By Julie T. Chapman
What draws me to the animal, and how do I try to deliver contemporary interpretation?
I choose to paint animals because they are other nations, other minds who share our planet, and their beauty enthralls me. Their vibrancy inspires me to use a contemporary, colorful style in my oils; the abstract backgrounds I favor create a harmonious and energetic setting for the magnificent animal form, including the horse. (More on that in a minute).
"Nabbed", 24 x 32
There are many influences at work in each piece of my art, including fieldwork (watching animals in the wild is enormously exciting) the unique visions of other artists the drama of seeing a light-struck being emerge from my canvas, paper, or scratchboard.
As I discussed in a recent Artzine (my monthly email newsletter - see my website to sign up ), fieldwork is essential to any animal artist who hopes to capture behavior, gesture, expression, and form for a species. Note that these are elements a portrait painter also examines - but a figurative artist focuses her attention on Homo sapiens, whereas an animal artist studies a wide range of other species, again including the horse. (Which can lead one to wonder why figurative art is considered a more worthy category in art exhibitions than animal art...or, perhaps, why “figurative” doesn’t include all animal forms).
"Chestnut Dreams", 12 x 16
But I digress. Fieldwork - watching...
Additional Article Information:
· Article is 553 words long (250 are displayed in this preview).
Author: Julie T. Chapman
Post Date:October 20th, 2011
'Wildlife Art Journal magazine launches a new regular feature that celebrates the art of the horse. We're aiming to tear down the Iron Equine Curtain that exists between "wildlife" and "horses". In this first installment featuring the work of Julie T. Chapman, she explores why she finds the animal form so enticing, timeless and relevant to the modern world.
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Research tags: julie t. chapman, the horse, artists of the horse, wildlife art, wildlife art journal magazine, equine art,
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