Conference noted::equitation

    If any of you draft horse fanciers also like nice pictures to hang on
    your walls, this may be of interest. Jean Barrows is an artist in Albany NY
    who has a series of draft horse prints. So far, she has prints of a white
    Shire(named Forrester), a black Percheron(Diesel) and a
    Clydesdale(Thunder). She's planning to release a Belgian print in the
    fall of 1992. Forrester and Diesel are shown in the traditional
    showring pose from the rump. Thunder is shown from a front view.
    
    All 3 are real nice. My favorite is Forrester with Diesel a close second. 
    (Clydesdale's have too much "chrome" for my taste. Did you know that there 
    were champion Clydes at the turn of the century which had very little 
    white, like 1 white pastern? But, I  digress...) 
    
    The prints are relatively inexpensive($60) for signed & numbered artist 
    releases. That's not real cheap but lots of other prints go for hundreds 
    of dollars. Ms Barrows is a nationally known equine artist so these are 
    relatively cheap.
    
    She probably has brochures on these. If you call or write, I'm sure
    she'd send you something so you can see what they look like. She sent out 
    some promotional mail as the second and third prints in the series were 
    released. They were great. I liked the promo material so much, I cut
    out the 3"x3" photos and pinned 'em on my office wall!
    
    Jean Barrows
    PO Box 3152
    Albany NY 12203
    (518)489-5960

    I've only seen the painting of Forrester...it's just gorgeous!
    I would love to have one.  The color and texture just make you
    want to touch him!  If the others are that nice I'd say...Hey
    kids, collect the whole set!
    
    gwen
    

You have just done so.  How about any art-related discussions being placed
here.

Ed..

    OK. I'll help get it started. (Ed would you consider copying the two
    notes on Jean Barrows draft horse prints in Gentle Giants over here?)
    
    IMHO, one of the best things you can do is beg,borrow or buy Equine
    Images magazine(see magazine note for more info) to get an idea of
    which artists you like...articles and ads are all helpful.
    
    My personal favorite (living) equine artists are:
    	Christine Picavet(mostly race horse prints. I really fell for her
    			  Secretariat portraits but she also does hunting
    			  scenes, etc)
    	B.K. England - Lots of breeds and disciplines; One of hers was on
    			the cover of The Chronicle recently. Look at her ad
    			for a print called "The Spanish Ambassador" in the 
    			Spring issue of Equine Images. It's a gorgeous head
    			& neck portrait of an Andalusian w/ traditional bridle
    	Kelly - Racehorses, Arabs and pasture scenes
    	Jean Barrows - nice variety; she's done harness racers, drafters,
    			you name it she's probably done some; What I think 
    			set her work apart from artists of similar talent
    			is her work attention to detail.
    
    
    There are some famous artists with big followings whose work I don't
    much care for. Two that come to mind are Fred Stone and Richard Stone
    Reeves. Stone rarely has much detail in the musculature of the horse or
    in the bone structure of their heads/legs. But, people go crazy over his
    stuff. Lots of his releases are sold out before the advertising is even
    circulated. I can't see it. But, his prints really increase in value.
    For example, his Secretariat portrait, Final Tribute was released at a
    price like $300. They are now selling on the secondary market for $1200
    and up!
    
    IMHO, Richard Stone Reeves deserves similar criticism. Poor definition
    in the main subject. But, he also does portraits of famous horses and
    their relatives. The problem with those is that he does a small
    portrait of the famous horse(e.g Northern Dancer) and then surrounds
    them with postage stamp size pictures of sons/daughters,
    grandsons/granddaughters, etc. However, I REALLY like his Pharlap
    portrait both in terms of its composition and the rendition of the
    horse. Check it out in Chronicle ads or Blood Horse ads. For those who
    haven't seen the movie, Pharlap was an Australian racehorse who was
    virtually impossible to beat until the put 150 lbs on his back! He died
    in CA in 1932 when he came to the US for a series of races. He is
    widely believed to have been poisoned by bookies.
    
    I'm sure Gwen will have lots of good comments on equine art!
    
    When it comes to equine artists who happen to be dead, I like George
    Stubbs. Some day, I'm gonna win a $1,000,000 lottery and buy his
    "Whistle Jacket" painting. It's gorgeous! A dark palomino with flaxen
    mane/tail doing a levade w/o rider or tack. It's absolutely the most
    stunning thing I have EVER seen.
    

    Well, here goes.  The reason for me asking for this note is a bit self
    serving.  I'm an artist and have always been interested in horse.  I
    guess there's a fit there.  I have done paintings of quite a number of
    different animals and all of them have sold.  I haven't as yet done
    anything with horses however but would be willing to try.
    
