Sports and athletics are vibrant threads in my artistic fabric. I love them all, having competed in baseball, track, wrestling, swimming, diving, and gymnastics. Two sports came later for me, golf and horse racing. I feature these in my artwork today. A fascination in horse racing began for me in 1973, when Secretariat captured the world’s collective heart in a historical Triple Crown run. In 1999, I visited the Mecca of horse racing, Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Derby Museum was a treat to visit. I now collect historical horse racing memorabilia.
My purpose, goal, and dream are to someday do the program cover art for the “greatest two minutes” in sport, the Kentucky Derby, and the pageantry of the Kentucky Oaks. On the backside of Churchill Downs, there is a sign that says “the road to the Kentucky Derby is not paved.” I want to paint my way there.
In 2002 and 2003, I was commissioned to do program cover artwork for the Pennsylvania Derby, our state’s biggest annual Grade 1 horse race. In 2004, I was honored again by Philadelphia Park, (now Parx Racing), to do a painting of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones. The popular Smarty Jones was scheduled to grace the track with his final appearance at that fall’s Pennsylvania Derby. Smarty Jones abruptly retired due to an injury, but my painting later became part of the “Smarty Jones, a Pennsylvania Champion” exhibit at the James Michener Museum, Doylestown, Pa, in 2005. The exhibit also included photos and memorabilia from that memorable Smarty Jones Triple Crown run.
The painting that I chose for this web site header, explains my excitement for horse racing.
