Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Mustang Series: After the Gathering

This is a photograph of a mustang after it was gathered in a BLM roundup. He has the good fortune to have been adopted and has great health. Not all of the adopted horses end up so lucky. This image hung recently in a juried art show down in Denver. I am committed to portraying the plight of the American mustang after they have been gathered. There are so many good photographers who are currently documenting the horses out on their ranges. The series, After the Gathering, is intended to educate and touch the hearts of many.

Last year we traveled to California to support Return to Freedom's (http://www.returntofreedom.org) annual fundraiser and met a lot of people dedicated to helping preserve the mustang and its god-given right to remain free. They have done an amazing job to provide a sanctuary to preserve the wild horses while educating people.

Check out http://www.freedomforwildhorses.com, where you can purchase really great articles of clothing. These are a really wonderful group of women who have watched the Nevada herds diminish. Their intention is to raise funds for the preservation of these amazing animals.

It is also my desire to help organizations dedicated to the preservation of our wild horses so I will donate part of the proceeds from this series in an effort to help.

Susan
windhorseOne Studios
www.windhorseone.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Creation of a Custom Portrait












I recently had the opportunity to create a custom horse portrait that was for a Christmas gift. I wanted to share with you a little bit about the creative process involved. The 2 horses in the photograph had been in the family for a long time and had shared a successful show career with both a mother and a daughter! It was the daughter's desire to capture an intimate moment between their cherished animals. We ran them around for a bit and then they finally gave me the shot I was waiting for. The first image is the actual photo. There are a few distracting elements like the wire fence and bright spots in the background.

What comes next is always fun since I work from intuition. It is important to me to add the element of human touch to my photographs. I wanted to create an elegant portrait with a magical and mystical atmosphere for the horses so I will paint in the background. I use a variety of techniques I have developed and the finished piece is between a sepia toned B&W with a hint of color. The final piece was printed on gallery wrapped canvas and ready to hang or be custom framed.












Bye for now,
Susan