FINDING A VOICE - and using it

For quite some time now, I've wondered if I have "a voice", something that distinguishes my work from others; that elusive 'something' that immediately says that this is a Heather Anderson painting.  It can be hard to know, because I am up close to the painting and the inspiration behind it.
I've come to the conclusion that now I can say Yes, I do have a voice that makes me an individual, not just one of the crowd (where ages ago, we all started out).  My animal paintings are consistently light, bright, and even the ones that are filled with action, have a sense of peace or fun. 
Recently, there appears to have been some ridicule directed towards me because I choose to use a lighter hand with color - light and bright as opposed to vivid, and because I choose to draw my images instead of tracing them.  Vivid is good, it's exciting, and I long ago accepted that many people prefer to trace. If that's what feels right, do it. It doesn't feel right for me.  I need to draw the image in order to feel connected with it and I need to create a light, bright, clean image  where, when it comes to color and detail, less is sometimes more. ( This doesn't mean I don't use many layers of color or that I don't love using detail - it just means I'm selective about which details I use and which colors I put together and how intense I let them become.)  I was always taught to leave a place for the eye to rest, and even when I'm painting action, I make some small peaceful spot to rest.
  I know where I'm going, and I like the path I'm on.  I have every right to be here and talk about my art journey.  In short, I'm comfortable in my own skin and painting with my own voice. And really, isn't that what it's all about?


The painting I've used to illustrate this blog is APPALOOSA SPRING, a 14 x 18 watercolor on Arches 300 Hot Press.

Renewing the Focus

Sometimes it's a good idea to remind myself what it is I am actually doing when I sit down to paint. It helps  to re-affirm my focus so that I stay on track with what I'm painting and why, and hopefully it will help the viewer to understand what my paintings and I are about.  It's no surprise that I love painting dogs, cats, and horses, and I love painting my home valley and the animal events that take place there. I want to portray these creatures and scenes with the love and respect I have for them and hope that I can share it with you, the viewer.

When I start a painting, I keep in mind that one of my main goals is to portray the relationship between an animal and a human, because that is something that is SO important to me. I love that we can relate to another species, often without words, or in a dual sort of language that we have worked out together. I love the non-judgemental acceptance and unswerving devotion.  And it just blows me away that a thousand pound horse quietly, willingly, and gently does what I ask him/her to do. 

I also focus on the relationship between animals - I love to watch them interact.  We can learn so very much from them - patience, pragmatism, and the way they will use just enough clout in the herd/pack to get the necessary thing done, what ever that might be. For the most part, greed, jealousy, and aggression for the sake of it, does not happen.

And as shown in the first image in this blog, I take delight in portraying the animals in harmony with their surroundings.  To me, they always look as though they belong in whatever scene in which I find them, no matter where it is, or what the weather. 

I've talked about this bond, the interaction, the harmony, and my enjoyment of painting the English Riding events and the Western -type lifestyle  that co-exist around here in interviews, in my blogs, and on the social media, but it never hurts to sit down and remind myself why I'm painting what I paint.

RACE YA HOME!

Early one crisp November evening, just around moonrise, we were driving home. I (passenger!) caught a movement out of the corner of my eye,  and looking around, I saw some horses running along in their field, almost as if they were racing the car.  They were headed back to a barn that I could see a ways away, and obviously, were looking forward to their dinner.  It was a magical moment to see these guys thundering past, and we slowed the car to keep pace with them for the few seconds it took before their trail turned away to the barn. This moment has lived in my memory for several years, and I knew that sooner or later, I would paint it.  So here is my memory painting - "RACE YA HOME" , an 8.5 x 10.5 watercolor on Arches 140 Hot Press.
Heather Anderson
http://www.heatheranderson-animalart.com/

WINTER DISTILLED

It's one of those typical winter days that happen more often than the sparkling, bright days that turn winter into magic. The clouds hang heavy and grey, and the world seems to be painted in shades of black and white. I think of it as Winter distilled - the very essence of winter. And it has a beauty all it's own, so I wanted to celebrate it in a painting.  When I saw this group of horses that were so completely in harmony with their surroundings, I knew I had my painting. Actually, there were two groups of two black horses and one group of two black and white horses, but this painting needed to be simple, so I was selective in what I put in.
The whole painting is deceptively simple. It's more about knowing what to leave out as it is about what to put in, and that takes experience and skill. I've been painting long enough to have achieved those things. I love detail, but sometimes, the advice of Thoreau must be followed: 'Simplify, simplify'.
This recently completed painting, "WINTER DISTILLED", is an 11 by 14 watercolor on Arches 140 hot press, and it is available.  $625.  Also available are notecards and small prints.
http://www.heatheranderson-animalart.com/
anderson.animalart@sympatico.ca

TIME TO STOP AND STARE

Last week was very strange.  Two people went out of my life. One acted out of spite towards me, and I just don't have room in my life any more for spiteful people.  So I'm done - they're history. The other, a friend of whom I was fond, took a major hissy fit over nothing and took themselves off.  I'm not even sure where it came from, but I'm sorry it had to happen. But things like that do happen sometimes, and all you can do is say "oh well", and move on.
After those incidents, it was a delight to dive back into a painting that I had been working on, a 14 x 18 watercolor on 300 Arches HP called "TIME TO STOP AND STARE".  This is a wonderfully peaceful memory I have from my riding days.  My friend and I would saddle our Morgans and go out right after dinner in September and early October and ride up into the back fields to where they bordered on a cornfield.  We'd stop the horses and take time to watch the geese coming in to land for the night for some food and rest. You could hear the wind, the creaking of the saddles, the soft blowing of the horses, and the rustle of the corn as the geese landed and wandered through, pecking at bits of dropped corn. The sky was a glory of golds and pinks, and we'd stay as long as we could and still get home before dark. SO wonderful!  We were each in our own peaceful world, almost as if we had ridden out alone. I have to think that our lives would be more relaxed, more at peace, if once in a while, we all took the time to stop and stare.