Equine Artist to Showcase 40 Watercolors

Painting by R.C. Ewell

R.C. Ewell’s latest exhibit, “At the Barns, Mostly,” is scheduled to open Friday, Aug. 2, at the Saratoga Springs Heritage Area Visitor Center at 297 Broadway with a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and will run for a month.

During the reception, 88-year- old equine artist Ewell and his wife of nearly seven decades, Barbara, will be on hand to socialize.

The exhibit will showcase 40 works, many freshly created watercolors, which take inspiration from topics such as early morning fog to hot walkers on the Oklahoma race track that straddles his backyard. Others are focused on the evening, rather than the morning. Still others are inspired by childhood memories of Spa City’s east side.

Ewell is a self-taught artist, and generally wakes up before dawn to

draw inspiration from “the infinite variations in contrast, color and depth of the early morning light.” His portfolio currently contains nearly2,000titles.

“One image in this year’s show stemmedfromthehighcontrastof early morning sun on the quiet scene,” Ewell said. “Fog, on the other hand, is a frequent morning visitor to the track. The silhouette of horses with their riders as they emerge or fade into the fog also provided treasured scenes. One such image catches riders taking theirchargesthroughthegaponto the track for morning workout.”

Theexhibitwillalsoinclude familiar faces of the Saratoga racing season. Some of Ewell’s personal favorites include Marylou Whitney in casual clothes and William “Bill” Mott, the Hall of Fame trainer, patting one of his rider’s horses’ neck several years before winning the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

For more information, call 518-584-4572.