Black Hills Artist
Black Hills Artist
Equines are a “mane” attraction in my life, are visually in mind, and within a pasture’s reach away. Each equine beauty embodies a unique color, confirmation, movement, and sprinkled personality.
Horses have always provided fun and fascination, and their evolutionary process sparks my intrigue. The backyard of the South Dakota Badlands once supported the 30-million-year-old Mesohippus. For this and many other reasons, paintings of my pasture buddies pop up on many of my canvases.
Acrylic/enamel on board | 11” x 9” | $375
The coats of the Appaloosa mare and filly highlight a base color overlain by spots. Spanish explorers introduced these striking horses into Mexico during the 1500s. The Nez Perce prized the Appaloosas, which spread far northwest of North America. My “spotted” intrigue resulted in general sketches followed by a creative leap to vibrant dabs of color on mare and foal. Illuminated horses quietly pose against an enameled black sky.
Acrylic/horse hair | 5” x 7” | SOLD
The textured feel and graded color of horsehair comes to call in this acrylic painting. A horse’s mane was cut, washed, combed, and inserted into plywood with predesigned drilled holes in a graded color pattern. This miniature painting was part of a display, and to wish me well in the show, I painted a lucky horseshoe using acrylics. Someone purchased the piece, and I also wish him the best of luck.
Acrylic and beadwork on canvas | 29” x 24” | $5,400
The Arabian horse breed dates back 4,500 years to the Middle East. Bedouins enhanced the composition and movement of their Arabians by using saddles adorned with colorful fabric, beads, and metals. This painting depicts an Arab’s gentle head tuck and its brightly adorned gear. Saddlery colors repeat in the background with spontaneous acrylic washes and delicately hand-beaded medallions. The orchestration of the multimedia shapes and colors achieve embodiment of this royal Arabian horse.
Acrylic, horse hair, and modeling paste | 38” Diameter | Private Collection
The 50-million-year evolution of the horse transitioned from the dog-sized forest dweller Eohippus to our modern horse, Equus. The animal’s overall size increased as five padded feet merged into a single hoof. To-scale imprints set in modeling paste in this collage detail some of the ancient changes the animal underwent over time. Mesohippus (shown in fossil form in this artwork) browsed in Badlands SD about 30 million years ago. The circular boundary of tracks is host to a color graded horse-hair sway.
Acrylic on canvas | 40” x 38” | $3,200
Khadraj is a nationally renowned Arabian stallion with a strong lineage in the equine world. His resolute pose and intent gaze, as well as a rich sunlit sky, create a striking contrast to the fluid movement of horses and trailing dust on the horizon. To create the dramatic look, a heavy base of acrylic paint was overlain with transparent colors. Contrasting values dramatically reveal the form and muscle tone of the horses and release the sense of light filtered on landscape grasses.
Acrylic/beadwork/hair | 16” x 20” | $5,500
Arabian horses are acclaimed for their power and visual elegance. This piece celebrates their force and intensity by uniquely combining acrylic paint, beadwork, and horsehair. Backlit arching necks and flaring manes fly in concert with drumming hooves. A hand-beaded horizontal band mirrors the pattern of sky and earth and introduces a cascade of horse hair. The combined segments convey a dramatic view of moonlit movement.
Acrylic on board | 8” x 9” | $475
Mariska, a young Arabian filly, is bright and spunky and was most definitely a challenge to paint. The flaring, Medusa-like mane of hair frames bright eyes, flaring nostrils, and a dipped facial profile. Deep sorrel hair and a flaxen mane flash highlights that showcase a star. This painting attempts to capture Mariska’s spirit of freedom. I was immersed in the moment we shared —then she ran off.