THE PORTAL: (Derby 12 series) 12 x 12 oil on panel

Most of my paintings, these days, originate from internal content/inspiration rather than an external subject matter. All of them are born in the early morning, whilst drinking tea and writing; some of them in the form of a poem, as this one did.

I’ve always been inspired by the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show and it’s mission. This year, I met a woman, a show jumper herself, who’s courage was sorely tested not going into a giant show ring, but as her beloved child was wheeled away on a gurney for life-saving surgery, in the the very hospital she’d supported since childhood. It was a weighty ‘full-circle’ moment.

Life has many thresholds. I’ve crossed a few myself. I know what it’s like to go into the start box of a cross-country event and your ex-racehorse bucking and plunging. I know what it takes to move to a new land, not having anything ‘mapped-out’ except the next footfall…I know what it’s like to accept a massive commission, not knowing if you have the courage to win the fight against your own fears… And I know what it’s like when a mother watches her child wheeled into a hospital room, some never coming out.

Life’s journey contains various thresholds, various "portals". We may never know the outcome; we just have to decide to take a deep breath and move forward, no matter what the challenge. (I did write a poem here... but I took it out...)