JUDD STABLES
Highway 42 leads out of Louisville, Kentucky towards Prospect, Kentucky. The drive is scenic and an energizing way to start a day. I enjoyed each morning ride taking D.J. to work at the Judd Stables and hauling my easels and paint to the winding road on the farm.
My first mistake was to not photograph the picturesque reflections on the pond the first time I parked my vehicle at a good site location. How could I know a wind would come along and blow away those water slices of reality every time I came to work on my painting?
On this particular day, cows were grazing on the opposite bank and the setting was quite peaceful but the wind had still blown away the reflections as I sat down to work on my current canvas. I had barely set up my easel and tray table when a truck pulled up alongside my area. After a man stuck his head out of the truck and viewed my canvas he critiqued, “You didn’t put that log down in the water.”
I smiled a “thank you.” And added a slice of burnt umber to the canvas. He nodded and drove on down the road. As soon as he was out of sight, I removed the fake log and went about my business of painting the scene which I felt was more respectable without a decayed log.
The afternoon hours stretched on and I was lost in that right-hand side of the brain zone when I was jerked back by the sound of hoof beats. Looking up I saw a herd of cows heading my way. A movie screen of STAMPEDE flashed through my mind and grabbing my painting, I jumped into the back seat of my parked car while the thundering herd passed by.
Mistake number two was not knowing cows had a way to cross the pond and run home at a certain time. Someplace in my studio is an unfinished canvas of a Prospect farm pond. It does not have a log on the bank and there are no reflections on the water. I recall that my dear friend, Ravella was chased by a bull while plein air painting and barely made it over a fence in time. And I am no match for a herd of cows.