
Why did I paint this scened of two horses in the fading sunset outside Lewistown Montana? I found out a year later and went back and the field was subdivided into housing tracts and the horses were gone. Though I didn't know it at the time, I painted it because had I not the memory would be forever lost.
This was painted with a limited palette on Arches 140# watercolor paper. I used masking fluid over my first wash of light yellow ochre to save the bright dusk reflecting off the horse, and for the tall grass on the horizon.
There is something calming and pleasant to me about an open field and the tall grass, an ocean of waves undulating in the brisk wind. The sun was fading fast, which made for a beautiful bright backlight, and the horses ambling towards me were a stark contrast agaist the darkening skies.
No matter how many houses end up in this field, this is how I choose to remember it. And this, I know now, is why I painted this one.
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