“Huntsman, What Quarry?”
Pencil, pastel, and watercolor
2023
Just to make it clear? Yes….I do have conflicted/conflicting views about hunting (and no particular inclination to express them on this platform).
That said? There’s very little I know of that’s as strikingly beautiful as watching a hunt in full-swing……the horses, the hounds, the riders (and, yes, I’m a sucker for men in complete drag). I don’t ride, and I don’t (for all my time out in the woods) hunt anything….and I’ve never been to a foxhunt at which they chased an actual fox. At Quail Roost, someone goes around in the EARLY morning…..dragging a burlap sack sprayed with male fox urine. I used to block me and my rowsty terriers up in the barn-cabin (where I lived, post-separation) when the hunt came every October/November.
So?…..isn’t this lovely? I just finished it and am, for once, quite pleased. Of course, I simply got rid of/didn’t include the melee of other hounds, horses, and riders. This painting is very jolly, which is what i wanted.