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Description
Art bid for Drakehest Export 12009 and Drakehest Export 10011

Traveling Journal, Joakim Grahn

Day 1 - Monday, 23rd March 2016
Me and Jinx have finally arrived. We'll spend the night at a friends house and then head out for the trip tomorrow. The forecast is really promising! No rain, and it's going to get even warmer, so I may be able to stick to more comfortable, thin clothing. I bet Jinx is going to love it as well, since she can go swimming then. I wonder what kind of horse I'll get for the next three weeks...

Day 2 - Tuesday, 24th March 2016
The forecast lied. It's been raining all day and by now we're all pretty much soaked. At least the dog doesn't seem to bother, but the horse I got has been in a bad mood all day. Maybe he'll be better tomorrow when he dried off, if he gets to dry off that is. Other than that he seems to be a rather nice horse. His name is Spot, which is kind of ironic because there are no spots on him, he's just a reddish brown shade, no markings either. Whoever named him probably didn't even try. For now I need to try and find a dry place to spend the night or I may have to call this trip off earlier than I want to.

I finally found a dense patch of trees. I'll try to make a campfire now if I find dry wood, so I can get something to eat while drying off. Luckily my bags didn't soak through, or I'd be in trouble now.

Day 3 - Wednesday, 25th March 2016
The weather is better, and so is my mood. I went to let Spot graze for quite a while and he also looks like he prefers this weather over the constant rain. I almost think that we could become good friends during the next weeks.

Lunchtime. We covered quite the distance because the sunny weather indeed seems to give that horse twice the energy. I'm having him rest for two hours now though, I don't want him to tire out too fast.
So far, I didn't see nothing too extraordinary. Besides pretty sceneries and a few deer it's been rather calm, which doesn't have to be a bad thing. It's quite relaxing to be honest about it.

Didn't get very far from where I continued in the afternoon. We had to cross a river, and while Jinx seemed to love splashing around in the water, Spot almost freaked out when I tried to get him to walk through it. I had to start several attempts to lead him through it until he trusted me about it. Turns out he didn't drown after all. But I'm soaked, again.

Day 4 - Thursday, 26th March 2016
Dried off well and started early this morning. I'll allow Spot to take a longer break in the afternoon, but the forecast said it might rain later in the day and I really want to cover some distance before that.

I made some good progress until it started to rain, I may stay here until tomorrow morning actually. I may not find a dry place if I head out again now. Also I can see a small band of wild horses a bit of a distance away. I'll keep spying on them a little until I get ready for the night.

Day 5 - Friday, 27th March 2016
Woke up early because of noise. Looks like those wild horses decided to check on Spot and my supplies, I lost a few cereal bars to them, but luckily nothing too major. That was a pretty surprised look on those horses when I suddenly got up though! I got to take a closer look at them though. A small family herd it seems, stallion, mare and foal. I'm still surprised Jinx didn't chase them off, such a bad guard dog.

Cleaned up the mess the wild horses created with my supplies and continued my travels. Looks like the weather will be constant today, so I can travel at a more relaxed pace.

Day 6 - Saturday, 28th March 2016
I'm no longer traveling alone. When I woke up today the same herd of wild horses was around again, but this time they left my supplies alone. They didn't run too far off today when I got up, so I could watch them from a bit of a closer distance while having breakfast. Black stallion, with a hint of red in his mane and tail. He seems to be quite the protective one, whenever the mare or foal try to investigate he herds them away again. The mare however, a dapple grey, appears to be much more curious about me. She's constantly glancing over and sneaking closer if she can. The little bay foal just sticks to her for the most part, he seems to be a playful and quite fearless fella though.

They traveled a bit of a distance next to me for the whole day. I fixed my supplies on a tree so they can't reach it while I sleep. I need my food, and they have enough grass to dine on.

Day 7 - Sunday, 29th March 2016
Woke up to wild horses again today. Looks like Spot is getting attatched to them. I also decided to give them nicknames so I can refer to them more easily in my journal. I decided to name the stallion Sirius, because he's always so serious. It's a play on words. The grey make is called Chalk, because it almost looks like she rolled in it. The little colt also recieved a name referring to his colour. I named him Mud, sounds cute in my opinion.

