Eye of Ice - beginnings

I started the pastel aceo of "eye of ice" today. I have so far just put in the basic shapes with colour which will form the background or underpainting for the final image. I started putting in some of the detail around the eye, but there is still a whole lot to do. I will post as I go along with this one. I'm working with 300g watercolour paper, and although it needs alot of working in for the colour to take, I am beginning to get used to it.

I have started a series of eye studies. The first is one of a horse called Safira. She is a very sad looking horse, and I especially like the sad expression in her eyes. This is an aceo card done in pastel.

The next one I am planning to do is of a horse called Ice. Because he is getting old his eyes are more sunken into his head, and it gives him an interesting look. I'll post more as I get it done. I am also planning to do this in pastel. Pastels for me are more like drawing than painting, but it is drawing in colour.

Interpretations Exhibition In October I have entered two paintings for the "Interpretations" exhibition on the Equine Art Guild site www.equineartguild.com . The exhibition is based around two horses owned by members. The horse's names are Doc and Monster. There were several reference photos that we could choose from to do our paintings, but the idea is to see how different artists interpret the images, so that it becomes more obvious just what the artist can bring to an image. It will be interesting to see how the different media and the imagination of the artist comes into play. These are the two pictures that I entered. The first is a painting of Doc in acrylic. It was based on a sketch I did of Doc from the reference as I sat bored one evening watching TV. I liked the idea of him running through the wind, but how do you paint wind? I used modelling paste on the canvas first to create the idea of "flow" and then I painted over it. I tried to create Doc within this modern art style and used gold and bronze in the actual image of Doc. For me it was a little experimental. i haven't worked in acrylic before, but I quite liked the results, so I will definitely "play" some more in this medium. The second is a pastel on velour paper of Monster. I was inspired by seeing Apassionata in Madrid with my daughter, and so I thought Monster would look good in the show, so I put Monster in the spotlight and this is the result. If you want to see what the reference images are like, then it is best to check out the Equine Art Guild site in October when the "Interpretations" exhibition goes online.

Kathleen

I've been interested in horses and art all my life, but only relatively recently have these two passions come together. It is strange how life's events push you in ways you had never expected and sometimes the results can be extremely surprising and often very satisfying. I live close to a riding stables that teaches children and adults to ride using classical methods. My daughter started riding there about two years ago and then about a year later I also started to ride again after a break of about twenty years. I was struck by the beauty and gentleness of the Lusitano horses the we ride and one afternoon I took out some oil pastels that I had bought as an impulse buy and started to draw one of the horses at the stables. His name was Ramases and he struck me as such an intelligent horse. My attempts to capture him were not very good, but I really enjoyed working with the pastels and it gave me heart to go on and learn to develop this medium. hadn't drawn or painted since I was at school. I knew that I was finding my feet again and that it would take time and a great deal of practice. So that was the beginning. The next few efforts gave me enough encouragement to continue. I drew other horses from the stables. An old chestnut called "Gentille" who looked like a cavalry horse and "Quixote" a dark, shaggy, heavy-built cob. and one of the foals. By now, I was changing how I thought about things. I was beginning to get itchy fingers wanting to do more than just pass the time on a Sunday afternoon. While I liked working with the oil pastels I wanted to try other things so I opted to try some watercolour painting. I had never really used watercolour except as a wash over some of the drawings I had done at school. My attempts with watercolour were not what I had hoped for I couldn't get the softness that I was looking for, and I couldn't control the colour but I was shocked to find out that people around me seemed to prefer the watercolours that I did rather than the pastels. Pastels felt more comfortable to me, but the reactions I got from people on the watercolours made me go back and try to come to terms with this medium. Little by little, I think I might get somewhere in the end.

In May this year I joined the EAG http://www.equineartguild.com/

The Equine Art Guild has been a tremendous help to me. As well as giving me the inspiration of professional equine artists, it has given me new ideas to try different things and support in developing my chosen media. As a result of joining the group two of my paintings are up for auction in the States on 13th October http://www.capsnv.org/

I have also entred two more paintings into an exhibition which will run on the EAG website. It is called "Interpretations" and will feature the work of various artist from all over the world based on images of two horses owned by members of the group. The idea of the exhibition is to show how different artists interpret the same reference images. Having previewed some of the work, I think it will be tremendously exciting.

So all in all, as you have seen, I am just getting started. However, it is my sincere hope that one day I will be able to call myself "an equine artist".