Art to Admire
A roundup of regional and national artists
who specialize in capturing our favorite four-legged friends.
By Lisa Broadwater

It isn’t until you start looking for equine-related art that you realize just how much of it is out there. Do a Google search, and watch the pages multiply (we registered 769,000 hits when using the keywords “equine art.”
But maybe you don’t have all day to search for a piece of art. No problem; we’ve done some searching for you. Below is a roundup of artists (some from the region, some not) who produce very different types of art but have one key element in common: a love of the horse.

Judy Larson
You won’t find many artists skilled in Judy Larson’s specialty. Larson’s a scratchboard artist. To create her images, she brushes a clayboard with India ink, which is then scratched off using an X-Acto knife.
As a child, Larson was inspired by her father, a professional illustrator. She received a bachelor’s degree in Commercial Art from Pacific Union College in Northern California (she now lives in Southern California), then spent the next 17 years as a commercial artist, illustrator and art director.
It was while a commercial artist that Larson began using scratchboard.
“A client asked me to do a detailed pen-and-ink drawing of his horse; I decided to do a scratchboard,” she recalls. “At that time I was married, and we were trying to breed Arabians. I started going to a lot of shows and started doing portraits of stallions there, which I began to trade for breedings. Then I did an art auction for Harness Track Journal, and gradually entered more and more auctions while doing commission work. Eventually, I concentrated solely on scratchboard.”
The little-used technique is an ancient craft that requires extraordinary patience. A thin layer of China clay is applied to a board, and the subjects are outlined with black India ink and then sketched with chalk. Next the images are engraved with X-Acto blades (many artists use steel nibs or engraving tools, but Larson prefers X-acto blades, changing them every few minutes to produce as fine a line as possible). The process is just the opposite of pen and ink — she’s removing ink rather than applying it. Larson then colors the image using an airbrush, gouache or acrylic.
Larson’s subject of choice has been wildlife since 1988, with the horse as a recurring subject.
“But I don’t do domesticated animals,” she explains. “I concentrate on wild horses and wolves, any animals that have been or are challenged in their existence. I’ve always been interested in horses. And for a long time, I’ve been interested in placing horses in a scene where they once were but no longer are. And I’ve always been interested in the Native American culture and how they got along with wild animals.”
Another signature Larson element is the inclusion of hidden images in each work.
“Back in 1987 or ‘88, I started putting in images for the fun of it — maybe one or two at a time,” she says. “There was usually a story behind the image. Now I’ve gotten more into telling the stories of what has happened in the past.”
For example, “The Defiant” shows three members of a Native American herd that was senselessly slaughtered by Army soldiers in 1858. Hidden in the work are images of several horse and riders.
Creating an image can take anywhere from three to four months.
“I cannot make an error once I start,” Larson says, so there’s a lot of planning and research involved, even before I start. And I usually work 18X24 — because every inch adds time.”
Larson’s work is available at a number of galleries, including White Wolf Gallery (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) and Simply Santa Fe (Houston). The cost of a limited-edition print of 1,000 is $245; a giclee canvas print (editions of 200) is $650.
To see more images, visit www.judylarson.com or contact Larson at judydlarson@aol.com or (951) 674-5132.