    Most of my work has been either commissions of homes, New England
    Street scenes, landscapes or seascapes.  I have done cats (house cats
    and mountain lions, tigers, etc.).  For horses, I guess I'd probably 
    opt for head poses since there's a personality that can be caught of
    those innocent faces.
    
    This is not a real good place to get too deeply into art theory. 
    There's another notes conference for that.  Are there any other equine
    noters out there who are also artists?  What are your theories toward
    the painting of horses?  Quite frankly, I don't see much in the way of
    horse artwork in the New England area other than perhaps those who do
    commission work.  How about other part of the country?  Are there any
    contemporary artists of note to watch for?
    
    Denny

   I do pastel paintings of horses, and also have designed stencils and
   stained glass pieces of horses. One of my pastels was pinned second 
   place at the Sterling Fair last year. (First place went to a professional 
   artist and that work later sold for $350.)

   Speaking of horse art, does anyone any info on the artist of the famous 
   and ubiquitous "Pharoah's Horses" print? I have one and was looking for 
   some background info on it.

    
    I am not an artist by far, but did and do enjoy drawing (pencil)
    horses ... I haven't had much time with it for a few years due
    to my other interest (photography).(but I had time to do my dog!
    boy she came out cute!)  Anyway,  what I think I like in art
    because you have the freedom to accent the personality in
    your work..... Since I have been around horses most my life, I
    guess I could say when I draw one.. I know where the muscles are,
    how they form etc.... and I like knowing this about them...
    
    You can take a portrait of a horse and accent the kindness in his
    soul (you might say) in his likeness....  You will have the ability
    (since you do scenic work) to put a horse into your scenic work..
    ......  which would give you a different effect.... 
    Where with my photography I might want to bring a horse to a beach 
    to have a nice foggy beach scene of running on the beach.....
    You have the ability to build it into your work......  I need to 
    know what the owner likes in their horse, strength, athletic abilities,
    kindness etc...... and try to bring this out in my photo's.......
    whereas, when you begin to understand how this is displayed in a horse,
    you can work this into your artwork......
    
    Hope this wasnt' confusing at all......... kindof in a rush...
    
    Lots of luck with your work.....  
    Nancy
    

    I too am an artist.  I do some work in pencil and charcoal, and some in
    oils, but my main area is sculpture.  I haven't done anything for some
    years, but am getting back into it now.  I don't see a lot of equine
    art in the area, but I think that is probably true for any area.  It's
    a small market, after all.  Also, while there is a lot of good equine
    art (my opinion here, folks) there is some *really bad* stuff too.  I
    get pretty sick of the "stallions breathing fire" school -- you know,
    horses with impossibly tiny heads, in story-book poses.  
    
    An artist I really like is Heather St. Clair-Davis.  Her paintings look
    like *paintings*.  There's a life in them that makes them beautiful
    whether you are interested in horses or not, I think.  Equine Images 
    magazine did a special on her a few months back (maybe even last
    year).  
    
    It does seem that most equine art is done on commission.  It seems too,
    that what the market demands is photo-realist drawings or paintings.  I
    myself find this sort of work unbearably tedious.  Personally, I feel
    that if a painting looks just like a photo, that there's not much point
    to the exercise....  So, anyway, even though horses are a giant part of
    my life otherwise, they don't tend to be a big part of my "art" life.
    
    Gee, have I rambled on enough here???
    
    -ellie

   RE: <<< Note 888.7 by ISLNDS::ROSTANZO >>>

   >I am not an artist by far, 

    Not true! You have a great eye. 
    This reminds me of a favorite quote:

    "The artist is not a different kind of person,
	each person is a different kind of artist."

    I agree with ellie that paintings should look like paintings and not 
    photographs. I doubt that there are many horse people who like the
    "fire-breathing dragon" style paintings either. I know I don't! In scenes 
    (as opposed to portraits), I like anything from the impressionist style 
    to the detailed accuracy of a Stubbs hunt scene.
    
    I think the artist has a distinct advantage over the photographer 
    (especially in portraiture) in that the artist can emphasize all aspects 
    of a horse's conformation and character to EXACTLY the degree he/she
    choses. The photographer may be able to capture all the same qualities
    with a series of shots  but it's very rare to get a single photo that
    comes anywhere close to good art.
    
    For example, one of the things I like about Christine Picavet's Secretariat
    portraits(which are paddock play scenes) is that she has done the
    backgrounds(trees, grass and fence) in an impressionistic style while
    the horse is portrayed with excellent definition of musculature,
    tendons and bone structure. She has captured his attitude and physique
    better than any photo of him that I have seen.
    
