Horse Art:
Janelle Faye Newcomb
Horse art is my passion. They are the subjects of my paintings.
The intent of my art is to reveal the emotional presence of the horse,
his sentient connection to the landscape and the healing grace that is the wisdom of the herd. I use watercolor as my media because, like my subject, it has a nature that is fluid and pure.
The white of the paper represents an inner light
and the spiritual essence of the horse.
Click on the painting to see an enlargement
“Frosty”
Watercolor on paper
8 ½” X 12”
“Landscape Conversation”
Watercolor on paper
8 ½” X 6”
“Daydream”
Watercolor on paper
22” X 31 ½”
“Poised”
Watercolor on paper
15 ¼” X 8 ¾”
I became fascinated with horses at a very early age. I grew up in a rural and agricultural locale of southern California where a fertile, coastal valley stood in the path of development.
In order to satisfy the longing to have a horse of my own, I began to draw them. I would search the landscape, picking them out alongside orchards and in backyard corrals. My drawings gave me a way to not only remain in the presence of these magnificent animals but to preserve something from my surroundings that I sensed was vanishing.
“Mist Being”
Watercolor on paper
8 ¾” X 11 ½”
I graduated from the Art Center College of Design in California with a Bachelor’s degree in studio art in 1983. I assembled sculptures with materials collected from nature combined with paper, silk, aluminum, plaster, and metal leaf. Some of these objects were designed to function as furniture. As a result of jobs working in libraries, my artwork also incorporated the craft of bookbinding. I developed a career as a book and paper conservator at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. My job was to maintain and restore collection materials for this prominent art and humanities research library.
“Star of Christmas”
Watercolor on paper
6” X 9”
After moving from Los Angeles to eastern Canada, I began a new relationship with horses, horse art and my own creativity. I was introduced to a herd of 15 horses at a refuge in a picturesque area of Quebec. The horses are maintained entirely by their owner in ways that are natural to the behavior of the herd in the wild. This includes the use of body language and sensitivity fields. As a result of being worked with in this way, the horses have been allowed to return to their own form of management, that of the senses.
“Sally Show”
Watercolor on paper
10 ¼” X 11 ¾”
“Illicit Longing”
Watercolor on paper
8 ¼ ” X 10 ½”
As individuals rescued from neglect and abuse they have been regrounded by each other. Their healing characteristics give content to my horse art paintings. The setting for this herd’s existence is in a county known as Charlevoix. The scenery and enchantment of this region attracts many people seeking an experience with nature. I try to create a reminder of this experience in my artwork.
My formal training as an artist and my work in a museum environment gave me an intellectual understanding of art.
It kept me familiar with the nature of materials but caused my work to be based on ideas of art for its own sake. What I have learned from the herd that I study and the collection of hunter/jumpers that I work with gives an intuitive aspect to my horse art painting and a motivation to express something that touches the spirit. Horses have inspired me to preserve and share with others the feeling of the moment and the awe of connection to the natural world.
"March Briefing"
Watercolor on paper
7" x 9"
For more information on the paintings of Janelle Faye Newcomb please use the contact form below
For more Horse Art click here
|