Lunchtime, and since I don't feel like I need to rush I'll try to draw the three wild horses. Every traveler does that eventually, so I guess I'm obligated to at least try.

Note to self: Don't try.

Day 8 - Monday, 30th March 2016
I can't see my three wild horse friends. I hope they're alright, but I'm sure they just moved on without me. I'm not going to travel today, there's a severe thunderstorm going on and I don't want to risk anything. Well, that's why I brought a few books along with me.

Spot ran off. He got spooked by lightning striking nearby and he somehow freed himself in his panic. I wish I had taught Jinx how to track a scent, but now I have to try and find him on foot. If I don't find him I'll be in big trouble.

I didn't find him. It's already dark and still raining. I need to rest and dry off. Tomorrow I'll see what I can do about this.

Day 9 - Tuesday, 31st March 2016
The rain just won't stop and I feel like I'll have to call it off if I don't find my horse by tomorrow. I'll go out to search for him again today. At least Jinx doesn't seem to be stressed by all of this.

Not success. I've been scouting the area for a whole day, and the rain really isn't helping. I set tomorrow afternoon as my deadline to find him before I call it off so I can get help to find him. Damn that horse.

Day 10 - Wednesday, 1st June 2016
The wild horses are back. And guess who is following them around. Sirious doesn't let Spot get to close, but at least he's with them. I'm going to catch him and check him for injuries now. If he's alright we can continue our travel tomorrow.

I'm so relieved. He is alright, not even a scratch. We're going to break here for one more day and then continue.

Day 11 - Thursday, 2nd June 2016
The wild horses have dissapeared again, and the rain has stopped. I'll start early to catch up on the lost time.

My plan to make up the lost time failed. We had to stop at a river we can't cross. It's too dangerous because of the rain during the last days. We'll have to wait again, because not even Jinx dares to put a paw into that raging current.

Day 12 - Friday, 3rd June 2016
Nothing new, I'm still waiting for the river to calm down.

Day 13 - Saturday, 4th June 2016
I ran out of books to read. So I'm just going to scout the area a little with Jinx and Spot.

Nothing too intresting to be found even after our rather long trail ride. I hope we can cross the river tomorrow, I don't want to waste more time waiting here.

Day 14 - Sunday, 5th June 2016
I miss the internet. We still can't cross the river, but the wild horses are back. They seem to want to cross it as well, but stopped their attempts after Mud almost got caught in a current. He drifted down the river a bit, but luckily caught some solid ground again.

Day 15 - Monday, 6th June 2016
The wild horses successfully crossed, so I'll try my luck as well today. Hopefully we'll do as well as our friends.

Crossed successfully in late morning. Going by my map there shouldn't be any other big rivers, so I may be able to continue without any further problems. We left the wild horses behind at some point in the afternoon. Since the moon is almost fully I think I can risk to travel into the night to catch up on the time.

Continued riding until midnight. I saw a cougar, but it didn't seem to care for me. It makes me worried for Mud, he's so little. It's surprising how fast I got attatched to the little family.

Day 16 - Tuesday 7th June 2016
'My' wild horses didn't show up again, but I spotted two others. A mare and a foal. The mare looks really pretty, she looks a bit like someone had dunked Spot into white paint. The little black filly with her worries me though. It looks thin, almost starved. It lays down a lot and I almost feel like she isn't the mother of the little thing.

I tried to get closer to the mare and her filly, but she turned out to be rather aggressive. She's try to protect the foal, but can't nurse it. If the filly doesn't adjust to a diet on grass it might just die. Poor thing.

Day 17 - Wednesday, 8th June 2016
Aggressive but curious. The mare and her adoptive foal followed me. I saw it trying to graze, maybe it's going to be lucky. I decided to name them as well. I named the foal Nibbles, because of how carefully she's picking at the grass. I considered naming the mare 'Actual Spot', but then decided to name her Lana instead. I'm not going to try to draw them after what happened last time I attempted art.