    I dabble in both photography and pencil drawing. I have tried drawing a 
    few horses. They actually LOOKED like horses but they aren't real great! 
    I haven't the patience to do all the shading it would take in a pencil 
    drawing to really define all the musculature, tendons etc. My meager 
    attempts do make me appreciate the work of others a whole lot more though. 
    
    John

    I do a lot of horse art when I have time (but there's never much time).
    
    The "fire-breathing dragon" pictures mentioned were probably inspired
    by a scene like I saw this week.  I was at Tufts Hospital and a
    stallion came in for some kind of hoof problem.  He was Screaming and
    Prancing with such energy that it seemed like he barely fit in 
    the 20+ foot wide aisle. Everyone in the place froze and watched. We
    were holding our breath because the girl leading him seemed so tiny and 
    barely in control . I was told that he was some famous jumper, he was 
    truly magnificent.  
    
    I still can't figure out how he took up the whole aisle! If you took a
    photograph you'd probably just see a normal size girl leading a normal
    size horse, but to be there was something different.
    
    It inspired me to try and draw the scene, even if it was a "fire breathing
    dragon" picture.
    
    Sharon
    

    Yes, having managed a Thoroughbred stallion at stud at my farm for a few
    years, I know they sometimes *are* fire-breathing dragons!  But I think 
    some artists manage to make this look "cutesy" -- you know, the horse
    is being ridden by a woman with 4-inch fingernails, and wearing a
    bikini....
    
    -e

    
    	Kiirja - I have seen the Pharoah's Horses print in many
    	sizes and lots of places...I even have a copper pin of it!
    	I don't know the origins, tho...
    
    	I like Bev Doolittle's work, she `hides' images in her
    	art, sometimes you can't find them, even after having seen
    	them once! She's featured in Equine Images a lot...
    
    	I picked up a book called The Art of the Horse, or is it the
    	Horse in Art? It's about 100 years of horse pictures used in
    	advertising, very pretty book. 
    
    	Sherry
    

    Sheery-
    
    That's the artist I was trying to remember......she does
    a lot of paintings of Paint Horses with hidden images?
    
    L-

    
    	yep. One of them is a mountainside with snow, but if you 
    	look it's a bunch of paint horses, too!
    
    	

    One of the artists I like is Adolf Shreyer (I think I spelled it 
    correctly).  Everything I've seen of his is of Arabians so I don't
    know if he ever painted other breeds.  His paintings are in the
    desert, the colors are vivid, the horses are incredible (romanticized)
    gorgeous creatures.  I know that the desert Arabians were not as
    beautiful as he portrayed them.  Who cares?  
    
    In Shreyer's paintings I see my horses portrayed on canvas as I see
    them in my imagination - animated, elegant, poised to flee across the
    sand at any moment, yet completely in harmony with their riders.  (And
    of course perfectly groomed with no manure stains on the gray ones!  I
    guess they're an escape from the horse reality we all deal with.)
    
    gwen

   The International Arabian Horse Assoc just outside Denver has an 
   art gallery with works by Shreyer and Gladys Brown Edwards as well 
   as others...including some magnificent sculptures. Even if you're not 
   'into' Arabians it is worth the visit to see the artwork. There are
   also educational exhibits and an extensive library, including many 
   rare volumes. 

    For those who like "hidden" pictures within a picture, there is another
    artist named Kim McElroy from out here in WA who does this also, but
    not with pintos.  She has done two that I can remember right now.  The
    first is a wave breaking in the ocean seen from above and in curl are
    nine horses - some of them are really hard to find.  The second is a
    whirlpool - the center is a horse's eye and the water swirling around
    it forms the images of several horses' heads (can't remember how many
    are in this one).  It's kind of fun to see if you can find all of the
    horses in the pictures, but I don't know if I'd buy a print of these.
    
    Another Bev Doolittle picture that has lots of hidden images is called
    "The Forest Has Eyes".  You can find faces in many rock formations and 
    trees in this one.  I think I find a new face everytime I look at it in
    a magazine.

With all the hoopla of the KY Derby, you may have lost this announcement
in the shuffle...

The Kentucky Derby Museum has worked out an arrangement with the Museum
of Horsebreeding in Moscow(YES, Russia!) to exhibit a large number of 
equine art works. The collection on loan includes 19th Century paintings
and sculptures of native Russian and imported breeds of horse. There are
supposed to be more than a dozen paintings by N. E. Sverhkoff, a noted 
equine artist who lived 1819-1898.

The exhibition opened at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville on 
April 10th and will remain there until September 1994. It will then tour 
the U.S. until 1996. 

For more information, call the Kentucky Derby Museum (502)637-1111

I saw some video of some of the *thousands* of equine art works that are
contained in the Museum of Horsebreeding. They're *wonderful*. If you get 
a chance to see this exhibition, go!

John