"I Ride an Old Paint..." - 5-27-16 - A Carousel for Missoula

Well school's about to let out for the season and that means that summer is truly upon us.  Which of course means "A Carousel for Missoula" will be expanding it's operating hours, opening it's concession stand (mmmmmmmmm shaved ices!) and kids will be letting out happy squeals of joy.

3rd in my irregular series of the horsies here at ACFM, here's almost every one's favorite.

"Paint"

"Paint" is the unique horse "adopted" by Irene and Larry Pirnie.  Larry Pirnie is a local western artist based here in Missoula.  In his paintings, he uses ever changing eclectic bright colors to show the energy of a running, wild horse and that's why Paint stands out so well.  Pink and blue and red and orange and green and lavender and yellow, you'll note that Paint also has no saddle.  Paint is a wild horse.  And kids and adults all love to ride free on her.

Talk to you soon.

Dragons are Perennials - 5-12-16 - A Carousel for Missoula

So I have this gig down at "A Carousel for Missoula" here in my new hometown.  I've mentioned briefly before that it's a beautiful old carousel with some updates that make it a real community type dealy,

The original innards and structure of the carousel are from 1918.  Refurbished, repainted, remachined, retooled by volunteers.  Carvers were trained in the art of making carousel horses, and each and every one is hand carved and hand painted.  Each horse was "adopted" by a company or a family here in Missoula, who each got to design their own horse.  Each horse is laden with images and objects that mean something specifically to the adopters, so every horse is COMPLETELY unique and a true work of art.

There are 2 carriages, 37 horses and 1 dragon on the carousel.

1 dragon.

Which nearly EVERY kid from 2-60 wants to ride.

Kids still love dragons.

And they're right to.  Dragons are pretty cool.

Talk to you soon.

Brief Horsie - 2-19-16

Here's another quick departure from my recent regular Aesop's Fables sketches.

Here in my new hometown of Missoula, Montana, there's a community project, charitable outlet or I'm-not-all-that-sure-thingy down in the Riverwalk Park down by the Clark Fork River.  In 1995 they built a carousel.  Sounds basic on the surface, but it's a surprisingly affordable attraction for families to spend some time together, operated year round they even have shutters that surround it in the winter months.

They didn't just import some state fair cookie cutter carousel and call it good, this bad boy was built especially for the town of Missoula...INCLUDING the horses.  Hand carved by staff carvers, families that donate (I believe the going rate is $2,500) get to design their own horse, chariot or in one case a dragon!

Hand carved, hand painted community horsies for the kiddies to ride.

And every one has a name and a back story.

Here's my first cartoony sketch of one.  Horses are not easy to draw for me, especially the legs for some reason, but I'm pretty happy with this.  Sketch was smaller than I would have liked to show all the details of the design, I'll correct that later.

Here's "American Beauty" that was donated by the family of Jim and Jean Caras who own and operate "Garden City Floral and Nursery".  Adorned with American Beauty Roses and an American Flag and a Greek Flag to show Jim's patriotism and pride in his family heritage and a sash across his breast (the "too small for details" disappointment I mentioned earlier) have the faces of their four children carved into it.

This is all endlessly interesting to me and something to really take pride in my new home over.  And I think I nailed the legs.

Only 37 more to go.  :)

Talk to you soon.