White Magic, Horse Painting, "Equine Oil Painting" by Marina Petro

©Marina Petro

White Magic

16" x 20"

Original oil painting on canvas

Equine Portrait Series

Only one in the entire universe...and it could be yours!

Certificate Of Authenticity provided with every original painting.

Details and purchasing information HERE or EMAIL me for other purchasing options and inquiries. 

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I'm hoping to get back into the swing of it soon and begin painting more horses. I discovered two beautiful Haflinger horses that hang out together on my way into town. I contacted the owner and got permission to photograph and paint them. I am planning to bring my 18 year old granddaughter with me for the first shoot (hopefully very soon)...and will go from there. I've been a bit 'under the weather' for a couple of weeks battling the tenacious nasty little bronchial bug that has been going around. From what I understand, it has been hanging on with most for about 3 or more weeks...

At the moment, I have a new plein air painting I am still ambivalent about posting...not sure whether I like it or not...., a large and quite difficult still life painting on my easel that I'm making snail's pace  progress with,  and a black horse portrait that needs to be finished....

Today's Quotation: "Reason is powerless in the expression of Love."

Jim Morrison 

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Moonsilver, "White Horse Equine Oil Painting" by Marina Petro

Moonsilver

16" x 20"

Original oil painting on canvas

Equine Art Series

Only one in the entire universe...and it could be yours!


I accept installment payment agreements. 

Details and purchasing information HERE or EMAIL me for other purchasing options and inquiries. 

Certificate Of Authenticity provided with every original painting.

"Moonsilver" is presently galloping around  Frankie Flores Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY. I am not riding her .....just in case you were wondering. After being thrown from a horse some years ago and ending up in the hospital for a few days, they'd have to duct tape me to a horse and put padding all around the horse, as well, if I considered riding again.  I do miss it though...

I will be at Flores Gallery tonight for the Opening Reception of , "Thundering Hooves, " along with Connie Bush, Francine Stuart, Mary Frances Millet, Chelsea Bard, and of course, Frankie Flores. Hope some of you can make it there. 

Today's Quotation: "A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves--strong, powerful, beautiful--and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence." 

Pam Brown

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Molly, Horse Painting, "Equine Oil Painting" by Marina Petro

Molly
20" x 20" Oil on canvas
Commissioned
SOLD

Good golly Miss Molly! I had quite a ride completing this portrait. It was commissioned by a collector who purchased quite a few of my angel paintings and intuitively created pieces over the years. I've repainted Molly countless times until I was able to complete the painting as depicted here.

Molly's owner wanted me to paint the piece intuitively as I usually do. Well, Molly had a totally different take on the process. When I began the painting, I kept 'hearing' Molly say...."I want to see the sunset" over and over....and I was getting impressions of a VERY intense sunset. Now mind you, this is what the horse wanted, but the painting was not going to hang in her stall.

I completed the painting (I thought) in December and emailed a picture of it to Molly's mommy. Mommy thought the sunset was too intense and wanted me to soften it. So now, what do I do? My resistance had cemented itself firmly and it was extremely difficult for me to even walk into my studio to work on the painting.

Molly wants intensity and Mommy wants softness. Painting light over dark with oils is a difficult task...hard to restore the luminosity I wanted. So, I painted over the background around the horse with a quick drying white paint and began to work on the background from scratch ... again....and again...and again.... Whenever I tried to work in softer colors, I automatically, messed up with spontaneously applying deeper colors. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. To make a very long story short......I ended up painting it over a zillion times until I finally felt the painting was satisfactory. I emailed the completed pic to Molly's mommy and yes, I held my breath because I was about to give up on the whole thing it if she didn't like it.  My friends and family were at the point of disowning me....

Great relief when her feedback came back that "I captured Molly's soul" and she loved the painting. She said that she could actually "feel" Molly in the picture. So that's the story....and I am happy again!
.....and glad I didn't follow the advice in the quotation below....

Today's Quotation: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it." 
-W. C. Fields

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Seer, Horse Painting, "Equine Oil Painting," by Marina Petro

Seer

16" x 20"

Oil painting on canvas by Marina Petro

Purchase securely HERE or EMAIL ME for other purchasing options and inquiries.

A Certificate Of Authenticity is provided with every original painting.

Only one in the entire universe...and it could be yours!

"Seer" is my second equine portrait. I'd posted a picture of this horse in progress some time ago. I'd been experiencing resistance, feeling intimidated, and kept putting off working on it.  I am very happy with the finished painting though.  The actual photo I used for reference had a background of trees and a fence...kind of boring.  I hadn't decided what to paint for the background so I just started choosing the colors that attracted me most and swishing them on the canvas....not a surprise that a sky scene emerged. They seem to appear very naturally through my brush. 

Not sure how your monitor is displaying this painting. I brought it into Photoshop and it matched the original painting perfectly, but seeing it now on this blog post, it appears a bit darker...but you get the idea...I love imagining I am riding this wild horse bareback with his mane swishing across my face...not a chance in real life but great as a fantasy!

Today's Quotation: In riding a horse, we borrow freedom. 

~ Helen Thompson
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Horse, Equine Oil Painting 'Dreamer' by Marina Petro

Dreamer

16 x 20

Oil painting on stretched canvas

SOLD

Following the sage advice of Theresa Brown of Art Career Experts, who I hold in the highest regard, I've decided to paint horses...or at least, add them to my creative repertoire.  After learning that I lived in Saratoga Springs, NY, home of one of the oldest and beautiful racetracks in the country with a very exciting and bustling summer racing season, she strongly suggested I paint horses. 

I responded with a surprising level of enthusiasm and simultaneously, a surprising level of intimidation and resistance. It was a very difficult painting. I missed my late teacher terribly during the entire process. I had to figure everything out by myself...just like I used to do before this once in a lifetime mentor appeared in my life to guide me. 

In any case, I am delighted with the finished painting. I have another on the easel. I've gotten through the more difficult passages and am now painting the background. It is slow going...and I am still resisting, but I suppose that's part of the deal and I continue to move beyond my resistance.

Once I paint a few equine portraits, I will flex my creative muscles further, and attempt the racers...stay tuned. I'm planning to go to the track and take pictures this summer....and hopefully tag along with an equine photographer if I can persuade one of them to allow me to shadow them on occasion.

As a sidenote, in Chinese Astrology, I am the horse. In regular Astrology, I am an Aries. Saratoga Springs is an Aries city...for what all that is worth. As a child, my greatest passion was horses...so this is bringing an early love, which was squelched for lack of opportunity growing up in the city,  back into my conscious awareness again...is that too cool? I've also made friends with a horse I call 'Shaggy Girl' who hangs out up the road here. I give her carrots on my way into town and on my way home. She is shaggy...really shaggy...my heart went out to her. Perhaps I'll tell that story at another time...

Today's Quotation: "The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there." 

-Monica Baldwin

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