Goshen. ‘You can make it home if you can just hold on a bit longer’

The Painted Trotter outside of Goshen Hardware was created by Emilia Estep:

“I paint in acrylic and pastel, sketch, make jewelry, and make cut paper art. My acrylic work has always been heavilly influenced by the duality of the sky, so I knew that I wanted one side of my trotter to show a night scene, and the other to feature a scene during the day.

“I began designing my trotter in early March, and I came up with maybe two dozen sketches, but it was actually the pandemic that influenced my final concept. When I finally was able to get the trotter to paint, everything was in stasis. I was stressed and scared, especially because I live with a family member who is medically fragile.

“My worry lent itself to the idea of a lighthouse. Lighthouses mean that there is nearby danger, but they are also signs that you are close to shore, and that you can make it home if you can just hold on a bit longer.

“On the other side, the boat sailing out into the dawn represents my hope for the future. I desperately hope that we will make it through to when we can just sail past the horizon safely. Both sides are meant to show the beauty in the night and the breathtaking majesty of day breaking through clouds.

“It’s my hope that my trotter can bring someone in a dark place to a little bit of light.”