Sunday, November 4, 2007

Welcome to my Blog

I guess this is as good of a time as any to start at the beginning!! I don't tell people that I've always been an artist although the truth is that I have. I've always had the strong urge and desire to draw and that has been ever since I can remember. I just wasn't very good!

All of my schoolwork and literally any paper you put in front of me would have some sort of a horse like figure scribbled onto it. I have always attributed that to my love for horses not a love for art. Horses, horses horses. That was all that was ever on my mind when I was young.

But right now, writing about this as a person who is 42 years old and a fairly accomplished equine artist, I must admit that to this day horses are still always on my mind and I am still scribbling pictures of them on whatever you put in front of me... so nothing has changed! I've just improved! ;)

I don't have any of my earliest childhood scribbles
but I do have a painting from high school this was Shiloh, my sister's collie that I chose for the subject. She was on the side of our home in Libertyville, Illinois when we lived there. We'll just call this my "Monet" era!! LOL I probably chose this photo because I so loved that dog and sadly she died (hit by car) before we could move to Salem, Wisconsin where I went to high school.

When I was 19 and living in Germany training Quarter horses I remember sitting at the kitchen table paging through a horse magazine and getting the urge to draw a horse that I saw on one of the pages. I ran up to my room and
grabbed my sketchbook. See? I always had a sketchbook! I thought when I finished that it was probably the best drawing I'd ever done. I showed it to my boss and he kinda shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's O.K." He was right. It was only "O.K." Thinking back though, it really was a step toward improvement.

What it did do for me was satisfy an itch to draw at the time. An itch I've always had to scratch on occasion. Riding and training horses satisfied so much in my life I will always want to be near them and this passion for horses has never dimmed. I think it is a blessing to be born with a passion for something. I know a few people who aren't. I'm doubly blessed because I have a great passion for two things, and one connects me to the other and vice versa.

In 1994, literally one night, something in me changed. My art took a complete transformation and in a matter of hours I became something else.
If I have always been an artist then I don't know what this pencil drawing made me. A good artist perhaps? It was not unusual for me to be paging through a horse book or magazine and want to draw one of the pictures I saw. Happened all the time with similar results to the drawing I did in Germany. This time was completely different. I was watching a movie on TV with my husband and whenever there was a commercial I went back to the table and worked a little more. It came so easily. It was finished by the time the movie was over and I could not believe my eyes. Neither could my husband.

I don't know anyone else who has had an experience like this. All I know is that all my life I knew without question that when I would sit down and do one of these scribbles that this was what I was going for. I knew it was there. Somewhere. I just didn't know how to find it.

I wonder if everyone is born knowing there is something inside them that they need to find? I feel very fortunate to have found it.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Well let me be the first to comment Laura heehee

I liked it and I think you tell a geed story too

more more!!

Unknown said...

oh my blog addy is at

http://mtyokawonis.blogspot.com

Redreamer said...

What a beautiful INSIGHT The beginnings of a fine art Pencil Artist..... I love the way you tell your story Laura and I can certainly appreciate the passion the care and the talent your lovely work shows and that KEENESS to always improve and learn.

I think it is most important for artists to demystify to a point their art practice as we are all so individual.

Your writing reads so effortlessly and your pencil drawings really sing... keep up the great work.

Unknown said...

I pray everyday to have an epiphany such as yours. Mine are never life-changing; they are usually only brief flashes like knowing I'm going to sink a 20' put to win a golf tournament.

I didn't know you painted as well. I like your Monet. Don't let that talent slip away on you.

M

Anonymous said...

Laura what you have is a true gift! The way you captured the essence of Barbaro is nothing short of spectacular! Your rendering brings out the real Barbaro.The eyes are truly charismatic! I wish you immense success and I feel priveledged to have born witness to such talent ! FANTASTIC! I just love ALL your work Maribel from TWR and ABR

Anonymous said...

Laura------------You know how I love your work and what you have done this year with your remarkable portraits-----i am using your note cards and almost ready for more and when i can afford, will get my BIG portrait. The Laminitis Fund is flourishing with your help! sandy