Kathy
Oil on linen – 31 x 25 inches – Collection of the Artist
Winner of The Dianne Rudy Memorial Award at the 2001 American Artists Professional League Show
The plush horse was given to me by my older brother and the saddle was on Thunder’s back when I was in high school and we rode the countryside together. This is my Pinocchio painting about a child’s toy that gazes out the door at the end of the barn aisle, dreaming of being a real live pony in the pasture with the other horses.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 13 x 16 inches
Art Renewal Center, International 2010/2011 ARC Salon, Finalist: Animals
One November I ‘car-topped’ to watch the local Long Lake Hounds on a hunt. I was able to get some fine photographs of the riders and pack but the first painting I did was of this hound. The hunt was over and the pack was back in the hound trailer when this one squeezed it’s head out the window into the silvery autumn light. I saw such a look of longing to go run again.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 14 x 18 inches
This is my homage to my favorite food. And isn’t it wonderful that it’s now recognized as healthy for us? It was hard not touching it at first but after a few weeks on the table, it wasn’t nearly as appetizing. And you do not want to know what the “hot chocolate” looked like by then. I learned to my surprise that the only way to paint believable brown chocolate was to sprinkle in some cool pinks and blues.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 24 x 14 inches
I wanted a still life that expressed my love of knitting – yes, I knit the mohair lace scarf. But I also wanted the challenge of working with only two main colors in a narrow value range. It looked deceptively simple but once I began to paint, I found golds, pinks, greens and lavenders everywhere I looked.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 24 x 15 – Private Collection
This steep ravine and little falls is walking distance from my home in the middle of Saint Paul, not far from three colleges. Yet I only found out about it when I was plein air painting nearby and a man commissioned me to paint it. The water flows about a quarter mile before joining the Mississippi.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 10 x 8 inches – Private Collection
A friend found the abandoned bird’s nest with it’s broken egg in the shrub by my front door. I arranged it on a low table next to my easel but the brown leaf background didn’t work until I added the two silvery leaves. Then the blue eggshell was no longer alone in it’s cool color notes.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 17 x 11 inches – Private Collection
Included in the 2016 American Academy of Equine Art’s spring invitational exhibition.
I hadn’t painted Saddlebreds in a long time so I attended a show at the Minnesota Fairgrounds to study them and take photographs. I combined several of my references to create this proud head portrait. Tip: if you want to make sure your values are conveying good form and light, take a photo of the painting and convert it to gray scale. If it still works well minus all color, you’re good to go.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 27 x 25 inches
Selected for the 2015/2016 Society of Animal Artists annual exhibition and national tour
The splashes of sunlight in the midst of deep shadow stopped me in my tracks as this Percheron was being bathed. Then the sprayer mist caught the sun just coming over the building. Magic! I took photos for reference but I also stood and stared, trying to commit to memory the values and colors in front of me that I would need if I’d have any chance of recreating this scene.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 24 x 16 inches
Winner of The Kasper Foundation Equine Art Award at the 2005 American Academy of Equine Art juried show.
Winner of Best In Show and the WRVAG Founder’s Award at the 2010 Wind River Valley Artist’s Guild 61st National Show.
This was the second equine painting I did after graduating from The Atelier. It was almost startling to me how much more accomplished this painting felt than any equine piece I had done before I found the school. Then the painting began to win awards which only confirmed I wasn’t imagining the improvement in my skills. I can’t thank this classic instruction enough for how it transformed my ability to see Nature and then paint it.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 28 x 32 inches
I attended a workshop on photographing horses. At day’s end, as the light turned golden, our horse and rider models rode to a large pond. Only Natalie took Daisy into the water. After several trips that went out further and deeper, there was a big splash and her high laughter as the pony went galloping back to the barn alone.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 9 x 15 inches – Private Collection
This bay Arabian mare was one of the Gamaar daughters owned by a couple I knew in Minnesota when I was first showing my art at local horse shows. I was welcomed to their home frequently and over the years have used a number of the photos I took of their beautiful horses as references for pastels and oils.
Kathy
Oil on mounted linen – 22 x 16 inches
Art Renewal Center, International 2010/2011 ARC Salon, Finalist: Animals
This painting was inspired by a slide I took many years ago at a friend’s farm. I loved the gentle reach of the horse’s head. I imagined the eyes were watching the house, hoping a favorite person might decide it was dinner time. The painting felt flat at first but I followed the advice of an artist I admire: if things aren’t working, try waking up the painting with some splashes of color. That worked and the painting sailed along to completion.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 24 x 20 inches – Private Collection
Winner of The Sam Savitt Award at the 2006 American Academy of Equine Art juried show.
Cover art on Horses In Art magazine, Spring, 2007.
This painting started with a small, poorly focused snapshot I took inside a barn aisle many years ago. The filly’s head was a blur because she moved just as I snapped the shutter and there was a person in the foreground blocking part of the aisle but I had to paint this scene about light and mood. I was particularly humbled that Nosy received the Sam Savitt Award from the AAEA show because he was a childhood horse artist hero of mine.
Kathy
Oil on linen – 24 x 18 inches
Winner of The Kasper Foundation Equine Art Award at the 2006 American Academy of Equine Art juried show.
Only the Arabian mare was pregnant when I took a series of afternoon photos at this farm. I know the woman wasn’t expecting but as I later worked on this piece, I thought how interesting it would be if she was pregnant but didn’t yet know it. And perhaps the mare already sensed their sisterhood. It became the story in my head that led to the title.
Kathy
Oil on mounted linen – 16 x 20 inches
This painting had no photo reference but I designed it to have two things I love. One is the exuberance of horses at liberty in a pasture, particularly the young ones who find imaginative ways to cover ground. I also love subjects and scenes that are backlit. There can be such intensity when sun comes through hair or grass or leaves. Both the color and quality of the light changes.