Wings of the Morning
A lifelong love of horses and seeing hoof prints along the beaches of the Delaware Coast inspired this pastel
40" x 30" pastel on ragboard, 750 s/n offset lithographs
and open stock gicle'es by Ellen Rice
Original $4,600, sold.
and open stock gicle'es by Ellen Rice
Original $4,600, sold.
Wings of the Morning
by Ellen Rice
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The O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.... |
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The first animal I ever drew was a horse, drawn on a chalkboard using my mother's book, How to draw horses by Walter T. Foster as reference.
It made the experience fairly easy, ovals for belly, ovals around the jaw, ovals in the haunches. As i copied the ovals, though, I started seeing the muscles in the finished drawings and it seemed to come naturally to not just replicate ovals, but the shapes of muscles and bone structure, defined by shadows and light. Perhaps it was all those Lone Ranger tv shows I'd watched that made it come so easily, that and my love for horses. My stepfather came in the bedroom that my sisters and I shared and saw what I was doing on the chalkboard and left to bring my my mother back. It was the first and only time I ever heard him praise me during my childhood. "Look what Ellen has done," he told her. "She has talent." When you are in a mentally abusive environment, genuine, spontaneous complements like that from someone who has mostly treated you with scorn have an impact. It's sixty years later and I can still see the moment as clear as a bell. I think I worked a little harder at everything I endeavored with art from that time forward. So, out of a negative, came a positive, one that gave birth to a career. This particular painting was born out of a desire to paint an expression of freedom. Why a white horse splashing through the surf? I'd seen hoof prints on the beach in a recent hunt for shipwreck artifacts and wondered what the horse who made them looked like. (Until recent years and crowded beaches, people were allowed to take their horses on the beach in Delaware.) So I got out my pastels, taped the largest sheet of ragboard I had to the kitchen wall in the tiny house i was living in during my divorce, and I began painting. It went quickly, the white steed emerging bit by bit, unfearful, charging forward, living in the moment, just as I was having to do. The response to the painting when I showed it was larger than I'd imagined, encouraging me to continue my artistic endeavors. It was the beginning of the time period where I went from being a part time artist to a full time one. I don't think it's the artistic expertise so much as the positive thoughts and feelings that went into Wings of the Morning that still moves people today, more than a decade later. The next time you have the opportunity to pay a small complement, take it, please. You never know the impact that your words may have over time. Ellen |
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