My family loves to spend time with our good friends at La Torre alle Tolfe in Siena and this painting was from a photograph I took whilst there of a very kind and wise young man taking care of his shire horse, Billy. Capturing them in a painting was a dream. However, doing justice to their presence in the surroundings was more challenging. I struggle with painting landscapes probably because I love nature so much that I never feel I quite capture its true beauty. In this painting I included dynamic elements in the trees and bushes using fluid gestural stokes and wet-on-wet painting, some strokes intuitively placed, and others almost placed under torture. It worked together quite well and thankfully the young man loves his portrait.