The Horseman 1 of 13

I started a series of digital paintings and I plan to work my way through all thirteen ghosts I want to paint. The first was the traditional horseman. My version is a blue flaming skeleton on a skeletal horse swinging a fiery chain. I think I was influenced by a few sources including the Headless Horseman and a poem called Daniel Webster's Horses. 

Daniel Webster’s Horses

Elizabeth Coatsworth

If when the wind blows

Rattling the tress,

Clicking like skeletons’

Elbows and knees,

You hear along the road

Three horses pass,

Do not go near the dark

Cold window-glass

If when the first snow lies

Whiter than bones,

You see the mark of hoofs

Cut to the stones,

Hoofs of three horses

Going abreast—

Turn about, turn about,

A closed door is best!

Upright in the earth

Under the sod

They buried three horses,

Bridled and shod,

Daniel Webster’s horses—

He said as he grew old,

“Flesh, I loved riding,

Shall I not love it cold?

“Shall I not love to ride

Bone astride bone,

When the cold wind blows

And snow covers stone?

“Bury them on their feet,

With bridle and bit.

They were good horses.

See their shoes fit.”