One down, two to go

I’m not sure how far back in the week I can go this time round, as I don’t think I remember all of it. It’s been a bit of a gong show, what with trying to get the studio sorted out for the show/sale of this past weekend, an unexpected but always welcome photo op with the Gypsy cobs, a field trip with a couple of my “barn lady” friends, trying to keep up with the regular round of riding five or six days a week and getting some artwork done in addition. And then there are the on-going anxieties and vet visits with Mickey (one of my Boxers) who has been enduring a nasty and prolonged allergic reaction to some bodily insult, likely a bee sting. The short version of it is swelling of the head and neck, lumps all over the front half of his body, and breathing problems. Not anything either of us wants to be dealing with, although that’s exactly what we have to do. We’re on round two of the little pink pills which did an admirable job while he was on them, but as soon as we finished them up all the symptoms came back, so now we’re looking at another couple of weeks medication. Hope that will be the end of it. I am grateful that at least there is something that works for him, no matter how long he has to be on it.
I think I did an adequate job on most fronts, although by today we were pretty well out of eating options since getting to the grocery store wasn’t one of the things I could fit in, and I have to confess to not having seen my horse since Friday. Got the groceries topped up today and will resume riding tomorrow so my world will be back in balance again for the short term at least. Another show next weekend and the big pre-Christmas one the weekend after that yet to be dealt with, but if it wasn’t for deadlines in my life I’d likely get nothing done at all.
Shot one today is from the North Fork Gypsy cob shoot. I haven’t done many shots of their stallions, and I got a call to say that Tully, the new young stallion, was going to be turned out into his big grassed area and might give me some good chances at action shots. I got there a bit after mid-afternoon on Wednesday with nice conditions (i.e. dry and not too cold ) and not bad light. At this time of year the sun is quite low in the sky by four, so shadows are part of the equation, and you just have to work with them and with the nice backlighting possibilities afforded by the sun position. All this is assuming you have a camera that is willing to co-operate with you, which much of the time I didn’t. I’ve mentioned my intermittent camera woes before. I’ve been nursing my “big” Nikon along for a while, but this shoot pushed me to the limit of my tolerance and I will be sending it off for diagnosis and rehabilitation this week without fail. I did get a good number of nice shots of young Tully, but missed many as well due to mechanical problems with the camera. It kills me to be parted from my camera, but it’s overdue and at least I have the “baby” Nikon to keep me from going into the unpleasant zone of total withdrawal from photography. That’s Tully in the foreground of this photo, with the older stallion Tumbleweed keeping pace with him in the next pasture over. There is a no-man’s -land strip of several feet between the fence-lines of these two pastures so that the stallions don’t make direct contact over the fence but can still see each other and visit at a bit of a distance. Each stallion has his own live-in mare as well for company. I love to see stallions that get to live like normal horses with lots of space and with a companion. Such a simple thing in many ways, but a lot of stallions never get to experience either.
As noted in last week’s blog, I had several guest artists join me for my open studio sale. My grandson Mark was one of them, and shot two shows one of his photos of a daylily that was popular with the customers at the show.
Shot three shows part of the studio during the sale, with Mark enjoying a bite of lunch in the foreground, and Ric the sculptor in the background, possibly wondering what he would have to do to get some lunch himself. There were five of us in all, fitted into various nooks and crannies of the studio, and we had a good time and worked well together. We didn’t see the numbers of visitors that we hoped to, but we did our bit and the rest is really beyond our control. I do have to say, though, that despite the somewhat limited number of visitors we had, they were all a pleasure to visit with and I was certainly grateful that they took the time out of a busy weekend (and they’re all busy weekends at this time of year) to come to our event.
Shot four is one I have been working on intermittently since the last ghost town shoot. It is shot from inside the grain elevator towards the old store and other buildings. I had the idea of incorporating an old family photo into the scene, so used one of my grandfather (from the early decades of the last century) and his team as a “ghost” image on the grass area, and then threw in Arrow, my “grand-dog” to round out the picture. Also added an overlay of a fabulous “crackle” texture that I photographed in one of the old buildings of the ghost town. Those interiors are a treasure trove of texture and faded colour.
Today’s field trip was to Solar Gardens with a couple of my riding friends who hadn’t been there before. They are open weekends from now until Christmas, or by arrangement on other days, and Mondays are the only days we are all available and not at the barn. Shot five shows Dylan, one of the resident very large dogs, having a romp out by the greenhouse area. He had his beloved chicken in his mouth, and he really wanted the ball as well, but wasn’t willing to set the chicken down to get it. Sometimes we just have to make choices in life!
For Saskatoon and area residents, I will be participating in a group show/sale upstairs at Persephone Theatre next Sunday (the 29th) from 7-11 PM. Food and drink will be available in addition to the artwork. Hope to see you there. The following weekend (Dec. 4-5-6) I’ll be at the Sundog show at Credit Union Centre, upstairs.