Keeping the memory of your horse alive
How to create lasting memories of your horse
How do you go about preserving your memories and finding a way to celebrate your horse’s life in a meaningful way? It’s not really something we choose to think about until it happens. The loss of a much loved animal can leave a large hole in our hearts and when it comes to horses it can feel like a gaping chasm, they seem to inhabit our souls and make demands on our physical energy and resources like no other animal I can think of. So how do we cope with the loss of an animal that we have shared our lives with, be it a horse, dog or cat and find a way to memorialise them. It’s often not until they have departed that the need to have some physical reminder of their presence sets in.
There are many ways to create a memory or keepsake: horsehair jewellery from mane and tail hair; decorative items forged out of old horse-shoes; saddles and bridles re-purposed into bags and belts; ashes transformed into diamonds. But perhaps one of the most poignant of all is a visual reminder such as a horse portrait or unique horse painting created especially for you . All these physical items can act as a vessel for energy, memories, and stories that encapsulate our emotions and preserve them in time for years to come.
“MISTER JACK”
Insights into commissioning a horse portrait
I recently had the opportunity to help a lady in this situation who had lost her beloved horse of many years. She commissioned me to do a painting to remember her horse Woody so I’m going to talk about the collaborative process involved in commissioning a work of art. Commissioning art is the process of hiring an artist to create a painting/artwork based on your specific requirements.
I’ve not undertaken a commission such as this before and as there are so many talented realistic animal portrait painters in the UK that can capture the identical likeness just from a photograph, it hadn’t crossed my mind that someone would ask me. What I try and reach for and explore in my work is the energy and spirit of the horse and the emotional response that they evoke in us through a semi-abstract painting style using colour, line, form and texture.
So I was particularly honoured to be asked by Juliet who lost her horse last year, to create a painting to remember her beloved horse Woody. We used to ride together a few years ago when I was at the local livery yard in Barcombe Mills so I knew her horse quite well . However she didn't have many photos to work from so it was quite a challenge collating the reference material. There was one particular photo that we both remembered which her daughter had taken of us out riding together so I spent quite a while trawling though Facebook posts from 2015 ! I found it eventually and laughed my socks off when I saw the caption ..."The old bags out on the old nags ! "
Our starting point for the horse art commission was a discussion about Woody: what he was like as a horse, his habits and traits and character, where did they spend happy times together, what had he meant to her , how did she want to remember him? We then we moved onto practical considerations of size, location in the house, colour scheme etc. Juliet wanted to incorporate the gold colour of the cornfields at Barcombe Mills and have some reference to the black metal bridge on the old railway line, now a bridleway , where she used to ride him. The painting was to be hung in her conservatory where the interior design scheme is red and gold. So these were the colours that she specified for the painting .
RIDING AROUND THE CORNFIELDS THE UNDERPAINTING ‘THE OLD BAGS ON THE OLD NAGS !! ‘
My creative process for a horse art commission
So then I was left to my own devices ! I had a free rein ( no pun intended! ) I had requested Woody’s passport and I scanned this to make collage papers on tissue paper which I collaged onto the underlayers of the paintings. I should say at this point that I always work in a series as it keeps the creative flow going so I had 6 paintings on the go but 3 specifically geared towards the commission. You may be wondering at this point why a horse would need a passport ? It’s not like they are going to be jetting off for a holiday in the sun now is it !
Horse passports were introduced into the UK in 2005 as a EU directive in order to protect the human food chain and to make sure that horses that have been treated with certain drugs are not slaughtered for human consumption. All horses, ponies, donkeys , mules and zebras require an equine passport by law and must be accompanied by it at all times unless stabled or at pasture. The horse passport also contains the a Unique Equine Life Number as well as breed/ height/ colour specifics, owners details and unique markings and acts as a medical history for vaccinations and drugs administered. Most horse owners, including myself, that I know of in the UK will sign section IX in the passport to legally opt their horse out of the food chain to make sure their animal does not end up for human consumption. Apologies if I have gone down a disturbing path with this information but it is one of our most important responsibilities as horse owners that we are aware of these issues and understand the end of life implications for our beloved horses.
“BAREBACK JACK’
It felt particularly important to me to start the painting with elements from Woody’s passport. (Mister Jack is his official name) well as this document being a unique identification record of his history and markings, in his case it didn’t tell the whole truth. We knew he had been brought over from Belgium by his previous owner and when was then sold to Juliet. His passport stated that he was born in 1998 so by all accounts he was 14 when she got him and he passed his vetting in that belief . However on a routine dental examination it was confirmed that he was likely to be around 20 ( You can tell a horses’s age by his teeth ). Further examination uncovered a heart condition which then requires him to lead a much quieter life. Sadly this kind of deception is not uncommon in the horse trade. Thankfully for Woody, Juliet accepted this situation and loved and cared for him throughout his ailments and old age , giving him the most wonderful life , out in the field playing with his herd mates, going on gentle hacks around the cornfields, and showering him with love and affection. He was one of the lucky ones. Woody was as we say a “true gentleman” and they looked after each other in every way.
It was this understanding that gave me the fuel for the paintings - knowing that this was a relationship between two souls that had found each other. As I am painting I am feeling these emotions and expressing them through the mark-making, choice of colour, collage elements, composition and so on.
‘WOODY'‘
How can a horse painting have such an emotional impact ?
When I was at the stage when I thought the horse art commission was finished, I invited her over to come and view them. Her eyes welled up behind her mask (I’m writing this in the time of COVID). I knew I had done my job as an artist … she could feel her much loved horse through the paintings. Now she had to make a choice… which one would resonate with her the most ? In fact she loved them so much she decided to have both large paintings “WOODY” and “MISTER JACK” and they are now hanging in her home with his saddle and bridle placed nearby.
I was thrilled by her reaction as I knew firsthand how much he meant to her and so delighted when she sent me this wonderful testimonial of the art commission:
“Dear Jane even reading this and to see us together on our beautiful faithful horses makes me well up! Absolutely thrilled to bits with these beautiful original paintings, you have to me, captured everything I asked and I will love and enjoy remembering my Woody everyday”
But that’s not quite the end of this story .There was an unexpected turn of events during the time that I first undertook the horse art commission and its completion. I lost my own horse Evy, (the chestnut mare that you see me riding in the photo). Her loss was as vast as the ocean and the pain so raw that for quite a while I stopped painting. I had no motivation or joy, just the heavy burden of grief from losing a horse who had been in my life for 17 years. In the end what brought me back to the studio was the desire to fulfil my role as an artist and provide my friend with a painting of her special horse.
I understand it so much more now …Horses are such visceral, primal connections to our souls, we want to keep them close to us and still feel their energy when they have gone, to re-live the many precious memories we shared with them and feel gratitude for all the joy and unconditional love they gave us.
If the idea of commissioning a horse painting of your own horse, or the horse of a family member appeals to you please contact me and I would be happy to discuss this with you. Alternatively you can contact me below for my pdf guide and I will send you an outline of the commission process including costs/timeline/framing options.
Choosing to live with animals whose lives are more transient than our own, leaves us wide open to the loss when they depart, but would we have it any other way? A special painting can help to bridge the gap and keep that connection to your horse close to your heart.
“Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.”