Showing Kids How to Draw an Icelandic Horse

ToonBrush shows kids how to draw an Icelandic horse with character. What a beautiful result!

Carl Sandburg--Riding Horses in the Rain

Francisco Castro Vedella reads "Horses and Men in Rain" by Carl Sandburg.  You can be like the heroes of old if you ride in the rain.

 

Painting Humans to Look Like Animals

Amazing! Humans as canvases.  Johannes Stoetter paints bodies to create the most stunning animal artwork.

Úlfar Örn, Painter of Icelandic Horses

Úlfar Örn, Icelandic artist, explains why he chooses to paint Icelandic horses and what he sees in the souls of horses conveyed through their eyes.

My Portraits of My Niece MacKenzie

Here is some of my original artwork. I used photos of my then newborn niece MacKenzie to execute pastel portraits in different impressionistic styles.

Theodore Roosecolt Cup by Romano

If you have ever subscribed to the USIHC Quarterly, you have laughed at one of Chris Romano's cartoons. Her art is inspired by both the cuteness and attitude of the Icelandic horse and by general equine quirkiness and humor Chris may be making her art available through Zazzle soon. I am lucky enough to have purchased a prototype. Be prepared to laugh! Who would not want to drink their morning coffee out of a mug like this?

The Human Face as Canvas

Imagine a world in which your face becomes a canvas for you to paint without limits--a living rose, waterfalls from your eyes, a lava creature.

More from Tacoma Art Museum

More art from the Tacoma Art Museum.  If you are in the Seattle area, you should definitely visit.  The emphasis of the museum is on a broader representation of cultures, genders, and historical experiences that is representational of the varied cultural backgrounds in the history of the Pacific Northwest rather than the "old masters."

Art--Feeding Herring to Icelandic Horse

During a tour of the Tacoma Art Museum,  my friend Lori re-titled this painting "Feeding Herring to Icelandic Horse."  Unfortunately, I forgot to note the original title and name of artist.

Homage to Franz Marc the Impressionist

Found this sketch of mine on a random search on Google. I'm trying to figure out how a student exercise got posted. And why the horses are blue. Somehow it all made sense at the time.

Now, I remember where the idea for the blue horses came from---Franz Marc the impressionist painter. I went off to review his work and I have to say my sketch is a homage to Marc. This is probably why I threw out my original --- it was a student copy of parts of a masters work.

Were Women the Painters of Paleolithic Cave Paintings

Reproduction of horse painting with hand stencils from
Pech Merle Cave, France
Source: Wikipedia

I think that women always have had a special relationship with horses, which includes drawing and painting them. While researching the clip on animated paleolithic cave art, I came across the research of Dean Snow at Pennsylvania State University. He proposes that about 75% of the artists drawing animals in such caves as Altiamira Cave, Spain, and Lascaux Cave, France, circa 30,000 to 17,300 years ago, were women. Up to this time, most researchers and art historians assumed all cave artists were men-- probably involved in the creation of hunting magic. 

Snow bases his proposal on the way men and women's hands differ. Usually the length of the index finger and the ring finger are roughly the same for women. The ring finger is longer than the index finger on most men. Hand stencils (pigment is flicked around the hand to create an outline) frequently occur as part of paleolithic cave art. Analysis of the outlines of these hands is how Snow determined that most of the artists were women, possibly female shaman involved in hunting magic.

Of course, there are alternative ways to analyze the same date. R. Dale Guthrie analyzed the measurements of palm widths and thumbs to conclude that the artists were adolescent boys interested in powerful animals and big busted fertility goddesses (think Venus of
Willendorf).   Source:

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/131008-women-handprin…/

Our New Motto

I was doing some research on the history of Icelandic horses in Ballard WA (essentially there isn't any), when I came across this wonderful expression.

• Megi spjót þitt í mark fara, örvar þínar beint fl júga, og sverð þitt góðu biti halda. 
• May your spear hit your target, your arrows fly straight, and your sword stay sharp.

