I was going to publish another of my drawings today but instead would like to mention several blogs that I have been following as of lately. Nevertheless I am going to attach one already on the net.
My biggest discovery this so is this blog http://globalhorseculture.typepad.com/global_horse_culture/ . Girasol (Sunflower) is the author of that blog and I must say it is a wonderful resource center for Latin American and American horses and horsemanship.
also there you can learn about horse publications and other horse related items.
Another blog I just discovered, well actually she discovered me first - thanks, is this blog on the Native American (Indian) beadwork and its historical reconstitution and reproduction http://angelaswedberg.blogspot.com/ . The author is this amazingly talented and devilishly or divinely :) blessed with tremendous patience and ability to reconstruct ancient beadwork Washington state artist and scholar named Angela Swedberg. I love her work while especially I look after the photos of the old American Indian horse tack and horses themselves.
Another site that I follow because I use it to learn how to paint with GIMP is http://idrawgirls.blogspot.com/ where author, another Washingtonian named Xia, shows his artistic talents and teaches us, the web students, how to operate and use computer graphic programs to create images from start to finish, in Photoshop and Gimp.
I have another passion, miniature military sculpting - websites like Planetfigure.com or Polish forum figurki.org. One of the people engaged in this passionate artistic discipline and whom I admire a lot is this Atlanta based miniature sculptor and Renaissance armor and weapons scholar Agustín 'Augie' J. Rodríguez and his blog is http://augiemefecit.blogspot.com/2009_04_05_archive.html where he show his research and works in progress.
Saddly one of my favorite horse sites - horsemanpro.com is no longer working, too bad for that site's author, often harsh and strong-worded, is so knowledgeable about horses in the old, pre-1960s way ;).
Another author, dr Deb Bennett, is also big on my list of sites to visit http://www.equinestudies.org/
Finally, my most favorite American Indian site is http://plainsledgerart.org/ which has the authentic Plains warriors drawings made around the time of the Plains Indian Wars (post 1860s), and these drawings must be the primary sources on the subject how the 19th century Plains warriors and their horses, how they rode, fought. loved and looked, and not the paintings by the Euro-American artists like Remington or Russell.
HI Dario, Thanks for your kind comments about my Blog and work. I found your blog, and it is incredibly interesting and your illustrations are wonderful. What I find really interesting is the historical Polish horse gear you show and how similar it is to the American Western gear, although the rule of thought is that American horse gear (Western) evolved from Spanish gear. You have me thinking.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully,
Angela Swedberg
hello Angela,
ReplyDeleteyour interest and very kind comments I appreciate very much.
Hope to show more gear, not only Polish, via my drawings and museum pieces.
You know I have always wondered how old Polish ridding gear brought here by gen. Kazimierz Pulaski during the Revolutionary War might have influenced or made some Americans look at saddlery and horse tack. Anyway, the best modern military saddle i.e., the McClellan saddle, was developed by merging Hungarian and 'Mexican' saddle designs. And the Hungarian saddle tree was almost the same as Polish saddle tree :).
I also wonder when they say the Moorish saddle influenced the Spanish jineta saddle. Well, actually the Moorish saddle was nothing but the Turkish or Mongol-Turkish design used in North Africa, and the old Polish saddle was based on the Mogol-Turkish saddles too.
Hello again Dario,
ReplyDeleteAre you aware of a book "Man Made Mobile, Early Saddles of Western North America" by the Smithsonian Institution Press. Great Book for all of those interested in horse gear.
Keep up the great work.
Angela
Yes, 'Man Made Mobile' - I have the pdf copy - intersting book and one of my most useful reference materials. Actually I have been working on a project that covers the coquistadors' horses, horse tack through the presidiales and Texas vaqueros all the way to the Plains warriors and their horse tack, including horse types, tack, some warfare, rituals etc.
ReplyDeleteI also like Mr Cisneros and his research centered on the so called 'Hispanic jinete' - vide 'Riders through the Centuries.'