Frank Murphy
There’s something ethereal and enigmatic about Frank Murphy’s mixed-media white-horse paintings (of which there are about a dozen). Likewise, there’s a touch of the enigmatic about Murphy — whose name is actually Frank Murphy Usrey.
Why the shortened moniker?
“Usrey is too difficult to spell,” Frank explains, “and I have such fond memories of my grandfather [whose name was Frank Murphy]. It was a way of honoring his memory.”
Usrey spends about half the year working in his Chattanooga studio, but his heart is firmly planted on the family farm in Northwest Arkansas. You see, seven generations of the Usrey family have owned farms in Northwest Arkansas (the Carroll County area, to be exact).
For much of his life, Usrey dabbled in the arts. His father, Willie, carved violins during the farm’s off seasons; his mother was a master quilt maker.
“I’ve always been involved in art,” he says; “And horses are a big part of my life; I’ve been involved with them since I was 3.”
Usrey completed his first equine painting, of a mule — a family pet — in the late ‘70s but didn’t start painting seriously until he retired in 1986. He has painted off and on ever since. His primary influences continue to be his family farm and the life surrounding it.
“Although I’m inspired by photographs of horses in motion, in my mind I always go back to the farm,” he says. “To this day, when I go to the old farm, I can hear and see everything as it was. Life is simple there, and I want to portray that in my paintings — that wonderful simplicity.”
And while he has painted other series, the Horse Series is Usrey’s favorite (not to mention, his most popular).
“In addition to the physical beauty, I hope to capture the essence of the horse,” he says.
Usrey’s medium of choice is acrylic paints, which he combines with a recycled paper on board. After the board has dried for several weeks, he uses acrylic and graphite to accomplish the movement of the horse. Prices range from about $1,000-$4,000.
Usrey’s paintings have been exhibited throughout the U.S., with shows in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, New York, Atlanta and Chicago. Currently, he’s working on a major exhibit for the summer of 2005.
To see more of Frank Murphy Usrey’s art, contact Angela Usery Gallery at (423) 280-7182 or visit www.augallery.com.


Nancy Nolan
In the photography world, Little Rock-based Nancy Nolan has made quite a name for herself, both commercially and artistically. But it may come as a surprise to folks already familiar with Nolan’s mood-drenched fashion, design and food photography — which has been featured in national magazines (such as Esquire, Better Homes and Gardens, and Women’s Wear Daily) major ad campaigns and two coffee-table books (Candlelit Home and Candlelit Christmas) to learn that she also specializes in horse portraits.
Granted, these aren’t your everyday, plant-the-horse-in-front-of-the-painted-background portraits. Nolan brings the horses right into the studio and treats them just as she would any other subject — which is to say, she composes them in an interesting, unexpected fashion and lights them dramatically to create a moody, eye-popping image.
It all started when one of Nolan’s clients asked her if she could create a different look for his Arabians. Nolan coached the horses just as she would any of her human subjects, and the photo session worked out beautifully. Nolan says she finds it very easy and interesting to work with horses. She does commission work; prices start at $750. For more information, call Nolan at (501) 907-6323 or visit nancynolanphotography.com.


Richard DeSpain
Take too quick a glance at a Richard DeSpain drawing, and you might assume you’re looking at a photograph. But, in fact, hours and hours of fine pen strokes form each finished work. 
The North Little Rock-based artist honed his skills as a draftsman during 30-plus years working for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service as both draftsman and artist (he retired in 2003). 
Born in Marked Tree, DeSpain first took art lessons as a youngster at the local YMCA in Blytheville. Later, in junior high school, he started drawing local homes and selling them to the owners. He later studied drafting and computer-aided drafting at vocational-technical colleges in Arkansas. He began his pen-and-ink drawings in 1968.
“At the time,” he recalls, “I was at the Cooperative Extension, working as a draftsman. I got good at it and started doing it for myself on the side. I basically trained myself.”
For DeSpain, the work is all in the details.
“I’m a very detailed artist,” he explains. “I love the loose styles that have a lot of openness, but I’ve always been someone who is extremely detail-oriented, so working loosely is not in my personality.”
To create the sharp detail, DeSpain arms himself with hundreds of specialty pens of varying tip thickness and hardness. Special glasses that magnify his vision three to four times assist him in capturing the finest detail. Then, when the drawing is complete, he may make a series of prints of the image. Often, he adds a watercolor or acrylic.
“The final image may be three to four layers deep — first ink, then paint, then acrylic pens, then another layer of ink,” he says. “I’m really picky about the image; I never hurry to get it done. I can spend up to a month on one image — and if it’s large, it can take several months.”
DeSpain first started capturing images of Oaklawn back in the 1980s.
“I love the action of a racing shot; that makes a more interesting picture to me,” he says. “I have probably 25 to 40 prints of Oaklawn — including win pictures, the starting gate, making the first turn, various collages. I also love drawing the everyday, mundane scenes; I like the human aspect of it.”
But Oaklawn isn’t DeSpain’s only equine-related subject matter.
“I also do some rodeo pictures,” he says. “I’ve always enjoyed Western horses. I have several images of Cheyenne Frontier Days.”
Other favorite DeSpain subjects include the Old Mill, golf and anything military (he spent two years as an Army medic in the late ‘60s). 
DeSpain’s prints, which range from $40-$200, are available at Deck the Walls in North Little Rock’s McCain Mall; originals are $2,000 -$8,000. To see more DeSpain images, visit www.DeSpainPrints.com, call DeSpain at (501) 758-8212 or email rick@despainprints.com.


