Horse Paintings Go Out and About
Welcome to the first episode in my new adventure series – Horse Paintings on the Go!
This new series will feature awesome places around Ohio, my home state. The plan is simple: Take my paintings on a field trip. Take photos. Post photos on my blog and social with cool facts about the destination!
My first destination was Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park. Believe it or not, a couple weeks ago I didn’t even know this place existed. (My bad) I can’t even remember how I found it… but I remember what caught my attention – the fact that you can rent a golf cart and drive it around the park. For years, maybe decades, I’ve wanted to find somewhere I could rent a golf cart and just drive it around – like a 4-wheeler, only way milder, aka flatter. I was so excited! My dream come true!
On Google I found Pyramid Hill’s website – and it was filled with photos of awesome sculptures! BONUS! Golf carts PLUS art! This was going to be quite an adventure.
From Idea to Reality – How the Series Started
Looking at those sculptures online got me thinking of the list I’d recently started of places – horse related and non-horse related – where I was planning to take a painting or two for an Instagram photo or two. Yes, #paintingsonthego #horsepaintingsonthego was already brewing in my brain. (WARNING: this next part might be TMI, so feel free to just skip ahead a look at the photos if you want.) The new Netflix series Emily in Paris inspired this idea. In one episode, Emily who works in marketing, dreamed up an Instagram selfie opportunity to promote her client’s bed. She placed the bed under the stars in an enchanting, quaint Paris neighborhood and took photos for Insta. And invited people to stop by and take selfies there too! Genius!
This sculpture is made from tires! The texture looks feathery – like Friesian horse
So, I’d started my list of places for #paintingsonthego. Places like Buehler’s Fresh Foods with their beautiful carrots in the background, maybe Weaver Leather – if they let me visit, maybe Buckeye Feed which is close by. The possibilities are endless!
Destination #1 – Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park
But Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park was irresistible! Checking out their website for possible sculpture + horse painting “pairings” gave me lots of ideas. I tossed selected paintings in my car and threw in my husband too for good luck! Actually he did most of the driving. And we were off on an adventure!
Located in Hamilton, Ohio, Pyramid Hill‘s mission is “Bring People to Art in Nature.” Mission accomplished! What a beautiful place! When we arrived our plan was to hop on a golf cart and zoom around, but it was still damp, and the paved paths too slippery for the golf carts. So we drove the loop, stopping to hike to get close up looks at the awesome sculptures. The sculptures are carefully placed throughout the 300+ acre park amid rolling hills and areas of woods and spacious manicured lawns. Lakes are sprinkled throughout. I loved it!
Eleven pairs of life-size sculptures reflect on life throughout the park.
These two echo the silent interaction between the paint horse in my painting.
It’s a photographer’s dream – combining nature and art is such fun! As we wandered the park I took lots of photos and planned exactly which paintings and sculptures to photograph together.
Pyramid Hill’s vision mentions collaboration – and these sculpture + horse painting pairs are a unique collaboration.
Then we took photos of the sculptures + paintings. Also so fun!
Could some of these sculptures inspire future paintings? Which sculpture do you find most inspirational?
Learn more about Pyramid Hill.
Pyramid Hill is a fantastic day trip! It’s open 365 days a year (weather permitting) and hosts numerous special events during non-COVID years. Admission is $8 per person, and golf carts are $20 for one hour.
The park is also home to an Ancient Sculpture Museum that displays Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Syrian and Egyptian sculptures dating to 1550 B.C. It was closed the Wednesday that we visited, but we’ll certainly check it out next time we visit!
Later in the morning, we checked back to see if it was dry enough to rent a golf cart – and it was as long as we stayed on the paved paths. We were warned about about carts SLIDING down damp trails. This warning was taken very seriously by moi. One cart trail crested and then seemed to head straight down. Yikes! The cart driving instructions luckily had included how to put the cart in reverse. My dream for a flat golf cart riding paradise had to be adjusted just a bit. It was very a super fun day! Be sure to put a visit to Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park on your to do list!
