I entered my 24 inch x 24 inch pastel painting titled "Breeze on Beauty" in the art show at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Horse Expo held at the National Western Stock Show complex in Denver on March 7th through the 9th. My painting won the People's Choice Award which means the visitors to the show voted for their favorite art work and mine got the most votes. Most artists feel this award is the best one to receive (including me).
The background story: Rich and I drove up to deliver the painting to the Colorado Horse Council office in Brighton, CO in February. It's a long drive for us to get there. Just as we were walking into the office building Rich fell down some steps. I heard a loud CRACK. I turned around to see my husband on his back still hanging on to the big painting.Thank God the crack I heard wasn't Rich. It was the corner of the frame hitting the concrete. But the frame was destroyed so instead of dropping it off as intended, we drove it home to be reframed. We brought it back the day before the show. I was considering giving up on the whole thing but I'm glad we hung in there. The ribbon made it worth it.
After the artist's reception on Saturday we were treated to a wonderful horse show with just about every kind of riding you can imagine. We saw a mustang being ridden bareback and without a bridle. We saw a USA Olympic medal winner in dressage. That horse was all champion. We saw a 9 year old Hispanic boy riding a beautiful white stallion alongside his father on a black one. We saw a Gypsy horse, Icelandic horses, Roman riding and vaulting... you name it. It was quite a show! Rich and I took along a 16 year old and her 8 year old riding student. They loved it.