We're slowly catching up on the time. Spot is tiring out, but maybe that isn't as bad with the tons of energy he had when we started. But I really could use some social contacts with humans again. I've started talking to the birds.

Day 18 - Thursday, 9th June 2016
Jinx brought me a dead mouse today. I don't know why she has to turn into a cat now, but I hope she doesn't drop something dead in my bed again anytime soon. Also she really needs a bath as soon as we're back home because she smells like she rolled in something dead.

We continued that morning and rest for lunch now. Another wild horse has showed up. He looks quite intresting, because I can't quite name his colouration. He looks like a dark brown in the front, but fades into a lighter colour to the back. The most intresting thing however is a string-like marking around his neck and leg. At first I thought he got caught on something, but it's really markings. Since I ran out of creativity for names, I just decided to name him Nugget. I feel like he is trying to court Lana, but she chases him off everytime he gets too close to her adopted child.

Looks like this is turning into a long following chain. Lana and Nibbles follow me, Nugget follows them. I'll see if they're still around tomorrow when I wake up.

Day 19 - Friday, 10th June 2016
They're indeed still around. And Lana is still chasing Nugget off. The foal looks incredibly exhausted, I wonder if she's even going to keep up during the day in case they decide to continue following me.

It's getting dark now, and the small thing is still struggling to keep up. She stopped trying to snack on grass and just lays down during the breaks now. I don't think there is much hope for her to survive.

Day 20 - Saturday, 11th June 2016
Nibbles made it through the night and I feel like I'm getting too concerned about all this. I caught myself considering to take her with me, even though I shouldn't just interfere with nature. Even if I tried taking the foal, Lana would possibly attack me, so at least she is keeping me from doing something stupid. Nugget has stopped trying to get closer to her by now, but he's staying in the area, almost as if he was waiting for something. I doubt they will follow me any further with Nibbles condition, so I might not get to know what he's waiting for.

I was wrong. They followed me all the way. I can see the ocean from here, so I'm going to arrive my destination tomorrow. For now, we need to rest though.

Day 21 - Sunday, 12th June 2016
Just now in daylight I can see how pretty this place is. There's a little river flowing through a small valley and passing underneath a stone arch that doesn't quite look like it was naturally there. So at least there is signs of people around here. I can't find any of the wild horses though, I may just look around for them, since I have more than enough time left now.

I found them. Nibbles didn't survive the night, and it looks like Nugget waited for just that. He is trying to get closer to Lana now, but she's still defending the dead foal. I wish I could help her, but I must leave her alone with this. I watched them for a few minutes before I left them so I can pack my things.

I was almost done packing when I noticed movement in the valley ahead. And when I looked up I saw no one else but Sirius, Chalk and Mud heading for the river in the valley. I got so caught up in that I didn't even notice the hoofbeats nearing and almost got run over by Nugget fleeing from Lana furiously biting at him. They passed me quickly, I don't think they even bothered about me standing there.

The fight went on while I packed my last things. And as I left I still heard some angry neighs. I hope they can eventually figure things out. As do I hope for Mud and his parents to do well out there.

Day 22 - Monday, 13th June 2016
I almost forgot how great is is to sleep in a real bed, or how good a warm shower feels. I still can't quite stop thinking about those wild horses out there. I would love to check back on them, just to see how they're doing. Maybe I can find out who is responsible for them and if there is a way to keep up with them...

Characters:
Joakim Grahn
Jinx
Spot
Nugget
Lana
Nibbles
Arradir as Mud [Cameo]
Tuilin as Chalk [Cameo]
Hathreal as Sirius [Cameo]

Time Taken: 32-36 Hours [Artwork], 5-6 Hours [Story]
Wordcount: 2614
References:
nico andalusian 1 [Pose Idea]
Grey andalusian run 5 [Pose Idea]
HORSE STOCK - Foal 2 [Closely Referenced]

Holy shit. Just what happened. This must be the most detailed thing I ever did. I just spent the last three to four days on this. I only paused to eat or sleep, other than that I always worked on this. I don't know where exactly I found the motivation for such a big thing, but I'm really proud of it. I think this will be my best artwork to-date for a very long time. Let's hope the judges can see that too, wish me luck! XD

Description
Art bid for Drakehest Export 12009 and Drakehest Export 10011

Traveling Journal, Joakim Grahn

Day 1 - Monday, 23rd March 2016
Me and Jinx have finally arrived. We'll spend the night at a friends house and then head out for the trip tomorrow. The forecast is really promising! No rain, and it's going to get even warmer, so I may be able to stick to more comfortable, thin clothing. I bet Jinx is going to love it as well, since she can go swimming then. I wonder what kind of horse I'll get for the next three weeks...

