PJHSA Mini Stirrup Division May 22 2016- Rider 120

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Lucas 11-22-15

My trainer, Maren, was asking after one of her students that I had photographed during the last schooling show.  I had in fact taken a few pictures but was satisfied with none of them; none were quite in focus, or had a good enough composition for my own opinion.  It was disappointing, because I very much like the pony in them, whose name is Lucas.  However, at special request, here are the photos of Lucas and his rider!

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Pony Scribble

"Pony Scribble"
pen sketch

In order to encourage myself to draw something today, I simply took a pen and began scribbling in my sketchbook.  As happens so often, the scribbles began to take on an equine form, and a quick drawing was built from there.  I gave myself permission to be messy, to not have perfect proportions, and allow my creativity to come to the fore.  All too often, my creativity is swallowed by other demands on my mental energy, and when I do sit down to create, I am hindered by fear of not being good enough.  I am learning how to push through that reluctance and anxiety about beginning, and accepting the changes and flaws that occur both in art and in life.  Trying is better than not taking any risks, and if I can encourage myself to draw outside of my comfort zone, wonderful things might happen- such as this little drawing!

Chincoteague Pony- Pop Art style

"Pop Art Pony"
gel pen
small leather sketchbook

I originally went into this drawing with the idea that I'd create another one of my "swirly horses" as one of my friends has dubbed them.  However, my rendering of this horse's anatomy went awry in the area of its loins and hindquarters.  As I was drawing in pen (oh, how I love to live life dangerously!), the mishap was glaringly evident.  How was I going to solve this?  Enter clever cross-hatching.  The result is certainly not photorealistic, but visually appealing.  In fact, I can even say it's inspired by Roy Lichenstein and the pop art movement itself.  This is not entirely a conscious inspiration, but a few years of art school might have had some influence on my subconscious.

Because I grew up loving horses, they are a clear influence on who I am today.  Horses are a frequent theme in my work.  When I was 9 or 10, I was given Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague to read.  I became obsessed with the series and fell in love with Henry as an author.  Many of her titles still sit on my bookshelf.  As I've discussed in an earlier post, illustrator Wesley Dennis was also an important influence on my art and my passion for drawing.  While I appreciate the style and challenge to conventional art that pop art presents, I still love a painting or drawing that tells a story.  I only hope to capture the liveliness of spirit that Dennis' work does.

Tovero Dream: combining old and new styles

"Tovero Dream" partial
graphite sketch
small leather sketchbook

Today I decided to combine a more realistic style with my recent experimentation in abstraction, and this sketch was the result.  I used a photo of a tovero stallion as my template for non-abstract conformation, and his patches as a map for my topography-like lines.  His mane originally hung over his neck and chest, but as I find myself fond of a Roman or Trojan horse look, I decided to change that.  This is a graphite sketch, but I feel that this would have the most impact in ink or a clear crisp paint such as gouache.

A Shaggy Pony

"Technicolor Shetland"
pen
small leather sketchbook

I honestly did not feel like doing anything today.  Eat healthy after a week of relying on take-out because of my busy schedule?  Irresistible sugar cookies at work.  (But I ate the salad I made this morning, too, and resisted ordering a sandwich from Jimmy John's).

This feeling of wanting to obtain and/or conserve energy as much as possible during the holiday madness also extended to my desire to maintain my blog schedule.  With the aid of a couple of cups of tea, I scraped the dregs of my creative impulse into this drawing of probably a Shetland pony.  My inspiration was a particularly fat and fuzzy Shetland seen while driving around in the area of Columbia, NJ, for my family's annual Christmas Bird Count.  I got the picture from this blog: Misanthropology 101.

Anyway, I started drawing the pony, got as far as the contours and face, and stopped for a couple of hours to Reddit for a while.  Like I said, my motivation was not quite there.  It took the second cup of (now caffeinated) tea for me to leave the drawing where it stands.  Simulating fur can be tedious, but it also is sort of like playing in a Zen garden.  Stroke of the pen, stroke of the pen, stroke of the pen.  Mark, mark, mark.  Slowly the animal comes into being.  I was playing with some of the filters on my HTC1 and liked the look of this bluish saturated one, so I left it as is.