This particular piece was named after a song on the Willy Wonka soundtrack. I shared a video of Rovandio and I creating this piece on Tik Tok and it went viral with that song. I feel that the name also captures the essence of my work. I do my best to tap into the imagination of my inner child and hope that my art inspires others to do the same. Everyday life can feel so heavy and repetitive sometimes, as if the magic of life is being slowly pressed from our bodies. To create art is to create magic and that keeps me going.

I prepared this canvas with a heavy layer of texture and used stencils to create some interesting mandala-like patterns into the background. The first day on horseback we created the basic body of the horse and added some movement with splatters. The second day we added color and contrast. Our painting/riding sessions last about 30 minutes and include walk, trot, canter, flying changes, sidepass, rein-back, and piaffe. Rovandio is currently 20 years old so I keep his sessions short and sweet so I do not stress his body. I want him to enjoy painting and have him stay sound as long as possible.

I am also excited to share that this is the first Art on Horseback painting that Rovandio signed himself! The teal brushstrokes near his hoofprint were painted using a brush in his mouth. I taught him how to paint when I also introduced it to Douwe in 2019. He did well at first but lost interest, didn’t want to hold the brush and I gave up. Rovandio and I share art on horseback so I enjoyed painting with Douwe until he passed away in 2020. I re-introduced painting with Rovandio because I really missed that special time painting with Douwe. I had to approach the process in a different way but finally one day it clicked and now he loves it! Visit his online gallery here.

Details

• Dimensions 16” x 20” with a 2” white border

• Fine Art Giclee Paper thick (21-mil) heavy weight (310g) paper with a textured, natural-white, matte finish

• Signed and numbered by Sandra - this print is limited to 100 copies