Kristen Vails – Equine Artist

I get pretty excited about equine art. I guess being a life-long painter and horse lover makes it impossible not to combine the two. When I was younger, I would get so frustrated at trying to draw horses correctly. As I got older, I learned how to look for the shapes and see the lines that make up their structure. So, painting horses came naturally to me when I got more serious about my art in high school and college. Now, painting is more of a hobby than a lifestyle. This is a direct result of owning a horse and deciding that I had to do something else in order to pay for the food and supplies to keep said horse alive and well. I moved more toward graphic design in college but still managed to paint on occasion.

This lack of my own horse-related painting projects has created even more of a desire for me to seek out others who are living the dream and support their work as much as I can. When I received a postcard from one of our local galleries announcing Kristen Vails’ show, I knew I had to see it! The image on the front was a slightly abstract version of a horse cantering. I say abstract because the most visible part of the horse was its front legs and stomach. The head was omitted and the hind legs seemed to disappear into the oblivion. It might sound strange, but I absolutely loved the effect!

So, I went to the gallery and stood in awe of Kristen’s brilliant collection of equines in motion. I love that her horses are all very anatomically correct, but she chooses to leave bits of their anatomy out of the image. Or in some cases, she’ll include the entire horse but the image seems to be more of a sketch using paint. There are some great “complete” horses, but I did not think those were as interesting. Wonderful,  yes. But I really enjoyed the fact that Kristen left some things for the imagination. Her colors are very subtle and the backgrounds all seem to blend with the images of the horses. Her style is almost impressionistic, which appeals to me very much. Charles Russell meets Degas. Each painting captures the particular horse’s personality, even though you aren’t always able to see their faces. The details mixed with the raw lines of a sketch all interact with perfect harmony.

See more for yourself by clicking here:  Kristen Vails Art

I hope you are inspired by her work. I certainly am!