Paintings of horses, sculptures of horses, offered for sale by contemporary equine artists. A gallery of horse art for art collectors and horse lovers.
This year, the focus is on daring to spice things up, dramatically.
"Cornered", in my mind for over 4 years, as seen the light and I love it.
My scribble friends have delivered.
They have dared to push compositional boundaries, over-use negative space, confront the viewer with a new phenomenon, highlight a slice of the bigger picture.
As soon as I saw the reference sent by wonderful photographer and fellow artist Juliet Harrison, all I wanted to do was get tucked into portraying this exquisite running machine.
Focus had to be given to the graceful lines, athletic long neck, beautifully defined shoulders and the ever alert inquisitive eye.
In order to pep-up and add a wee twist to the final composition, interesting elements, such as his elegant pride, apparent coolness in the spotlight, controlled presence when in the thick of things, were had to feature.
I adored drawing this athlete, all the memories of my days "in the business" came flooding back. They had a strong magnetic pull on my pencils. The hours spent on the drawing board one big long refreshing walk down memory lane.
The icing on the cake: both Shooting Star and Up & Running are on their way to Australia as I type.
Both are finalists in this years Inglis Equine Art Prize and their presence now required on the Australian Equine Art circuit!
So very very chuffed.
Actually chuffed to very little pieces!
p.s: Massive thank-yous' once again to Juliet Harrison for generously allowing me to use her material and vision.p.p.s: Juliet's work, her interpretation of the equine form is so beautiful. Her use of light masterful. If you are unfamiliar with her work, you simply must discover her amazing art world at http://julietrharrisonphotography.com/
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Freckles
And now for a touch of the equine and a lovely break from all those pop art pups..
Freckles is a private commission for a birthday gift.. I enjoy the challenge of all those spots and making sure the hair is travelling in the correct direction.. Horse coats seem to have hair going all directions.
Thank you Nikki for commissioning me to immortalise Freckles for you
"Hurricane" Graphite on Paper. 36x56 cm.
Sheona Hamilton-Grant
Finished.
Hurricane is my first drawing this big.
The result was well worth the extra hours. In this post I thought it would be nice to share the set of instructions used for preparing and producing this specific drawing.
(p.s:The ingredients used can be found worldwide, the way in which they are combined comes from trial and error.)
In a warm studio, over angled drawing board, outline subject and study eyes, movement and light. Add a pinch of passion and bring inner vision to a simmer.
Place paper on foam board. Tape corners with artist tape. Secure and set aside.
Turn on music.
Review sketch and bring to parchment. Begin eyes to get a perfect expression.
On a clear drawing board, under good light, add more work to overall subject. Pin down the darks and gradually stir in the lighter values. Allow the lighter grays melt into the drawing, and then add detail to the mix. Work gently for approximately 65 hours until the values are completely coated with details.
Finish with a pinch of zeal and a crack of freshly ground passion.
