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The Story Behind The Painting of The Eleventh Hour

This story is called The Girl of Time and The Clock of Life - written by Karino Gibson.

When I read this story it inspired me to paint The Eleventh Hour.

The Girl was always alone.

She always sat on the same park bench, reading a book, day after day, month after month, year after year.  She was always there, but no one was ever there with her.

The Girl was always by herself wherever she went.  She kept to herself at school, kept to herself in the orphanage, and kept her heart locked away from the world around her.  Few had ever spoken to her, and even less cared to try.

The few times The Girl had ever spoken to anyone was when she was asked for the time of day.  It was peculiar.  If a clock was in her vicinity, The Girl made a point not to look at it.  The Girl had an aversion to clocks you see.  For The Girl, clocks did indeed show her the time, but it wasn’t the time that most people see, it was The Girl’s Time.

It was the Time of her own Life.

It didn’t matter what kind of clock she gazed upon, they all showed the same thing.  When she was a young child, the clocks showed early morning.  As time moved, so did the hands of the clocks, their ticks signalling the slow crawl towards midnight.

The Girl knew that when the hands fell upon the number twelve of the Midnight Hour, it would be The End.

The Girl always tried her best not to look at the clocks around her, as they reminded her of her shortening life.  But try as she might, she could never escape it.

She didn’t want to be consumed by the knowledge of her own inevitable march towards Death. The Girl wanted to live, but she couldn’t. Not with the burden of her life echoing in the beating of the clocks.

And so The Girl was always alone, too afraid to live, but also too afraid to not.  Just drifting through until she was fated to no longer exist.

Until one day she met a stranger, another girl who looked the same age as her.  The girl also had a book, and sat down on the bench next to her.  They both sat quietly reading until the sun went down.

As the stranger got up to leave, she turned to The Girl.

‘That’s a good book,” she said

“Yes,” The Girl replied, giving a small smile. “It is.”

From that day on the stranger would come often to The Girls bench.  As time progressed they moved from small talk to real conversations.

Soon, The Girl realised the Stranger wasn’t a stranger anymore - she was a friend.

The Girl had never had a real friend before.

But time is cruel and waits for no man, and took no mercy on The Girl’s first friendship.

The End was near.  The Girl did not need to look at a clock to know that the Midnight of her life was looming.

The friends continued to meet, until she couldn’t any longer.  On the last day of her life, she went to see her friend one last time.  

Her friend said “Lets go somewhere.”

“Where?” The Girl asked.

“Anywhere!” Her friend said, “Let’s go see the world! We need to live a little!” 

“Im  not sure that I should” The Girl said.  She was crying now, and she could feel the heavy ticking of her dying heart. “Is it ok for someone like me to live?”

The friend took her hand and tugged the Girl along, out of the dark and into the light, smiling and laughing the whole time.

The Girl felt herself laughing too.  For the first time in years her heart felt light.  This is what it was like to live, The Girl realised.  This is what had been missing from her life.

She had lived her whole life conscious of the looming shadows of Time and Death, and had forgotten that she was still alive.  There was still time on the clock for her to be all she was meant to be.

There is still time on the clock to create her legacy.

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The Story behind the painting of Picasso

“Wild horses don’t know the burning taste of the whips. Freedom protects us from the many evils!” - Mehmet Murat Ildan

There once lived a horse called Picasso, who was a Mustang stallion. He was born with the instincts of a fighter and survivor, capable of handling the brutal hardships of life in the wild.

He lived in the Sand Wash Basin of Colorado.

This beautiful stallion stood out with his stunning pinto coat, two-toned and and the many countless scars that adorned his body.

His striking colours captured the attention of a worker from the Humane Society during a roundup by the Bureau of Land Management. The worker described his coat as looking like a Picasso painting, and the name stuck.

Living in the wild, Picasso had to fight many battles, both with other stallions and the harsh environment. The climate in the Sand Wash Basin has punishing 95 degree plus summers with droughts, and brutal sub-zero temperatures in the winters. Because of this Picasso became a true warrior as he not only had to fight other stallions for mares, but also for water.

Picasso’s best friend was another stallion named Lightening. Lightening was jet black with white splashes and a wide blaze. When Lightening passed away, Picasso looked very lonely without his friend by his side.

Picasso sired many foals. His most famous son was called Van Gogh, but he sadly died in 2020. Picasso also has a famous Grandson called Michaelangelo.

Picasso in his older years began to travel alone and not with a herd, as it would not have been worth the risk of fighting off younger, stronger stallions.

Picasso lived to be over 30 yers old, which is unheard of for horses living in the wilderness.

