Giving someone a present can expose you to some unwanted attention. It’s hard to know if the recipient liked the gift immediately. When the gift is for the President of the United States, the wait can be particularly suspenseful. Mount Airy’s resident was required to sign the visitor’s book in Room 45 at the Old Washington DC. After that, a guard delivered a bag containing the portrait of Little Man the President’s horse. Helpful hints?
The artist lives with her husband, their six-month-old son and Old National Pike. After taking animal portrait classes and art lessons in high-school, she turned her talent and love for animals into a business. Her business is doing quite well.
She draws from photos taken by her, or by the animal’s owner. Sometimes, she uses show photographs to create horse portraits. She claims to become close to animals such as horses and cats. It’s easy to do anything with fur, but she prefers painting fish and turtles in oil paints. Her expertise allows her to change the look of an animal by making it appear younger or removing any defects.
She has wanted to paint Little Man for a while. She received a reply from the Special Assistant of the President, Director of Correspondence. It included some photos in color of the horse and the president. The pictures she received were difficult for her to use. She would never paint an animal from pictures alone.
Little Man passed away later on while the project continued. She just wants it to be meaningful to the President now. She began work on the painting anyway and roughly divided it into four stages. First, she made a pastel sketch that was the basis for her dark, medium and lighter shadows. Then, she added color accents and blended with her fingers to cover all of the paper.
Little Man’s background was a light-blue color. Next, the background had to be bland. Artist shared that he would make sure that the portrait looked real. The artist spent a lot of time adding details to the portrait so that it looked as real as possible.
She was happy to paint a portrait of Little Man. She stables her horse in Poolesville. In addition to her horse, she also owns a pet dog, cat and goat.