Charlie

Lonesome Charlie

24 x 18 original acrylic

Everyone, this is Charlie. At least, that's what I call him. He's a rodeo horse I saw last summer. He was a little banged up, I'm not sure what from, and it broke my heart. Whenever I'd look at his picture, I'd envision him as a wanderer, a nomad, a vagabond, travelling the country, always on the road. Then, this reminded me, strangely enough, of Boxcar Willie, and then travelling vagabonds, derelicts, and, winos! Okay, stay with me here and how some ideas come through in the strangest ways. Thinking of cheap wine then reminded me of a wine my friends used to drink when we were, well, young. We'd put our money together and buy magnums of this really nasty, cheap wine called Lonesome Charlie. My dad always used to say that was a wino's drink.
So, that's the strange process which occured when I thought of his name.

I also debated with myself whether or not to paint the wounds. After much wrestling, I decided to go for it. Most horse paintings are always beautiful, showing perfect horses. Reality isn't always so. Things happen, and Charlie happened to have battle wounds, or whatever they were. So, there's much conflict in this piece. Beauty vs. reality, perfection vs. raw wounds, green pastures vs. being a road warrior. So, here's Charlie, both beautiful and imperfect, but real.

You can see more of my art at www.carolerodrigue.net