Recent graphite drawing of Django of Cacharel, a Friesian stallion owned by Tashkent Friesians in Australia. Django is a darling of the dressage scene and is a total gentleman, stealing hearts wherever he goes. This was drawn as a companion to an article I wrote on my artistic process for the July/August 2013 issue of Baroque Horse Magazine.

Size: 11.7 x 8.3 in Time to completion: Approx 30 hours

I suck at remembering to update things! Here's a 11.7" x 16.5" graphite portrait commission. This one took me about 3 weeks to complete.

http://www.andreamichaelartist.com

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"Working Class" Scratchboard and Ink. Reference photo from the Wetcanvas Reference Image Library. Prints available.

"Spirit" a graphite portrait. Soon to be appearing in the 2013 Ex Arte Equinus art book and awarded an Honorable Mention in the drawing category for the Ex Arte Equinus 6 art show.

http://www.andreamichaelartist.com

http://www.facebook.com/AndreaMichaelArt

An Artist's Statement - Also known as, "Why Horse Art?"

Greetings fellow travelers. First posts are always so hard to write so I'm just going to dive in and explain what I do and why.

The animal kingdom is my muse and this is reflected in the art that I create. All of nature's creatures inspire me but the horse holds a special place in my heart and artistic vision. Their power and grace, their fire and beauty and their subtle ways of communication all urge me to try and capture their likeness in my art.

I grew up horse mad and art mad, so of course there was a natural inclination to create a lot of horse art. As a child I would often proudly show off my latest magnum opus to all and sundry, only to receive groans of "Another horse? Draw something else!" which I roundly ignored and wondered what was wrong with everyone. While I use a variety of mediums, including graphite, coloured pencil and acrylics, my working process remains remarkably similar across the board. I often begin with the eye to breathe life into the subject from the very beginning and from there the detail emerges across the rest of the image.

Layer after layer of thin applications of pencil or acrylic glazes build up complexity of detail while retaining smooth gradients. The process is very time consuming and requires an almost zen state to achieve, as hours slip away like minutes. The one exception to this is scratchboard, which I find very freeing. In scratchboard, working in reverse to create highlights instead of shadows, I feel I can can forget the minutea of fine layers of detail and render a more immediate piece of art while still retaining validity as "my work".

With this blog I hope to showcase my various artworks, most of which will be horses of course, but occasionally will be other animals and the (very) occasional person. I will also expand on my techniques, celebrate achievements, muse on life as an artist and of course talk about horses... a lot.