Meet Ali Bannister

I finally did it. I pulled the lever and sent money to get the project rolling. No, I did not buy a horse...

Rather I have officially hired Ali Bannister to paint Jaguar Hope in pastel. I hear you asking, "Why Ali?"

Just look at her work like this one she just finished of the Oldenburg stallion, Donnersong:

I've gotten to know Ali over the past year or even longer via the website Flickr where we post our work. Here's Ali's Flickr page. Ali lives in the U.K., loved my photos of Jaguar Hope and even though it was through the internet, I felt like she knew him. At least she certainly knew him through my eyes via my photos. She would always gush over him in her comments about the photos. So when she proposed painting him after he passed I didn't even have to think about it - it was an immediate yes. The biggest problem was selecting the photo to use! Which will be a surprise.

Ali has done all sorts of cool work. Just look at this one of "Hare Today" or even this photo she took of her subject checking out her work - "Do My Ears Look Big In This."

Ali is an equestrian at heart and we banter back and forth about horses. She thinks Canoodler is a bit large... :) and her friends were very keen on learning more about Jaguar Hope and his lineage. Jag did have some cool relatives!

And for those into the celebrity stuff (I think this is pretty cool), she had been commissioned by Ringo Starr to paint his wives horses!

So I'm now officially excited about having a painting of Jaguar Hope by my friend Ali. You know darn well that when it's done you'll know all about it.