The Horse in Landscape - Horses in Art Magazine

The Horse in Landscape

First Snow – Watercolor, 11.5 x 18, by Sara Deponte. "I was struck by the grace of the horse's movement and the subtle contrast between the horse and the snow-covered surroundings." View more of her work at www.whitepicketsstudio.com
Landscape painting incorporates many aspects of the visible world which have aroused the interest of the artist. It allows the artist to share with others some of the perceptions of the environment they have lived, seen or dreamt about.

As the viewer of landscape painting, it is rewarding to appreciate the awe-inspiring splendor of nature and the curiosity we feel while surveying unknown scenes. While viewing the landscape, we can feel as if we are looking at it from a distance, outside our personal existence, or connect immediately to something familiar, evoking a memory. Adding the image of the horse to the landscape ignites all sorts of wonderful associations and daydreams if the viewer is a horse lover.

First Light – Oil, 80 x 110 cm, by Wayne Strickland.

Landscapes have always been of major interest to Naomi Nickerson. Her move from Maryland to the Reno area has given her the chance to expand her technique by taking in the vastness of Nevada. In her oil painting, The Bachelor, the Nevada landscape with sharp mountain peaks in the distance and the ruggedness of the terrain makes us admire the survival instincts of the wild, lone stallion.

Sara Deponte shares with us a delightful atmospheric snow-scene titled First Snow. The elongated shadows trailing behind the horse, typical of the season’s lower sun position, help to validate the reality of the winter day. Sara Deponte, well known for her portraits, enjoys riding her Arabian horse, Boston, who is depicted in this snow scene.

View From Virginia Tech Barn – Oil on canvas, 14 x 11, by Joan Jannaman.

In the watercolor Highlife Babies by Diana Beam, the top half of the painting is framed by the pasture trees, typical of species you find in Florida where Diana lives. The four-rail white fencing and wide aisle-way to keep the young colts from interacting with the neighboring pasture horses are clues to the quality of the young thoroughbreds being housed in luxury and safety. Diana returned to painting fine art in 1999, and observing animals and wildlife is second nature to her.

Wayne Strickland is an Australian artist with an interest in wild horses. He remarks, “There is a mob of brumbies running wild north of my home in the state reserve depicted in my work. The oil painting, First Light, shows a brumby stallion. In the wild the stallion usually will rest his mares on high ground, supporting the fact that a horse’s best means of defense is speed. The higher ground gives them an advantage in a quick escape. I’ve noticed, while watching wild horses, the stallion will usually let the mares and foals drink first in a settled situation. Quite the opposite in a domestic scene, or when they are moving.”

The Bachelor – Oil on board, 48 x 36, by Naomi Nickerson.

Our eyes gaze upon the rolling hills which seem to go on forever in the peaceful pastoral scene titled View from the Virginia Tech Barn by Joan Jannaman. The horses are grazing peacefully against the backdrop of nature. There is a sublime sense of tranquility, an endearing characteristic of landscape painting. Jannaman uses oils to create her portraiture of horses, dogs and people. She also paints still life and landscapes. However, a childhood full of riding, showing and caring for horses has influenced her to most often portray the horse.

How the artist has orchestrated the elements in these Horse In Landscape paintings lends insight to what the piece is trying to suggest. The skies and the way the artist uses light greatly influence the whole mood or drama in each piece. The convincing portrayals of natural light are grounded in the real world, in the theater of everyday life.

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