The past day or so has been jam packed with ideas, inspiration and wishful thinking (i.e. crafting the future with positive thoughts). I spent yesterday at Green Ridge Stables, home of Roy Powell and his Rocky Mountain horses.
Roy employs two blue heeler dogs in his work at the farm, which involves the breeding and training of these beautiful horses. Arp and Gizmo are his, handsome, hard-working, well-behaved heelers whom I drove down to visit and photograph for the afternoon. The dogs displayed their ability to help Roy get horses to do things they may not want to do, at least at first, such as getting into a trailer for transport. Instead of more forceful, human derived forms of persuasion, Roy’s dogs run around and bark at the horses “telling” them what they need to do. I watched a horse get into a trailer with seemingly little work on the part of the dogs – and it was only her second time. Thanks to the work of these scrappy little dogs, she was already getting the hang of it.
Arp and Gizmo look to Roy for commands and guidance and they are always ready for work. I was impressed by the sense of purpose in these dogs and am now loaded with images and ideas to draw on for my potential book idea.
For further book inspiration, this afternoon I attended a panel lecture at our Main Library downtown, which featured ten local picture book artists on hand to talk about their work and answer questions. What I came away with was a comment from illustrator Loren Long that the most important thing in this line of work is that you have to love what you are doing.
Last night, after an amazing dinner and rich talk of art, story, teaching and travel opportunities, we each lit an Ameritti label and watched it burn then fly up into the air carrying with it our hopes and wishes for our future plans… I’ll keep you posted on mine!
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