I have no idea if it is period or not, but I am adopting it for Blessi and me.  We need all the help we can get in medieval equestrian games.

20 Amazing Photos of Icelandic Horses by Guðleifsdóttir

Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir loves to photograph the Icelandic horse in its native habitat.  As she states, "“I have a constant need to illustrate how i see the world. My camera is my paintbrush and canvas. To hear that my work brings joy to others makes me feel quite blessed.”  You can view 20 of her breathtaking photos at:

http://photographyblogger.net/20-amazing-pictures-of-icelandic-horses-by-rebekka-gudleifsdottir/

My favorite are the winter scenes.

The Bad Cowgirls went to Emerald Downs Racetrack to see an equestrian themed art show.  The art was a celebration of all things equestrian in all media and all styles from sumi-brush work to pastels to abstract to jewelry and sculpture.  There was also a section for work by children.  One clever girl--so sorry I forgot to write down her name--submitted the following piece created by her horse.




Virginia, Pamela, Deb, and Lora--The Bad Cowgirs
We missed you Gretchen!

Deb did bet on a horse and won!  Because of the odds, she bet $8 and won $5 back!

  We are still trying to figure out how that works.

Life Size Statue of Your Icelandic Horse

Who doesn't want a piece of art that captures the essence of your Icelandic horse?  And wouldn't it be wonderful to have a life size stature of your very own Icelandic horse?  The project "My Horse" sponsored by the 2013 Icelandic Horse World Championship in Berlin is making this possible. 

Julia Aatz (www.aatz-julia.com) will produce a life size sculpture of your favorite Icelandic horse that you can have created to your specifications.  You can even "bring" your horse to the World Championships.  Pricing starts at 200 euros.


Source:
http://www.berlin2013.de/my-horse.html

Icelandic Horse in Medieval French Romances--Part 2

In the French romance, Erec and Enide written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1170 , Enide rides a "palefroi Norrois" or Norse palfrey. "While lamenting, the lady attired herself beautifully in her finest dress. Nothing, however, pleased her. Everything had become a source of grief. She had a maid summon one of her squires, and she ordered him to saddle her splendid Norse palfrey. No count or king ever had a better horse. The moment she gave the squire the command, he followed it without delay and saddled the dappled palfrey."

As Erec and Enide ride off on their adventure, they are spotted by a band of eight rogue knights. The leader espies the splendid Norse palfrey and rouses his fellow bandits to attack Erec and Enide. The bandit leader swears that he wants only the stunning Norse palfrey, the rest of the band can have the woman and the rest of the loot.

And the story continues. One of the scholars writing about this romance claims, based not on research but solely on her opinion, that the splendid Norse palfrey had to have been a Friesian or other cross. Obviously this scholar does not know much
about Icelandic horse or the Nordland horse or other representives of the Norse breed. Every Icelandic owner would agree that "No count or king ever had a better horse."


Source: Chrâetien (de Troyes), The Complete Romances of Chrâetien de Troyes, Indiana University Press, 1990

Icelandic Horse in Medieval French Romances--Part 1



From the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry

Jens N. Faaborg  authored a book titled Animaux domestiques dans la literature narrative française au Moyen Âge  in which he examines the role of domesticed animals in the French medieval literature. Much of his book is devoted to the role of the horse since that animal is overwhelming mentioned the most in literature of that timeframe.  He looks at horses as defined by usage, breed, color, etc.

 

One of the "breeds" that he mentions is "norrois palefroi" or Norse or Norwegian palfrey, which is gaited: 

 

"Dans un nombre considérable des exemples où une dame monte sur un palefroi, l’épithète norrois s’accole à notre terme. Nous supposons qu’il est question de petits chevaux norvégiens (d’autant plus qu’il y a aussi des occurrences avec l’épithète petit). Il y a quelques rares occurrences avec les épithètes gascon et breton, mais les palefrois norrois sont de toute évidence les montures préférées des dames. Nous avons trouvé quelques exemples où ils sont montés par des hommes (voir supra, Dole, 2174-7)" :

"Rough Translation: In a considerable number of examples where a lady goes on a palfrey, the Norse epithet is tacked to this term. We assume it refers to small Norwegian horses (especially since there are also instances using the epithet small). There are few occurrences with Gascon and Breton epithets but the Norse palfreys are obviously a favorite of the ladies. We found a few examples where they are mounted by men."

