“Raindance” Pastel by Kim McElroy
“Remember when clouds were faraway lands and rain puddles were magic pools When mossy glens held fairy sprites And life was play without rules?”
In the day to day living of what we call adulthood, it is easy to forget the magic in the world around us. Waking up in the morning can feel like a chore of just getting through one more day. Life circumstances seem like burdens rather than challenges. But if our eyes are turned inward to the world of our responsibilities, we may miss the magic around us.
This horse is reveling in the rain. He is suspended, freed from gravity by his joy and wildness. The darkness of the day doesn’t affect his spirit but rather he takes the darkness and transforms it by his actions.
We tend to stand in our dry warm spaces and look outside at the rain and frown. Rain, like our sadder emotions, is unwelcome unless you’re acclimated to it. We tend to look at our emotional rainstorms as something to just get through as quickly as possible so we can move on to a brighter future. If we allow ourselves to have a rainy disposition, and learn to flow with it rather than putting on our raingear, we might learn some lessons that aren’t accessible in sunny times.
Horses are masters of the moment. When it rains, they don’t bemoan the fact that their day is ruined. They live in the elements, so they either seek shelter, hunker down to wait it out, or they keep moving. This horse is reveling in the rain. He is suspended, freed from gravity by his joy and wildness. The darkness of the day doesn’t affect his spirit but rather he takes the darkness and transforms it by his actions.
Sometimes when it rains, it pours. Sometimes it is best to hunker down and wait out the storm. Other times, if we can connect with the Source of energy within, we can learn to dance in the puddles. ~ Kim McElroy
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Patches in 2008
Raindance always reminds us of our horse Patches. When we adopted Patches in 2001 he had been rescued by a kind-hearted woman named Patti. He was blind from uveitis, foundered with hooves that were overgrown from a year of no trimming, and he seemed at death’s doorstep at the age of 22. But from the moment he came to our farm he stepped into the role of the leader of the herd. He learned the lay of the land and the placement of the gates, and where the water was, and within months of recovering his health he was trotting across our pasture at our call to feeding time. A blind horse, navigating the darkness without fear.
“Raindance makes a beautiful print. The original pastel was framed with a special stained glass called “seeded glass” which contains small bubbles that look like rain on a windowpane. This special effect added many dimensions to the art, including shadows thrown by the bubbles, making another dimension of rain within the painting. For more information on this print please contact me