Painting and drawing have always come easily to Tonya Holland. With very little formal training in fine art, she has twenty years of work experience in graphic design that now influences her when she sets up a piece of fine art.

Holland explains, “I like to utilize tight cropping with tension points – finding just the right place to end each side, top, and bottom of each painting, so that, even though it may be a simple portrait of a horse head, for example, it creates a strong, dynamic composition.”

The acrylic and colored pencil make a nice counterpoint in her fine art work. The acrylic allows Holland to accomplish something quickly and is instantly gratifying, while the colored pencil is time consuming, yet relaxing and therapeutic.

Tonya used to imagine her dream horse, a palomino mare named Sandy, galloping alongside the car on family trips. She felt incredibly lucky after high school to work as a stable hand on a large standardbred breeding and racing farm in Michigan, while doing commissions of horses and dogs. The time she spent immersed in the world of harness racing made a lasting impression and the horse in harness is still her favorite equine art subject.

After a long break from horses and fine art, a move to Arizona was the first major relocation she had ever done. “It was kind of like letting a log jam loose,” Holland explains. “It made me realize I wasn’t stuck in any one place or doing any one activity.”

The fine artwork started up again. Holland’s acrylic painting Daddy’s Old Harness won a first place at the Harness Tracks of America exhibit and sold for the highest price at the auction. Painting the harness horses rekindles the memories of the standardbred farm back in Michigan, and her love of producing fine art.

Holland remarks, “It feels like coming home.”

~ Back to Current Issue ~