Day 2 - Tuesday, 24th March 2016
The forecast lied. It's been raining all day and by now we're all pretty much soaked. At least the dog doesn't seem to bother, but the horse I got has been in a bad mood all day. Maybe he'll be better tomorrow when he dried off, if he gets to dry off that is. Other than that he seems to be a rather nice horse. His name is Spot, which is kind of ironic because there are no spots on him, he's just a reddish brown shade, no markings either. Whoever named him probably didn't even try. For now I need to try and find a dry place to spend the night or I may have to call this trip off earlier than I want to.

I finally found a dense patch of trees. I'll try to make a campfire now if I find dry wood, so I can get something to eat while drying off. Luckily my bags didn't soak through, or I'd be in trouble now.

Day 3 - Wednesday, 25th March 2016
The weather is better, and so is my mood. I went to let Spot graze for quite a while and he also looks like he prefers this weather over the constant rain. I almost think that we could become good friends during the next weeks.

Lunchtime. We covered quite the distance because the sunny weather indeed seems to give that horse twice the energy. I'm having him rest for two hours now though, I don't want him to tire out too fast.
So far, I didn't see nothing too extraordinary. Besides pretty sceneries and a few deer it's been rather calm, which doesn't have to be a bad thing. It's quite relaxing to be honest about it.

Didn't get very far from where I continued in the afternoon. We had to cross a river, and while Jinx seemed to love splashing around in the water, Spot almost freaked out when I tried to get him to walk through it. I had to start several attempts to lead him through it until he trusted me about it. Turns out he didn't drown after all. But I'm soaked, again.

Day 4 - Thursday, 26th March 2016
Dried off well and started early this morning. I'll allow Spot to take a longer break in the afternoon, but the forecast said it might rain later in the day and I really want to cover some distance before that.

I made some good progress until it started to rain, I may stay here until tomorrow morning actually. I may not find a dry place if I head out again now. Also I can see a small band of wild horses a bit of a distance away. I'll keep spying on them a little until I get ready for the night.

Day 5 - Friday, 27th March 2016
Woke up early because of noise. Looks like those wild horses decided to check on Spot and my supplies, I lost a few cereal bars to them, but luckily nothing too major. That was a pretty surprised look on those horses when I suddenly got up though! I got to take a closer look at them though. A small family herd it seems, stallion, mare and foal. I'm still surprised Jinx didn't chase them off, such a bad guard dog.

Cleaned up the mess the wild horses created with my supplies and continued my travels. Looks like the weather will be constant today, so I can travel at a more relaxed pace.

Day 6 - Saturday, 28th March 2016
I'm no longer traveling alone. When I woke up today the same herd of wild horses was around again, but this time they left my supplies alone. They didn't run too far off today when I got up, so I could watch them from a bit of a closer distance while having breakfast. Black stallion, with a hint of red in his mane and tail. He seems to be quite the protective one, whenever the mare or foal try to investigate he herds them away again. The mare however, a dapple grey, appears to be much more curious about me. She's constantly glancing over and sneaking closer if she can. The little bay foal just sticks to her for the most part, he seems to be a playful and quite fearless fella though.

They traveled a bit of a distance next to me for the whole day. I fixed my supplies on a tree so they can't reach it while I sleep. I need my food, and they have enough grass to dine on.

Day 7 - Sunday, 29th March 2016
Woke up to wild horses again today. Looks like Spot is getting attatched to them. I also decided to give them nicknames so I can refer to them more easily in my journal. I decided to name the stallion Sirius, because he's always so serious. It's a play on words. The grey make is called Chalk, because it almost looks like she rolled in it. The little colt also recieved a name referring to his colour. I named him Mud, sounds cute in my opinion.

