all that glitters...

"Paint what you love" is something you hear a lot when starting out in art. It makes sense. After all, if you're going to spend hours staring at something, examining every detail, how differing light angles work and so on, it helps if it's something you at least like. With that in mind, you will never, ever see a painting by me of a spider! It does stand to reason then, that as I spend such a large amount of my time outside with my horses, that the surrounding landscape is of interest. Being based in the Surrey Hills means I have a wonderful vista of rolling green hills and woodlands to feast my eyes on. Whenever I travel somewhere flatter like East Anglia, or bereft of trees, like the moors, the first question on my lips is "where are all the trees?" No, a spinney of 3 trees in a 1000 acre field doesn't count! So it comes as no surprise that trees often crop up in my paintings when I go for a landscape. The shape and structure, beautiful bark deta

I can't help it, I am compelled time and again to painting dark shadowy images and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I love a bit of contrast. I love how back-lighting can bring out all the beautiful subtle details of shape form and texture. It creates a mood, an emotion - open entirely to the perception of the viewer. Maybe it's the simplicity. This style is easy to live with as there is no fear of a colour clash! .  So recently I have gone back to playing around with monochrome ideas. I visited this style briefly a while ago and decided it was worth a reprise. I used ink previously, but this is an unforgiving medium for this style of painting, so now I am using heavy body acrylics. It's quite a messy process, getting the right effect  involved the use of highly technical equipment.... fingers!  I like the thought that different people feel differently about these in terms of  the mood and the surroundings.  I am keeping quiet as there is no

Well look at this, just like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along together! I saw poster on my way to work this morning with "Labels are for Bottles" and I thought it was spot on and followed nicely from my previous rant, so I thought I would meander down this avenue and see where it takes me. As a species, we do like a label don't we? In one breath we say people are a "this" or a "that" and in the very next breath, extol the virtues of individuality! When it comes to art and all things creative, there are a multitude of genres and styles. I find it really hard to nail my colours to any particular mast as I feel what I create crosses a few styles, so I am wondering..... is it up to me to decide my label, or do I have to accept whatever others decide best fits? I still haven't got a name for this piece, never-mind not knowing what category it fits into Am I expressionist, contemporary.... does it really matter? It migh

Ok. I will start with a small apology about the lengthy silence. Life is short and busy and it turns out to be quite difficult to keep up with a blog as well as all the other social media links plus hold down a day job, be a good horse mother and find time to paint. Something has to give. However, it appears I found my voice again after a full blown rant recently and I feel the need to reach out to whoever reads this to see if I am not alone with my thinking, so here goes: I sometimes use reference photos for my work, sometimes more than one for one painting. It might be to give me some reference for the shape and form of the horse other times I might use something for the background, the sky and so on. I mostly use my own photos. If they are not mine, I always ensure I have full permission from the creative owner - I am well aware and mindful of copyright laws. That's not the issue here. My issue is, people comparing my work to the reference photos. Horse painted from m

It's been almost 2 years since I blogged. Sorry about that. Life is busy and social media is time consuming so I have had to prioritise my efforts. I have been busy making my work available online and  building a new website. Meanwhile, here is where you can buy works and horse up your life. www.redbubble.com/people/hrequineart I am trying to decide whether the word needs another art blog or if it might be more fun and interesting to make this a little wider. Perhaps an insight into the life and times of the artist behind the easel. Or perhaps a little more about how the inspiration for the pieces came to be. For example, "At dusk" here This painting and many of those in my up close and personal collection are  inspired by my evenings in the barn with my horses. The sun is setting and the  light fading. All is quiet and still, just the sounds of horses contentedly munching their hay and dozing. This is very much a horse owner's view. We rarely see our anima

So the final week of my challenge came and went! It was a great experience and has given me confidence and structure that I don't think I would have gained, certainly not that quickly. Day 23: Gouache Day 24: Ink Day 25: Pastel Day 26: Acrylic Day 27: Acrylic Day 28:Acrylic Day 29: Pastel day 30: Acrylic Most of the pictures from this series are available for sale. If you are interested, please message me for details. So now for a short time to reflect on what I have learned and where I want it to take me.  You can follow my progress here, or on instagram @hrequineart