Horses

Because of my love for horses, they were one of the first things I drew as a child. I voraciously read all the Walter Farley horse books and was greatly influenced by the illustrations of Harold Eldridge. For this body of horse paintings, I wanted to try using oil-based enamel house paint, like abstract artist Jackson Pollack. I taped and gessoed good quality watercolor paper to the floor, dipped a wooden dowel in the paint, and then stood over the paper and dripped the paint, instinctively, in the shape of a horse. I found that this technique lends itself well to the movement and energy of a horse in action. The oil-based enamel paint has an elastic, loopy consistency that is such fun to work with, but hard to control, which adds to its exciting mark making ability. The problem is that the paint is HIGHLY toxic, so I had to stop using it until I can get a respirator. I then found plastic bottles that I could fill with acrylic paint and, standing over the paper, squirted the paint onto the paper. This gave me more control, but not enough control that it wasn’t fun and a challenge, and it’s a much healthier medium to work with. The big, mural size, 4-panel horse painting was many layers of acrylic applied with a palette knife and dripped acrylic paint.