The Rider with Red Shoes

 

 

A while back I got an email from a reader who found my choice of “canvas” interesting, since I paint on animal skin.

“So, you say that you decide what to paint given the shape of the skin, its imperfections and the natural bumps and folds the organic material has. In other words, the rabbit skin dictates the theme of your paintings. Reading your words, I cannot resist thinking about Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Red Shoes” where the red ballet shoes made the young girl dance, even when she wanted to stop.”

I appreciate such feedback and observation, as they identify how different modes of expression and communication find parallel pats, and sometimes do intersect.

… I had a small piece of wild rabbit fur, and looking at it I thought that the deep crease in the middle of the bumpy, dry skin looked like the belly of a horse. So, decided to paint a horse and its rider, since I could not use that piece of fur for any larger work.

I started by placing where the rider would be given the “belly” of the horse and the shape of the fur piece:

 

Then the horse started taking shape

 

It was at that point I recalled the above comment by a reader of my blog, and I smiled. This rider was going to have red riding boots!

 

When I finished painting (mostly acrylic but the red was in oil) and framed the work, I realize that I had not signed on the canvas. That is very rare for me to forget, but it made this simple painting even more special. So, I took a picture of the framed work with a shaded reflection of myself, en guise of signature…

 

July 10, 2024

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2024