“Picasso’s Horse”
charcoal and acrylic latex on sailcloth
22” x 19”
February 26, 1994

 

This painting hung in our kitchen in Long Beach for a number of years. It hung where we made coffee every morning, and often I thought about the background of this painting…

This is taken from a sketch Picasso did while preparing for his master anti-war work – Guernica. This horse’s anguished look caught my imagination one day while I was looking at a Picasso book, and I had to paint it on canvas. I ended up drawing it with charcoal, and surrounded it with a field of blue because Picasso’s original sketch was on blue paper.

I love drawing with charcoal! Looking back on college, I think learning to use charcoals was the most useful thing I picked up. Many of my early paintings were drawn in charcoal before I added my first layer of paint.

I’m happy to say we still own this piece!