Peasley: Horses taking on color
I was amazed with the kaleidoscope of color that greeted me Friday when I visited the building where artists were painting fiberglass horses at different stages for Main Stay Therapeutic Riding Program’s display around Woodstock.
The fundraiser will help provide money to insulate the barn and pave the parking lot.
Main Stay’s clients are ages 3 years to adulthood with physical, emotional, social or psychological disabilities.
Artists from 11 communities are nearing completion to convert 26 carousel horses into inviting sculptures.
They will be auctioned Sept. 26 at Donley’s in Union.
Themes include a mythological Trojan horse, Luck of the Irish, a fantastic seahorse, a cowboy horse with hat and spurs, and a circus with a three-dimensional component and glass beads.
Woodstock artist Jill Witty’s theme, “Opera Horse,” is based on the opera Aida.
“I was inspired after attending a performance in Verona, Italy. My horse is meant to represent an operatic presentation,” she said.
Her memory of the opera is “horses bowing to each other, fans of ostrich feathers and Pharaoh’s mask in the background.”
Excited to participate in this “Horse of a Different Color” fundraiser, she said the opportunity was different from her work as a watercolor artist.
“I had a horse of my own for 10 years. I believe in using animals for therapy,” she added.
Gale Trausch, a Woodstock artist, is painting two horses, one showing positive words with the theme “Words to Live By” and the other, “Gardener’s Delight.”
I enjoyed seeing “Old Bob,” described as Lincoln’s favorite horse. “Old Bob” has two top hats and Lincoln’s shawl over the saddle, by Harvard artist Nancy Wicker.
• • •
Laura Caldwell is doing it again. Her first of three books in a back-to-back-to-back trilogy will be in bookstores June 1. “Red Hot Lies” centers around the activities of “hot shot Chicago attorney Izzy McNeil.”
Laura debuted as an author in 2002 and followed with three other mysteries. “Red Hot Lies” is described by a New York Times reviewer as “an emotional rollercoaster.”
Caldwell, daughter of Woodstock attorney Bill Caldwell, is a prominent law professor who develops imaginative plots.
It’s fascinating how she dreams up a bundle of troubles Izzy must solve.
She is a distinguished Scholar in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
• • •
With the opening of seven diamonds at Merryman Fields, Woodstock Little League shifts playing headquarters from Bates Park. Roskie Field still is the playing field for the Junior League teams.
• Don Peasley has been editor, columnist and historian in McHenry County since October 1947. He can be reached at 815-338-1533.
