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.

Primitive Op Art- trying a new style

Leaping the Wave
graphite
small leather sketchbook

As I was drinking my tea yesterday morning, my brain said to itself, "Today, you will draw an abstract horse with exaggerated features and many contour lines."  I needed a break from improving my realistic work, and from working from photos.  I wanted to tap into that inner creative child who was inspired by Disney's hand drawn Fantasia.

Traveling has been on my mind lately; a trip to the Caribbean or southern hemisphere sounds very appealing with the cold days of January and February ahead.  I was thinking of all the nontraditional art I had been exposed to in my art history classes from around the world, and also of a children's book I used to own called The Desert is Theirs.  I always loved the austere and line dominated illustrations by Peter Parnall.  While drawing these horses, line after line, my mind entered a Zen like peace.  I began with an outline of a horse figure and worked within its body afterward.  I purposely exaggerated some features, such as the above horse's neck being so broad and arched, and went for a geometric yet natural feel to the drawings.

I might do a painting with this sort of theme in mind; I would use warm subtle earth tones like those found in the cave paintings of Lascaux.

War Cry
graphite
small leather sketchbook