Unlike some of my other pictures like “Quiet Summer Wood” or “Maiden and Unicorn” that take weeks of painting, thinking, and revising, “Mother’s Love” was completed rather quickly, in just a couple of hours one afternoon. The main inspiration for this painting for me was the opportunity to play around with the appaloosa coloring: the dark spots on white, the white spots on dark, the roan-ish blending between the bay and white areas, and the speckling around the mare’s muzzle, were all exciting for me to work on. However, the main draw for people who see the painting is the interaction between the mare and her foal, reaching around to gently reassure her baby, a tender moment that seems to transcend species.

Prints and other products featuring “Mother’s Love” are available for purchase at Society6.com Mother’s Love 

Sitting here tonight on a hot late-summer evening seems like the perfect time to look back on “Summer Night,” a painting completed around this time of year in 2014. Three horses under the full moon, quietly grazing and bonding in a tall meadow full of fireflies. Crickets are chirping, horses munching, and the soft breeze blowing through the grass cools the evening air.

Prints and other Products featuring “Summer Night” can be purchased at Society6 Summer Night

Completed in the summer of 2014, “Quiet Summer Woodland” (or “Quiet Woodland”, or possibly “Summer Woodland”, the name seems to keep changing) is a representation of a little patch of trail that is one of my favourite places to ride. The wood is open, like a cathedral, under the canopy of widely spaced trees and the ground carpeted with vegetation, much of which is wildflowers. Our trail meanders, cut by the deer that often rest here in the afternoon, their fawns hidden in the under-story. Sunlight filters through the canopy and illuminates patches of wildflowers like stained glass. Burgundy bee balm, golden buttercups, or creamy Queen Anne’s Lace, depending on the time of year. The mist of a hazy summer evening often settles near the ground and the song of the wood thrush echos from the tree-tops. Truly a magical experience.

Prints and other products featuring “Quiet Summer Woodland” can be purchased at Society6 Quiet Woodland

Sometime in the month of May of this year, I had one of those magical evenings that seem to leave an impression long after. It was that time of the day when the sun is low and everything looks golden. As I was cleaning the water trough for my equine creatures, I left the gate open to allow them to have some time with the spring grass. Their activity on the lawn attracted the attention of the horses in the next pasture who came by to say hello. Dutchess, the ponderous Belgian mare, had no difficulty hanging her head and heavily arched neck over the gate to sniff at the newcomers. Iris accepted the greeting and extended her finely-formed swan’s neck, and for one moment they shared a gentle moment of sniffing nostrils as they acknowledged each other. (The moment directly afterward consisted of nipping and squeals)

“Greeting” is a painting I made to try to capture that refined moment of horse etiquette.

Prints and other merchandise featuring “Greeting” can be purchased at: Society6 Greeting Laurel Anne Equine Art