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EQUINE MOODS

An Artist Journal

Nov

Expressivity Story 1

1/3 – I think it’s the good time to speak to you about a project that saved my artistic life.

Back in 2018, I’ve had hit rock bottom at art level. I was not ok with what I did without knowing why exactly.

At that time I’ve started to run. A little but quickly often, 3 times a week. It felt so good to me that I forgot my bad mood. During my sessions, ideas of paintings came to me. But not horse or animal or portrait… no, something more with the running! Flashes of colors and shapes hit me each time I ran. What was I going to do with all of this??

And I leaped into the void… a small void first. I’ve made some small sketches then small canvas.

I wanted something energetic, in motion, related to earth, breath, air… to sensations I had during running… in short, not easy!

… to be continued

Sep

Connexion

His name is Connexion.

Connexion to himself, to you.

Connexion to the earth. Made with charcoal and earth tones. The solar and warm yellow ocher, the organic and powerful sanguine & the deep, dark and subtil sepia.

Ocher. Sanguine. Sepia. Colors of the soil, of the earth.

The earth, the life.

He depicts the life & the connexion to all that is alive. You.

« Connexion »
charcoal, pastels & black chalk painting on canvas

Sep

Dancing

Horses are the symbol of the movement even if in nature they actually moves slowly, do a lot of walk & gallop little.

But with us, they know how to express their charisma, their power, all their energy they hold back… They give us so much that we almost don’t remember how much they are passive and zen and calm most of their time.

I’ve decomposed the movement as a slow motion to express this duality. A huge energy in a strong body with a peaceful mind.

Dancing on a classical music
Like a monk
Under the light of the univers

« Equine Nude 7a »
charcoal, acrylic & black chalk painting on canvas

Aug

SWAN

Like a swan that offers us its most beautiful face, the exterior is not always a reflection of the interior. He seems to show us his beauty, his essence, would he like to seduce us? Coax us? Bring us into his deep feelings?

Or perhaps he invites us to get closer to him, to enter his intimate space to whisper a thought, a wish, some sweet words to us?

What does he have to tell you?

« Expression 3t »
charcoal, acrylic & black chalk painting on canvas

Jul

THE ESSENTIAL

ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇssᴇɴᴛɪᴀʟ.
If it’s possible to summarize this drawing, it would be with these two words.

The essentials of movement, the essentials of the animal, the essentials of anatomy, of the expression.

Everything is reduced to a minimum. Everything is without details or precision.

And yet everything is here.

Horses keep their power in their attitudes, it speaks to us about balance, strength, character.

It talks to us about the essential.

« Equine Nude 91t »
charcoal, acrylic & black chalk painting on paper

Jul

Taylor

𝐸𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠.

When I’ve received the picture of Tailor, I’ve felt chills. I was hit by his so intense and deep look. This horse must have been very strong, magnetic, charismatic & so kind! I couldn’t wait to do his portrait.

When I was in front of my easel with the picture reference of Taylor close to me & with my pencil dancing on the paper, I was so concentrated that I felt a connection with him. That kind who let me feel a bit with him, it was a feeling of peace.

If I tell you this now it’s because it’s not the first time it happens to me these last months. I created 3 portraits of passed away horses and I felt the same peaces and strong energy each time that let me feel a huge sensation of love.

I know that for the owners it can be a hard time, for me, I created these portraits in a joy that I can’t describe & I imagine that the painting hold and keep this energy.

« Taylor »
charcoal & black chalk painting on paper

Jun

CHALLENGED

It’s sprang from the sheet in no time. Sucked up by the ink, swallowed by the white of the support, gulped down in the spiral of the black pencil, this horse’s sprang as much from me as from itself. He caught me off guard, but I reacted quickly, barely giving me time to think that he was already there, standing in front of me.

From the front, as if pricked up against me and against himself. In this battle, no one has won or lost. It didn’t last long, but it allowed me to give birth to him.

When the sheet was still white, however, another internal battle was fought. That one of the first impulse, of “but where am I going to with him”? The drawing finished, he was already facing me from its full height, I was intimidated, as if already floored.

And it is precisely timidly that I launched into color. He turned around, refused. I was on the verge of giving up but he challenged me so hard that I all let go.

All.

The ink is gone from one go, the brush followed. Everything is gone so fast. But it was intense and good. He challenged me to bring out the best from me. I didn’t know it in the moment. It was once the battle ended, the weapons laid down, that he looked at me from the top and showed me how he was so proud of me, of him!

I immediately loved him. After all, we had been so close to each other.

« Equine Nude 75t »
acrylic, charcoal & black chalk painting on paper

May

MY WHISTLEJACKET

I can say now with a hindsight of few months that this painting was a turn for my color palette.

I’ve made this painting for the last challenge of the 2019 year with @paardverzameld. The subject was Whistlejacket from George Stubbs. Create our Whistlejacket with our style, our sensibility.

For me it was obvious, I focused on the eye, head and the neck. I wanted to focused the observer look on this expressive part. Without neglecting the strong global attitude, the level of energy emanating from the entire body posture.

Even if it was not my usual colors, the idea was to keep the ambiance of the original, warm and sweet. So I’ve decided to try a new range of colors that was not mine: earthy green and something close to brown-orangish.

Quickly I found myself out very at ease with this earthy tones. I confess that I hesitated to add a blue… yeah I know habits are strong!

After that painting, I used more warm tones and less blues. Until removing blue in 4 very recent paintings! If you know me well… you know that it’s kind of a miracle!

« My Whistlejacket »
acrylic & black chalk painting on canvas

Apr

TIME

For me, it’s like this horse taking a turn galloping… my time flies. Sometimes I’m wondering if they were not wrong during the process of my conception with my feel of the time. For sure they missed something! An essential ingredient maybe. Or a very small one. All around me goes too fast. I need time, maybe more than others, I don’t know, to be sure to be really here at the present moment. Not that I’m someone slow but it’s like my brain needs more time to sens the world around him.

It a big contrast with my horses who are always in motion! Maybe I run through them to try to be more connected to the world time?

« Equine Nude 13p »
pastels, charcoal & black chalk painting on canvas

Mar

SHAMAN

This painting is about a shaman horse that we all met one day. The one that given us all his love, his compassion, his magical side. That kind of horse with a strong calm and magnetic power deep inside. The one with we feel invulnerable. I’m sure you know what I mean.

My model is the horse of @creativeplenitude named Shogun (love his name… 😍) and in him, even if I don’t know him personally, I think and feel that he have a big presence, a natural force that one we could bow down to him every morning to glorify his being.

I’ve a shaman horse in my life named « Moumou » and I’ve found the same energy in him. Moumou is my friend’s horse, a special mare in my heart ❤️ .

And you? Do you have a shaman horse in your life?

« The Shaman »
acrylic & black chalk painting on canvas

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