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Hay Ride


This painting I call Hayride because the man is bringing a load of hay from a far away field to his farm.  When visiting Woodstock, Vermont a few years back I walked across this restored covered bridge.  I was happy to see that this bridge had been restored for automotive as well as pedestrian traffic.  Also it reminded me of stories I had been told as a child how big over-loaded hay wagons would sometimes get stuck trying to navigate over the bridge.  Sometimes the wheels would fall through the rotting boards from the weight of these over-loaded wagons.  In some instances the heat generated from the hay would ignite a fire and the bridge would be destroyed as well as the hay and wagon.  I came home to my studio with this image in mind and thought it would make a good narrative of times past.
The horses came from images I had from Stonewall Farm in Chesterfield, NH.  The hay wagon I basically made up from memory.  The driver was an old railroad conductor's image I had in my files.  Generally, the horses would not have such a fancy harness system for pulling a hay wagon, but I just love the way that these horses were "dollied up" and after all an artist can take liberties.  You may also notice, in my Profile Picture that this is the work on the easel and you make also discover that I initially had the man walking beside the team.  An old-timer once told me that the man would never fit through that kind of opening with the team, so I painted him out and put him in the driver's seat.  I hope you enjoy this painting.  Any comments are welcome.

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