“Somewhere within there is a place where you and I meet Heart to heart Soul to soul Mind to mind Those elusive moments can pass by in a flash and last an eternity”
~ Kim McElroy
Meeting Stas
Pat had first seen my artwork in 2000 when she came across a collection of my note cards which she sent to many of her horse friends…but she admitted she saved some of them for herself. Sixteen years later, when she decided to commission a portrait of Stas’ portrait, she contacted me and was amazed when she learned I lived only 20 miles away.
We agreed to meet so I could photograph Stas. He had begun to have some health issues and Pat knew that he wasn’t completely himself, but we decided to go ahead with the photo session. Over the next year Stas continued to have lameness and health difficulties that baffled the vets and farriers she consulted. Pat said that during his health challenges she would look into his eyes every day and sometimes she would only see a void and then the next day she would see a glimmer of life and hope. So she decided to have me portray a close-up of his eye as the concept for the portrait.
Reconnecting
Some time later as I prepared to create Stas’s portrait. Pat was happy to share that Stas had recovered wonderfully despite all the odds and was himself again. She asked if I would be willing to visit him again to get a sense of his true self before I started the painting. I was a little hesitant to take the time, since we didn’t need more photos, and I knew that I could intuitively connect with Stas’s spirit when I began to create the art, but since she felt Stas wanted to see me, I trusted her intuition
When I arrived at the boarding stable, Stas was walking around nibbling on grass in the driveway area, and when I got out of the car, I greeted Pat and started walking towards her and Stas. He lifted his head and began walking purposefully towards me. He came right up to me and greeted me, horse fashion, with a breath – his nose to my face, gently and with deep intent. This was an experience I’d only ever had with my own horses. I looked at Pat with tears in my eyes and she smiled, saying “I knew he wanted to talk with you.” Now I feel like you are ready to begin his portrait.
I am so used to painting portraits of horses that are either far away geographically, or on the other side spiritually, so I had become accustomed to not being physically present with most of the horses I paint. This experience taught me that even though I am intuitive in my creative expressions, it is entirely different to experience the inspiration I feel in the presence of the horse.
The Reference Photo
Reference photo of Stas
The photo Pat had chosen as her favorite was unfortunately a bit overexposed and blurry. This presented a unique challenge in that I needed to create more than what I could see… more depth, more detail, and more expression than what appeared in the creases and folds of the brow and shape of the eye. This was in addition to the challenges of painting the eye itself; elusive aspects of translucent depth, light, and reflection. All of these details revealed themselves with the colors and strokes of my pastels, using the photo as a loose guide for reference, instead of the super realistic detail I’ve become used to with digital photography.
The process of drawing a horse's eye is not merely of my artistic skill looking into or at the eye, but also interpreting how I would perceive myself as the horse looking out…
The magic process of choosing a title
When I was finishing the portrait, I was listening to Pandora radio and a beautiful song came on the random selection. It was the theme song from the film American Beauty. I hadn’t seen the film but that particular piece of music felt very fitting to the painting. I looked at the name of the song and I thought it was called “Somewhere Within”… and I wrote Pat to tell her I thought it would make a beautiful title for Stas’s eye portrait. Even though she hadn’t seen the portrait yet – she knew the feeling from the photo I was painting it from. (Interestingly later I couldn’t find that title in any relation to the movie, the song, or any song I was playing or even any song by that name online.)
Looking into infinity
Each and every horse I paint becomes my companion while I paint them. I am channeling all I can conjure into a visual and emotional work of art. As I look at “Somewhere Within”, I see the eye of a special horse I only spent a few hours with, but whom I’ll never forget.
Postscript
When I met Pat, she confided with me that she had some health issues. She told me that if anything should ever happen to her, she would want her portrait to return to me, because she trusted me to honor Stas. Sadly, a few years later, Pat passed away. She had arranged for Stas to be cared for by my friend Leta who does healing work with horses. Pat gave Leta some a gift to help care for Stas, but nothing can cover the cost of caring for a horse with his health challenges in his elder years. Leta lives on a low income and had three horses of her own, and she has sacrificed much in her commitment to honor Pat's request. The proceeds from the sale of his portrait will be offered to Leta to help fund Stas's care in memory of Pat.
"Somewhere Within" is a window into the soul of a beautiful horse, and therefore all horses. While he lives out his life with Leta, his portrait has its own life, with someone new who is drawn to him and the lessons his deep countenance will bring to them.
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