More Belmont pARTy!

My fellow pARTy host Kim Santini heard my plea for help (or whine, however you might see it!) and agreed to let me feature *her* Belmont pARTy not-one-but-two-paintings today for a guest post! Kim had the kind of week that definitely entitles her to join me in that chorus of "It's My pARTy" from yesterday, so I'm humbled that she would take pity on me! :-) I love these paintings. I've been having a lot of fun seeing the participants' efforts come in yesterday and today. There's still time to play, if you're quick about it - midnight EST is our deadline.

My show today went well - beautiful weather an encouraging sales. Back for another day tomorrow. Left a little early to rush home, feed the horses and get in the house in time to watch the Belmont, only to discover it was ABC instead of NBC broadcasting this time around, and I don't get ABC! Crisis!! I sort of get the audio, so I listened and watched the snow and will have to catch the replay later. So yes, I'm disappointed that Mine That Bird didn't win, but he didn't disgrace himself by the sounds of it. And I thought Wooley's comments were perfect - it did sound like he moved too early, but really, when you're not the one out there on the horse, that's so easy to say! And on the TV front...maybe today will be what finally prompts me to get satellite! I know I must be the last person on the face of the earth without, but it just seems like a lot of money to spend on something I don't have a lot of use for: more TV.

All right...enough of my grumbling...time for some artwork!

Gallop I and II, the Belmont pARTy
By Kimberly Kelly Santini

FROM TOP: FROM LEFT: "Gallop I (Gray)" and "Gallop II (Dark Bay)," from the 2009 Belmont pARTy, both 6" x 12", equine paintings in acrylic on canvasboard, $249 each or $479 for both. Inquiries may come to me.

Today's pARTy reference photo was provided by equine photographer Juliet Harrison. I'd like to thank Juliet for sharing her imagery with us on our first open invitation pARTy.

The reference photo (which you can see here), from Saratoga, depicts two Thoroughbreds in full gallop, complete with jockeys and the track scene as a backdrop. Initially I planned on painting each horse on his own panel, with the gray one pulling away and the dark horse digging in. Somewhere along the line, however, I began liking the idea of them running free, and never added the jockeys, rail, or background sheds. I'm debating still whether I should leave the dirt/track surface in the foreground or carry the grass to the lower edge of the canvas.

The idea of diptych's has always fascinated me. I've done it on a couple other occasions (Pounce is one), and really enjoy the challenge painting companion pieces provides. It's even more challenging to get those works completed within the course of a day that also included delivering artwork to a gallery and the end-of-school-year carnival.

I haven't seen Linda Shantz's painting yet, nor any of the Belmont pARTy participants. I understand Linda would like to have them all posted by Monday. You can review all the artwork on the Virtual pARTy blog.

Meanwhile, here's to a safe trip and a good race.

Enjoy your weekend!

Kim Santini

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

We Need a Hero

I've been staying pretty quiet on the whole American Triple Crown this year. I've watched each race, and silently held my breath. Now Belmont Day is here - The Test, when the racing world and several others will watch to see if Big Brown can do it.

Racing has been through a rough time lately, and perhaps for good reason. While I don't believe it's all as dramatic as PETA would have us believe, there are things that should be looked at in the industry. There's no single fix. It's all too easy to sit on the outside and judge, and the amount of misinformation that's been flying around in the last few weeks, since the tragic Derby, is astounding.

Big Brown is an imperfect hero. Nobody really likes his connections (do they?) and it can be hard to overlook them sometimes, though BB did a pretty good job as he exploded to the lead in the Preakness. His foot issues have been widely publicized - and with irony, this morning, the horse cited as having the best chance to foil his bid has been scratched with a stone bruise. A victory by Casino Drive would have been monumental in its own right - his mother has produced the last two Belmont winners. Three, let alone three in a row, would have been huge; some say more significant that a Triple Crown winner after thirty years. One of the biggest criticisms about BB is that he's running against a weak crop of three-year olds. I'm not sure that would take away from a win today, when it comes right down to it.

I'm not making any predictions. This is horse racing after all, and anything can happen. My own horses will come in early so that I can make the trek to a friend's to watch the big race. I did consider how cool it might be to be at Belmont today, but with the way summer seems to have shown up with this hot, humid weather, I'll admit I'm just as happy to be watching on TV. With a bunch of others out there, I'll still be holding my breath till post time.