Disappointment Valley. After this trip I could not get into the Herd Management Area (HMA) again until september due to flash floods in the arollos which made the dirt roads impassable. The good news was that the horses had more water from the heavens above.

Duke, Public Painting Session, Charleston Dec. 4

This past Saturday I was invited to paint at the Michael Mitchell Interiors Gallery at 438 King St., Charleston, S.C.. The gallery is large and well lit, filled with beautiful art from different artists. The doors were open so the public could come in and watch my painting of Duke evolve.

Duke is a wild stallion I have seen many times in Disappointment Valley, located between Norwood and Dove Creek (about 1 1/2 hrs. from Telluride,CO. He is a beautiful glistening dark horse, and his family is a herd of horses comprised of different family units. They are remnants of other bands rounded up in 2007 by the US GOv’t (BLM) ,  that have come together for protection and comfort. Horses are herd animals. They have strong family units, and rounding them up destroys the family units.

As for the painting, it is and has been for over twelve years now, my passion to paint these magnificent , beautiful, and majestic creatures of God,  who can teach us so much about ourselves and family bonds,  unity, friendship and protection of loved ones. They move me to paint them to hope that you, in turn, will want to help protect them and let your government elected officials know so.

I set up plastic tarps, my easel and paints in the gallery by the door so people would come in freely to look. It was great fun to talk with them about the wild horses, and about the painting I was working on.

I started with a 48 x 72 inch canvas and applied gesso with a large old bristle paint brush. Wet into wet, I applied pale blue over the gesso all over the canvas for a sky and base color. It’s peaceful under the energetic lines of the horse to come. Next I applied with a long palette knife, a mixture of corals and soft gel gloss across the top, about a foot down . It represents the ridges and rock canyons in the desert of Disappointment Valley where this particular band of the Spring Creek Wild Horses live in freedom,though fenced into 22,000 acres.

Then next I dipped my brush into the gallon of pale yello and soft gel I had mixed, into a gallon of water and pressed it against the canvas from left to right to form pools that ran down the canvas in long dripping lines. These represent the desert grasses they eat.

I took a little break in between to let the paint settle a bit, but it was still wet as each coat was applied. Ofen I will work dry layer on toop of dry layer, but creating a painting in one day requires working wet into wet. I rather like that. More mistakes happen and give me opportunities to create interesting subtle images behind the horse.

Next a deep crimson, mixed into soft gel gloss again into a gallon, was the color I used for Duke. I egan the ‘dance’ with the horse, following the memory of the horse’s spirt, referring ocassionally to  a large simple line sketch in warm red-brown, with a brush ink pen. The big bold red lines are that, but simple, yet in their simplicity , it is difficult to use few lines to express his movement. each line, each angle, each turn of the palette knife, leads the line this way and that with my hand turning here and there, until I am satisfied that Duke is at last here! In the final time I applied golf leaf with the palette knife, loosely, on his jaw to create a play in light. At the bottom right corner is a wood block I carved with the words “Disappointment Valley”, under which I sign and date it. I run the brayer in the same crimson , used to bring Duke to life. There is always more that can be done to increase image on a canvas, but sometimes, the less said , the more powerful a painting is.

The story of Duke is that last year, my friend and documentor of these wild horses of Spring Creek Basin, TJ Holmes, and I werre hiking out there to look for the horses. We heard a horse calling, and hiked to find it was Duke looking for his mare and foal. They were gone. We looked for quite a while too, hiking up higher to try to get an overview of the desert Herd Management Area (HMA). Finally, we continued on our way to other parts of the HMA, leaving Duke behind calling and calling for his family. It was heartbreaking. We did not know what had happened t them. But it is the wild, and the horses have to find their way themselves.

Later that day, as we were leaving, we turned to take one last look and way off in the distance we saw Duke. He had found his mare and foal and they were together grazing in dusk’s light. What a happy reunion. I ws so thankful for them. (The following photo is of Duke that I took this summer 2010 Sept.).

Moments with Wild Horses 56

This gallery shows several works that were created during our summer stay in Ouray, Colorado. During that time I visit the wild horses in Disappointment Valley, where I am able to cautiously view and photograph them in all their wild magnificence.

These paintings are displayed in the lovely Skol Gallery, in downtown Ouray, Colorado. I encourage you to stop by the gallery if you are in town, as owners Jeff and Nicole, and their daughter Ella have a lovely sculpture garden.

SKOL STUDIO & DESIGN
P.O.Box 105 Ouray, CO 81427
www.skolstudio.com
jeff@skolstudio.com
970.325.7290

This summer Karen spent with her family in Colorado. Between family and painting time, she visited the wild horses in the nearby deserts as often as possible. This post shows some of the paintings and photos that resulted from that trip.

This painting, “Eyes of Disappointment Valley II”, is in the Skol Gallery in Ouray, Colorado. I am headed to Ouray soon and  plan to visit the wild horses of Disappointment Valley at my first opportunity. It is something I look forward to every summer.