On A Pale Horse

In the summer of 1982, because of a serious ‘dysfunctional family moment’, my mom decided to send me to summer camp rather then drop me off at G&G B’s house. At the time I thought it was the absolute worst thing a parent could have done to a child, how dare they dump me off in the middle of god-knows-where Michigan for 8 weeks while they get to have the entire house to themselves for the summer. After being there for two weeks I couldn’t understand how I was going to go back home. Summer camp was a blast. Over the course of the next 6 years I did so many things during those 8 weeks a year that would make my parents cringe that they spent that much money.

One of the more legal things I did was learn how to ride horses, English Style, thank you very much. The first horseback riding class of the day were for the advanced riders, I moved up to that class after my first summer & half and never looked back. I think I could spend the rest of my life on the back of a horse, cantering through the woods, jumping over downed trees, giving a loose rein over a cold brook. The stable was fairly new structure, clean and study. There were two things hanging from the wall: a diagram of a horse and a piece of fly paper. I always dreamed of having my own stable with a couple of horses with a small office off to the side done up in greens, blues and brown leather and a bunch of riding trophies on one wall and paintings of my horses on the other. Assuming that this dream came true that would mean I would have a boat load of money to spend on painting, which would mean that I would have asked Richard Stone Reeves if he would honor me with portrait of my precious animals.

Richard Stone Reeves was the premier horse painter. He’s career started in 1947 by painting a portrait of the Horse of the Year, Armed. This portrait appeared in Life magazine in 1948 and commissions and a career followed from there. (Couldn't find Armed but here's Kelso)

Mr Reeves passed away on October 7th in Greenport, NY

November 6, 1919 - October 7, 2005

Labels: 1919 births, 2005 October deaths, artist, undisclosed causes

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