Artist's Drawing & Inspiration
An Equine Love Affair
A romantic realist, Louise touches the lives of many with her stunning works of art.
Living on a farm on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales with my partner, I consider myself very blessed to have lots of subjects to paint right outside my front doorstep. We have an abundance of wildlife and birds, bush and mountains, with the Lansdowne River meandering its way through the property. Livestock on the farm consists of beef cattle, a few crossbred sheep and my Paint and Palomino horses – giving me a variety of animals to paint every day - inspiration on the hoof, so to speak. As I write this we are at the start of the calving and lambing season which means there will be many new babies to photograph for future works.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing – I’ve been passionate about horses since a very early age,
drawing them from the age of three. My family migrated from Newcastle, Australia to New Zealand when
I was very young and my parents encouraged me with my art. They bought paints, oil pastels and pencils to supply my constant passion for drawing horses. I would sit for hours on the floor of my room sketching horses, wanting to be an artist when I grew up. I pestered my parents so much for my own horse they relented and bought me a young foal at the age of 13 which I kept in our large house yard in Auckland. That foal “Frosty” was so cheeky she would often stick her head through the kitchen window looking for a treat.
My first art competition success at the age of 13 was a drawing of her entered into an equine magazine, where I won 2nd prize. I took Art as a subject at High School but I’m sure my art teachers were frustrated with me wanting to only draw or paint horses. My final year exam folder was full of equine subjects instead of still life studies. I remember my first commission was a horse drawing for one of my father’s friends while I was still at school. My family moved back to Australia and I eventually found my way to the Mid North
Coast where I settled in 1992.
Having bred, ridden and shown my own horses for many years, worked with racehorses as a teenager and undertaken equine courses, I loved living the horse life. During this time I still painted the odd commission but eventually gave up the show circuit to focus on my painting, following my lifelong purpose. After enrolling in a short pastel course at the local community college with Vivien
Walter in 1996 I became hooked on this medium, starting out with a few Rembrandt pastels, and painted landscapes and equine subjects. At the same time I attended private tuition in oil painting, joined the local Art societies and began exhibiting my work.
On the weekends I would often travel to local markets with a few sketches and paintings to display
on a stall or car boot to get my work out there for people to see. I would also attend the occasional horse show with artworks. I advertised in magazines, put up display posters and flyers and got a business card professionally printed to kick start my art as a business. People and friends began commissioning me to paint their animals or properties and before long I was on my way.
I took up the opportunity of doing workshops with some of Australia’s best artists such as Ross Paterson, Colina
Grant, Amanda McLean and Graham
Cox, because as an artist you can never stop learning. Workshops keep me inspired and help me strive to constantly improve my work to the next level.
I have been involved in more than
100 exhibitions and art shows, won more than 70 awards and held my first exhibition with some artist friends in
2010. We felt very honoured to have Graham Cox open our show at a local gallery and we received wonderful feedback plus some sales from many people who visited the display of our works. Following on from that, I had another group exhibition and a small solo exhibition at a local cafe earlier this year.
Pastels are definitely my favourite medium and I use several different brands such as
Art Spectrum, Micador, Winsor & Newton, Rembrandt, Schminke and Sennelier. I also use Derwent Pastel Pencils. I love the Unison range of pastels which I layer on top of the other brands – being softer and with more vibrant colours; I think they are the icing on the cake! Colourfix pastel paper is the perfect marriage for pastels. When I feel like a change I switch to oils as I like their richness and the layering of glazes. Because I love colour (I bred coloured horses for many years) I often paint in acrylics. The childhood love of drawing has not left me and I still create the occasional pencil work and at times a watercolour.
My inspiration is from a variety of sources – the flora and fauna of our unique Australian landscape, flowers and dragonflies in the garden, a fascination for magic and fantasy and my love for all things equine. I would describe my work in the “romantic realist” style and I hope this magic touches the
hearts of all who view my art. My other passion is photography and I like to take many reference photos for future works.
Often paintings form and weave themselves during my dreams or wake me at night and I see the artwork as a complete piece, sometimes accompanied by the title, and I find it hard to go back to sleep – hardly waiting for the next day to arrive so that I can capture the magic on paper or canvas. I have a book full of many such ideas, all waiting for the right time to be created. I think I have enough subjects to keep me painting into the next life!
Artists who have inspired me all my life are J W Waterhouse, Orren
Mixer and Susan Seddon-Boulet.
Highlights of my career so far would be the sale of an equine painting to a Texan winery, which was also used on the wine label for a special release in 2009. This gave me exposure across the USA. I was also approached by
The Trail Of Painted Ponies in Arizona to submit designs for its highly collectible equine models and it is one of my dreams to become one of this organisation’s official artists.
"Works have sold across Australia, New Zealand, USA and France. I also have paintings displayed in a few local cafes. Having previously sold from a gallery in Bellingen on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, I am currently looking for another gallery to represent my art."
I can be contacted via my website.
Email: louisegreen4@bigpond.com
Web: www.painteddreamsstudio.com