Beatrix and Grace have made an appearance in two paintings this year so far.
I have already shared the Beatrix and the Butterfly painting in another post.
The next painting I did with Beatrix was with her friend Grace.
As a kid I would often climb my tree in the backyard. My tree (mine because I didn’t want to share it with my sibs) was this big ole gum tree which had a branch perfect for spending long summer afternoons on it reading or playing.
I would often take a book out there and read in it, but when I read the Black Stallion the game totally changed.
I can’t tell you how obsessed I was with this book. The book, the movie, the sequels. All of it. I bought into with everything I had the whole Black Stallion story.
The school librarian joked that I should just permanently borrow the book because I borrowed it so much and I was probably the only student that read all the sequels to the book two or three times!! I loved The Black and Alex and their story.
And after that everything revolved around the Black Stallion.
I had a gang called the Black stallion gang (it included me and my brother and sometimes my other brother and sister!) we played a kicking game on the trampoline called ‘black stallions’, in every game I played I had a black stallion. I spent an entire years allowance on a porcelain black stallion statue that when it broke from old age when I was older I cried a little.
So back to my tree. After reading the book, I found an old rope and tied it to my branch like a bridle and that became my Black Stallion. And on lazy summer afternoons I would pretend I was riding my Black Stallion.
I would pretend we were on that deserted island together (but with food and my books) and we would end up sleeping next to each other just like Alex and his Black Stallion.
In my games I would read my books snuggled up to my Black in the forest before we’d go to the beach and race along it playing in the waves.
So when I was painting my next Beatrix and Grace painting this memory came to mind, and I wanted to incorporate that memory into my painting:
Beatrix and Grace: A quiet afternoon.
Beatrix and Grace: A quiet afternoon is available for purchase (click on the image or here for more)
What was one of your favourite childhood lazy summer afternoon memories?
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