Late Date

I want to tell you about the first time Matt and I went riding together.

I had my horse. Matt needed one, so we borrowed a Spanish Barb, and the two of us rode out into the Los Padres National Forest.

If you ride, you know what it means to bring someone out on the trail with you. It isn’t dinner. You can’t hide much out there. Your horse knows how you feel before you do, and before long so does the person riding beside you.

I rode the Barb. His name was Centella, and he was very light on his feet, like he was dancing the whole way. Matt rode my trusty boy Frankie, who kept him safe. Matt started to really love Frankie after that day.

We crossed the river a few times and picked our way over rocks and stones, with the beautiful layered mountains rising beside us. Those same layers of earth and stone later inspired another painting, Mantle. It was the kind of day you don’t want to end.

I came home that night and painted us, without even knowing it. I just made a painting, glass of wine in hand, in my tiny studio, still smiling from the ride. Then I looked at it the next morning and thought, “Huh! I see it. It’s us!”

I called it Late Date. Many years and three little ones later, it still makes me smile every time I see it.

Choose this horse art print as a paper print, a framed paper print, or a framed canvas in sizes from 8x10 to 40x60 inches.

It pairs beautifully with Close and Mantle.