Working Cow Horse

For a number of years when I lived in Montana, I was involved in breeding Quarter Horses and did quite a lot of riding and training. During the summers, several ranchers routinely held weekend training sessions at the small local arena which gave me the opportunity to get a lot of photographs of actual working cow horses in action.

This pencil study, which was done from photographs I took back in the 1970s, when we were raising Quarter Horses and competing ourselves, has always been one of my favorites.

Carousel horse

Something new does come along often enough to keep me humble. The last thing was a suggestion that a carousel horse would be really nice for a grand-daughter's room, since she loves horses. I've always been a carousel "aficionado" and in fact had a small collection of porcelain carousel horses and have always thought a real, full sized carousel horse would be wonderful in my living room along with the wall art.

This piece was the result, 16 x 20 (framed) on bristol, with the horse done in graphite and the trappings done in CP. There are things I would change of course but the grand-daughter was thrilled ... love to do things for youngsters!

I rather think two small companion pieces, maybe head studies, might work as the next gift.

Wish I Had Wings

Horses in particular and foals specifically have always been fun for me to do and since I am a horsebreeder I always have lots of models to work with, new ones every year.

This image has always been one of my absolute favorites. I love the pose and have actually used it as a *template* for a number of portraits of different foals over the years. The Arab/ Welsh Pony look is particularly apparant in this portrait, but I have done very baroque warmblood foals in this pose as well. I think, however, one portrait of an appaloosa foal with lots of rump spots was the most fun of any of them and I'd love to do another. Unfortunately, appaloosas are the only color pattern I do not raise though I've owned several in my life and have liked them very much.

This was also the first of my experiments with adding touches of color to my pencil studies, using colored pencil and I have definitely liked the effect. As I've worked more with the technique, I've found a number of people who have commissioned portraits have asked that something be added. Racing people, in particular, have liked the idea that their racing colors can be added. Many people also seem to like the idea of being able to add color in the portrait, combine this with the matting and coordinate with the color scheme of the room where the portrait will hang.

Thoroughbred Racehorse - Green Silks

This is the second image in the series I'm doing of Thoroughbred race horses. The Kentucky experience is one that lends itself to Thoroughbreds and of course I have always been a particular fan of racing.

My plan is to continue this series with several of the larger images such as "Red Silks" shown in the previous post as well as a number of smaller pieces that will be in the same style.

These are images that I enjoy doing. The kaleidoscopic colors and the tension and speed all contribute to an electric feeling at the track in person, whether it is the Kentucky Derby or a small County Fair track in Montana. The horses shine from the efforts of the groom's brushes and the wash of nervous sweat as they tense from the knowledge they will soon be racing.

The sense of ceremony is impressive in the TV specials and in the grandstands at the big racetracks but in some ways my memories of the small County Fair races in Montana are even more vivid to me. There you can stand at the side of the track, in some cases less than 50 feet from these powerful animals as they lunge from the starting gates, hear the thud of the hooves on the track and the snorts of effort as they reach for their maximum stride.

These are the things I remember the most clearly as I work on these images and in fact there are even individual horses, seen just once on a race track 40 years ago, that remain clear in my memories.

Thoroughbred Racehorse - Red Silks

I have always been a fan of race horses, even as a child when all we had were races once a year at the County fair. I suspect much of the attraction came from the many times I read ... and re-read ... the Black Stallion book series but for whatever the reason, race horses have always fascinated me.


This image is the first piece I did after my move to Kentucky. After a year of watching television specials on the Kentucky Thoroughbred sales, the Triple Crown races and a visit to one of the big horse Thoroughbred breeding farms where I actually got to lay hands on a stallion whose stud fee was more than I had paid for my farm ... nothing other than a racehorse could have possibly been my first drawing when I started working on my art again.

The brightly colored silks of the jockeys caught my eye in all the races on television, which led to my experiment with the addition of colored pencil in this piece. Somehow, it seemed as if the color and movement of the "big time" races here in Kentucky were more dramatic and required more in an image to catch the eye. I was pleased with the effect in this piece and have continued to add colored pencil accents to my graphite and carbon pencil studies more often in much of my recent work.