(24″ x 18″, Charcoal)
This is a charcoal still-life of a old, porcelain carousel horse.
I found this horse hidden in a dusty shop of practically worthless “antiques” (tattered dime novels, ominous dusky mirrors, etc.). There was a character in the horse’s silent cry, a spirit in the rearing legs frozen in time. It was dusty like everything else in the shop, but under the grime it was in perfect condition. I found that when a small knob on the bottom was twisted, it played a haunting melody, spinning slowly in place. I left the shop once without taking it with me; I came back once more solely to retrieve it.
Eventually, I made this drawing of the carousel horse. The horse was much, much older than me; I could only imagine what ghosts danced around me when I replayed its tune. The mystery determined my portrayal of the horse. I settled on monochromatic tones of black and white, positioning the horse so it was faced slightly away from me. In the end, I created a haunting still-life of my favorite old curio.
