Bill and Royal Delta

 

18"X24"pastel on PastelMat

Even though I have not been posting, I have been working... so I have a lot of work to share! This is the companion piece to "Royal Delta".  Bill Mott was Royal's trainer.  Bill is an amazing trainer and is in the racing hall of fame. He has trained MANY horses. But  Royal Delta was special… not only was she a phenomenal athlete, but she is a wonderful horse.  The reference photo was taken by a talented photographer (Pat Hammel) who works for Bill.  It was taken on the day she shipped out for retirement after a spectacular racing career.  A very emotional day.  The original shot is full body…. I opted to crop.  I wanted to capture the sentiment of the event and the full body shot just was more info than was necessary.

I decided to go with a blue back ground rather than the pinkish one on Royal's portrait… just did not think Bill would look that good in pink!!