Good Grief, It's a Chromograph!

What an amazing day! Today was my last day to finish up my final project for my Media and Installation class. I had two pieces to do with Blu: the color map on a horse blanket and the tail swishing painting. Both projects caused hysterical comedy.

Again, when I went to call on Blu, he did not want to go through the muck to get to me. However, unlike yesterday, he immediately began to walk to me (he just stopped when he got to the muck's edge, then looked at me). I waited and he decided to chat with Maggie. Maggie shooed him away and he came to me.

My plan was to take Blu on a trail ride to the deep water on the neighbor's property to get his legs cleaned off for recording. Then I was going to do the color map.

I warmed him up on the ground, first. His HQ yields in motion were good. He got the line taught at the trot, so I had to wait for him to relax.

On the road, Blu was a saint. He was so relaxed. I loved my trail ride with him.

My mom and I brushed Blu off so putting the paint on would be easier. I marked where the horse blanket covered then we began painting his white spots yellow and the brown spots pink. This piece is called "Chromograph" and it is a cubism influenced work because it explores the form of a horse flattened onto a single plane, which is the blanket. I chose yellow and pink because those colors would be easier to wash off and I am projecting the video I made onto the blanket.

Blu was excellent for everything except when it came to riding him in the uncomfortably snug blanket. He "bucked" a bit and was generally sour. I was profusely apologetic, of course.

For his bath, Blu was great. It was nice and warm out, too. He still has some pink and yellow on him, though!

Later in the evening, I came back and did the tail swish painting. This one is called "Grievance" and the idea was for me to ride him and cause his tail, which is saturated with paint, to swish onto the canvas. I put a fly mask on him to protect his face from paint splatters and I put a vinyl table cloth around his butt and clipped it around his legs to keep his just-bathed behind from getting painted. I thought this would be simple because all I have to do to cause Blu to swish his tail is to ask him to go into the trot without any prior and proper preparation.

Principle number 2 of natural horsemanship: don't make or teach assumptions! Hehehe. Blu walked, trotted, and cantered in that funky getup and not one swish. I was baffled. He didn't even get spooked by the weird table cloth deal going on back there. I reloaded his tail, got back on without the table cloth, and tried again. Eureka! I think he was too confused by the table cloth to get annoyed at being asked to go. So, I was accidentally provocative. Too funny!

I let him paint with a paintbrush in his mouth a bit before taking him to graze and putting him to bed.

Today was fun and it would not have been possible without my mom's help! Now that I have all the footage and art work I need from Blu, I just need to get it all put together in the exhibition format for the critique on Tuesday!

Natural Horsewoman Out.