Lunchtime, and since I don't feel like I need to rush I'll try to draw the three wild horses. Every traveler does that eventually, so I guess I'm obligated to at least try.

Note to self: Don't try.

Day 8 - Monday, 30th March 2016
I can't see my three wild horse friends. I hope they're alright, but I'm sure they just moved on without me. I'm not going to travel today, there's a severe thunderstorm going on and I don't want to risk anything. Well, that's why I brought a few books along with me.

Spot ran off. He got spooked by lightning striking nearby and he somehow freed himself in his panic. I wish I had taught Jinx how to track a scent, but now I have to try and find him on foot. If I don't find him I'll be in big trouble.

I didn't find him. It's already dark and still raining. I need to rest and dry off. Tomorrow I'll see what I can do about this.

Day 9 - Tuesday, 31st March 2016
The rain just won't stop and I feel like I'll have to call it off if I don't find my horse by tomorrow. I'll go out to search for him again today. At least Jinx doesn't seem to be stressed by all of this.

Not success. I've been scouting the area for a whole day, and the rain really isn't helping. I set tomorrow afternoon as my deadline to find him before I call it off so I can get help to find him. Damn that horse.

Day 10 - Wednesday, 1st June 2016
The wild horses are back. And guess who is following them around. Sirious doesn't let Spot get to close, but at least he's with them. I'm going to catch him and check him for injuries now. If he's alright we can continue our travel tomorrow.

I'm so relieved. He is alright, not even a scratch. We're going to break here for one more day and then continue.

Day 11 - Thursday, 2nd June 2016
The wild horses have dissapeared again, and the rain has stopped. I'll start early to catch up on the lost time.

My plan to make up the lost time failed. We had to stop at a river we can't cross. It's too dangerous because of the rain during the last days. We'll have to wait again, because not even Jinx dares to put a paw into that raging current.

Day 12 - Friday, 3rd June 2016
Nothing new, I'm still waiting for the river to calm down.

Day 13 - Saturday, 4th June 2016
I ran out of books to read. So I'm just going to scout the area a little with Jinx and Spot.

Nothing too intresting to be found even after our rather long trail ride. I hope we can cross the river tomorrow, I don't want to waste more time waiting here.

Day 14 - Sunday, 5th June 2016
I miss the internet. We still can't cross the river, but the wild horses are back. They seem to want to cross it as well, but stopped their attempts after Mud almost got caught in a current. He drifted down the river a bit, but luckily caught some solid ground again.

Day 15 - Monday, 6th June 2016
The wild horses successfully crossed, so I'll try my luck as well today. Hopefully we'll do as well as our friends.

Crossed successfully in late morning. Going by my map there shouldn't be any other big rivers, so I may be able to continue without any further problems. We left the wild horses behind at some point in the afternoon. Since the moon is almost fully I think I can risk to travel into the night to catch up on the time.

Continued riding until midnight. I saw a cougar, but it didn't seem to care for me. It makes me worried for Mud, he's so little. It's surprising how fast I got attatched to the little family.

Day 16 - Tuesday 7th June 2016
'My' wild horses didn't show up again, but I spotted two others. A mare and a foal. The mare looks really pretty, she looks a bit like someone had dunked Spot into white paint. The little black filly with her worries me though. It looks thin, almost starved. It lays down a lot and I almost feel like she isn't the mother of the little thing.

I tried to get closer to the mare and her filly, but she turned out to be rather aggressive. She's try to protect the foal, but can't nurse it. If the filly doesn't adjust to a diet on grass it might just die. Poor thing.

Day 17 - Wednesday, 8th June 2016
Aggressive but curious. The mare and her adoptive foal followed me. I saw it trying to graze, maybe it's going to be lucky. I decided to name them as well. I named the foal Nibbles, because of how carefully she's picking at the grass. I considered naming the mare 'Actual Spot', but then decided to name her Lana instead. I'm not going to try to draw them after what happened last time I attempted art.