Some people believed that as his health declined, he should have been adopted so that he could live out his final years sheltered from the harsh environment; his fans though were against the idea and believed that he should have always remained how he lived, free to roam.

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The story behind the painting of Picasso

“Wild horses don’t know the burning taste of the whips.  Freedom protects us from the many evils!” -  Mehmet Murat Ildan

There once lived a horse called Picasso, who was a giant Mustang stallion.  He was born with the instincts of a fighter and survivor, capable of handling the brutal hardships of life in the wild.

He lived in the Sand Wash Basin of Colorado.

This beautiful stallion stood out with his stunning pinto coat, two-toned and and the many countless scars that adorned his body.

His striking colours captured the attention of a worker from the Humane Society during a roundup by the Bureau of Land Management.  The worker described his coat as looking like a Picasso painting, and the name stuck.

Living in the wild, Picasso had to fight many battles, both with other stallions and the harsh environment.  The climate in the Sand Wash Basin has punishing 95 degree plus summers with droughts, and brutal sub-zero temperatures in the winters.  Because of this Picasso became a true warrior as he not only had to fight other stallions for mares, but also for water.

Picasso’s best friend was another stallion named Lightening.  Lightening was jet black with white splashes and a wide blaze.  When Lightening passed away, Picasso looked very lonely without his friend by his side.

Picasso sired many foals.  His most famous son was called Van Gogh, but he sadly died in 2020.  Picasso also has a famous Grandson called Michaelangelo.

Picasso in his older years began to travel alone and not with a herd, as it would not have been worth the risk of fighting off younger, stronger stallions.

Picasso lived to be over 30 yers old, which is unheard of for horses living in the wilderness.

Some people believed that as his health declined, he should have been adopted so that he could live out his final years sheltered from the harsh environment; his fans though were against the idea and believed that he should have always remained how he lived, free to roam.

[debbiemoylanart]

The inspiration behind the painting of 'Eternal'

Pegasus was an immortal, magical, winged stallion in Greek mythology.  His father was the god of the sea, horses, storms and earthquakes,Poseidon, and his mother was the snake - haired Gorgon Medusa.  When the hero Perseus beheaded the pregnant Medusa, Pegasus and his brother Chrysaor sprang forth from her neck.

Pegasus was capable of creating streams of water wherever he struck his hoof.  The two famous ones were both called Hippocrene, the most well known one is on Mount Helicon; the sacred place of the Muses.

Athena, the Goddess of War, tamed Pegasus with a magic golden bridle, and when a hero called Bellerophon asked for her help she gave him the bridle and Pegasus knowing that it was from Athena let him climb on his back to ride him.

One day Bellerophon was accused of something that he didn’t do, and was given a seemingly impossible task of killing the Chimera, which was a fire-breathing monster with the head and body of a lion, a goats head on his back, and a snake for a tail.

Bellerophon climbed on the Pegasus back to use the winged horse in the battle.  Bellerophon was able to fight the Chimera from above because Pegasus could fly, and he repeatedly stabbed the monster from above with lead tipped spears until it was dead.

Bellerophon and Pegasus went on to complete more challenges and battles together, including a battle with the Amazons.

Bellerophon began to feel that he should not be with the mortals on earth, but deserved to be with the Gods on Mount Olympus, so one day he decided to fly to Olympus with Pegasus.  As they flew higher and higher, Zeus (King of the Gods), became very angry at Bellerophon and sent a horsefly down from the mountain.  The horsefly bit Pegasus, causing him to buck in pain which threw Bellerophon from his back.  Bellerophon fell back to earth and was killed.

Pegasus carried on flying and reached Mount Olympus.  He then served Zeus for many years by fetching his thunder and lightening bolts whenever he needed them.

On the last day of Pegasus’ life, Zeus rewarded him for his loyal service by making him into a constellation in the sky to live forever.

Pegasus is a symbol of freedom.

70cm x 60cm Oil and Mixed media on canvas

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'King'

Mixed media and oil on canvas

60cm x 50cm

This was inspired by a lion called Jon who was rescued in a horrific state by the Born Free Foundation. He was being kept illegally by a travelling circus and had been kept in a cage for 13 years. Nature intended these majestic animals to be free not used for fur, medicine or public entertainment. Sadly Jon only lived a few months of freedom but at least he felt grass beneath his feet and had peace live and care in his final months.

#bornfree #lionking #lions #majestic #mixedmedia #oilpainter

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"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this." - Terry Pratchett Happy International Cat Day

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Inner Voice speaks to struggles lost and strength within

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'Inner Voice' - Mixed media on paper