 

Quotes from French literature:

 

Mais, ensi qu’il se combatoient, atant es vous vers aus venir

une damoisele sour un palefroi noirois (...) TP, vi, 118, 21-2.

Une courtoise damoisele,

Qui molt ert avenanz et bele,

Desus .i. palefroi norrois, Claris, 810-2. Cf. ib., 23718-9.

Gui dist à Ayglentine, le preus et le courtois :

’Damoisele, brochiés le palefroi norrois — Gui de N., 1487-8.

Rois Loth et rois Baudemagus

Sont vers Blanchandine venus,

Par la regne la vont prenant

Del noirois palefrois amblant. Floriant, 6007-10.

Desor un palefroi norrois Blancandin, 685.

A tant en vont andui ensamble,

La mule la damoisele amble

Plus tost c’uns palefrois norois. Cont. P., i, 1887-9.

De l’un un palefroi norrois Erec, 2386. Cf. ib., 2615 ; 4126.

Source : http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2021301/DAAEB4C5374CAC44A223EA2607E6A6A91EE7CFFC.html?start=24&query=medieval+horses+&qf=TYPE:TEXT&startPage=1&rows=24

 

Ah, but you might say that the term Norrois refers to the breed Norwegian Fjord.  To the best of my knowledge, this breed has never been gaited.  And, believe it or not Charles Dickens can help us more closely determine the source of Norrois horses.  He quotes M. Francisque-Michel, a French author, as placing the origin of the Norrois horses, famous in the 13th century, as orginating in the Orkney Islands or Greenland.  I wonder if the author could have confused Iceland with Greenland?





I have to admit that these Norrois  horses are still a hit with the ladies.  ;-) 




 

Source: Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 53 Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith,-- “Horses and Studs in France, “Richard Bentley publisher, 1863

 

Iceland--Enchanted Scenery

In his Edda,  Snorri Sturluson borrows many verses attributed to Bragi Boddason , poet at the courts of several Swedish kings in the mid 800s.   One of the verses goes like this::

They call me Troll;

Gnawer of the Moon,

Giant of the Gale-blasts,

Curse of the rain-hall,

Companion of the Sibyl,

Nightroaming hag,

Swallower of the loaf of heaven.

            What is a Troll but that?

(And I am sorry that I forgot to note the source of this quote--and I can't find it now!!!)

Can't you see trolls and giants, Odin and Thor, valkyries and shield maidens in this video of the fantastical Icelandic landscape?  And there are lovely horses, fit for the gods.

Bayeux Tapestry

 

 

(Wikipedia, BayeuxTapestryScene08)

 

Although Norman, the Bayeux Tapestry dates from the “Viking” period (approximately 850 to 1100 AD).  It illustrates the events leading up to the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy.  This 230 foot long embroidered cloth was probably made in England in the 1070s.  Among the 50 scenes of the cloth, several horses are depicted in a tolt.

 

The Farmer in Wet Weather

Since I live in the Seattle area, I can really identify with this poem "The Farmer in Wet Weather by Jónas Hallgrímsson: Selected Poetry and Prose, written in 1826. English translation follows after the original Icelandic.

An Icelandic cow--from Wikipedia

Dalabóndinn í óþurrknum

Hví svo þrúðgu þú
þokuhlassi
súldanorn
um sveitir ekur?
Þér man eg offra
til árbóta
kú og konu
og kristindómi.

The Farmer in Wet Weather

Goddess of drizzle,
driving your big
cartloads of mist
across my fields!
Send me some sun
and I'll sacrifice
my cow --- my wife ---
my Christianity!

 

Source:  http://library.wisc.edu/etext/Jonas/Dalabondi/Dalabondi.html