We're slowly catching up on the time. Spot is tiring out, but maybe that isn't as bad with the tons of energy he had when we started. But I really could use some social contacts with humans again. I've started talking to the birds.

Day 18 - Thursday, 9th June 2016
Jinx brought me a dead mouse today. I don't know why she has to turn into a cat now, but I hope she doesn't drop something dead in my bed again anytime soon. Also she really needs a bath as soon as we're back home because she smells like she rolled in something dead.

We continued that morning and rest for lunch now. Another wild horse has showed up. He looks quite intresting, because I can't quite name his colouration. He looks like a dark brown in the front, but fades into a lighter colour to the back. The most intresting thing however is a string-like marking around his neck and leg. At first I thought he got caught on something, but it's really markings. Since I ran out of creativity for names, I just decided to name him Nugget. I feel like he is trying to court Lana, but she chases him off everytime he gets too close to her adopted child.

Looks like this is turning into a long following chain. Lana and Nibbles follow me, Nugget follows them. I'll see if they're still around tomorrow when I wake up.

Day 19 - Friday, 10th June 2016
They're indeed still around. And Lana is still chasing Nugget off. The foal looks incredibly exhausted, I wonder if she's even going to keep up during the day in case they decide to continue following me.

It's getting dark now, and the small thing is still struggling to keep up. She stopped trying to snack on grass and just lays down during the breaks now. I don't think there is much hope for her to survive.

Day 20 - Saturday, 11th June 2016
Nibbles made it through the night and I feel like I'm getting too concerned about all this. I caught myself considering to take her with me, even though I shouldn't just interfere with nature. Even if I tried taking the foal, Lana would possibly attack me, so at least she is keeping me from doing something stupid. Nugget has stopped trying to get closer to her by now, but he's staying in the area, almost as if he was waiting for something. I doubt they will follow me any further with Nibbles condition, so I might not get to know what he's waiting for.

I was wrong. They followed me all the way. I can see the ocean from here, so I'm going to arrive my destination tomorrow. For now, we need to rest though.

Day 21 - Sunday, 12th June 2016
Just now in daylight I can see how pretty this place is. There's a little river flowing through a small valley and passing underneath a stone arch that doesn't quite look like it was naturally there. So at least there is signs of people around here. I can't find any of the wild horses though, I may just look around for them, since I have more than enough time left now.

I found them. Nibbles didn't survive the night, and it looks like Nugget waited for just that. He is trying to get closer to Lana now, but she's still defending the dead foal. I wish I could help her, but I must leave her alone with this. I watched them for a few minutes before I left them so I can pack my things.

I was almost done packing when I noticed movement in the valley ahead. And when I looked up I saw no one else but Sirius, Chalk and Mud heading for the river in the valley. I got so caught up in that I didn't even notice the hoofbeats nearing and almost got run over by Nugget fleeing from Lana furiously biting at him. They passed me quickly, I don't think they even bothered about me standing there.

The fight went on while I packed my last things. And as I left I still heard some angry neighs. I hope they can eventually figure things out. As do I hope for Mud and his parents to do well out there.

Day 22 - Monday, 13th June 2016
I almost forgot how great is is to sleep in a real bed, or how good a warm shower feels. I still can't quite stop thinking about those wild horses out there. I would love to check back on them, just to see how they're doing. Maybe I can find out who is responsible for them and if there is a way to keep up with them...

Characters:
Joakim Grahn
Jinx
Spot
Nugget
Lana
Nibbles
Arradir as Mud [Cameo]
Tuilin as Chalk [Cameo]
Hathreal as Sirius [Cameo]

Time Taken: 32-36 Hours [Artwork], 5-6 Hours [Story]
Wordcount: 2614
References:
nico andalusian 1 [Pose Idea]
Grey andalusian run 5 [Pose Idea]
HORSE STOCK - Foal 2 [Closely Referenced]

Holy shit. Just what happened. This must be the most detailed thing I ever did. I just spent the last three to four days on this. I only paused to eat or sleep, other than that I always worked on this. I don't know where exactly I found the motivation for such a big thing, but I'm really proud of it. I think this will be my best artwork to-date for a very long time. Let's hope the judges can see that too, wish me luck! XD