Rob Walker
For Little Rock-based Rob Walker, art was first and foremost a means of communication. Born deaf, he used art as his first mode of communication (his family are hearing). Once in elementary school, he says, “I often sketched in my notebook when I should have paid attention.”
From classes at the Arkansas Arts Center, he was exposed to a broad variety of media, such as clay, lithography, life drawing, painting and clay sculpture. A scholarship student in the Mid Southern Watercolor Society during high school, he also took numerous art courses at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before getting a BA in Graphic Design from Gallaudet University.
Walker’s primary medium is watercolor or watercolor mixed with acrylics. He considers himself a contemporary artist with a occasional foray into realism. His interest in horses comes from 20 years of involvement as an equestrian with a focus on dressage (last year, one of Walker’s watercolor paintings of a dressage competition was chosen for the cover of Gallaudet University’s Donor Annual Booklet).
“During this period,” Walker says, “I began to expand in the equine art and did many commissioned equine portraits for a clientele ranging over the Southern states. I began to see the horse itself as a fascinating subject to explore because of its abstract nature and how I could apply it to my work. It became a balance of semi-realism and abstract in marrying the species to various activities and their backgrounds.”
Other areas of interest include people, abstract and/or non-objective themes and deaf art (based on De’Via, a relatively new art movement that stems from life experiences as a deaf person in relation either with the deaf or hearing world).
Prices for Walker’s work: about $300 for a 14x17 head/shoulder graphite study, about $400 for a watercolor or acrylic study, $575 and up for larger graphite works and $800 and up for larger watercolor or acrylics.
For more information about Rob Walker, contact him via email at creativefingers@comcast.net or mail to 1401 S. Scott St. #406 Little Rock, AR 72202. You can also call (501) 766-5230 and leave a message, to which Walker will reply.


Gene Stewart
Gene Stewart first started painting cowboys during high school in the late ‘40s, when he was asked to paint XIT Rodeo scenes on store windows in Dalhart, Texas, to advertise the event. After he graduated from the University of Texas with a BFA in art, however, Stewart went a different route — joining the Air Force and becoming a F-86 jet fighter pilot and serving a tour of duty in Taipei, Taiwan.
When his tour ended, Stewart returned to his art career, taking graduate art courses at the prestigious Los Angeles Art Center, (now known as Art Center College of Design) before settling down in Oklahoma City. There, after a short stint as a commercial artist for an ad agency, he joined KOCO-TV as a staff artist; nine months later he was was named art director of the station.
Since then Stewart has juggled a slew of arts-related activities — with 10 years as art director of KOCO-TV, 34 years teaching private art classes and giving art demonstrations and lectures, serving as art show judge and as advisor to the Oklahoma Art and Humanities Council, hanging his shingle as an art gallery owner and operator — all the while devoted to his passion for the rugged West and all that it entailed during the frontier 1800s.
“I’m drawn to the fact that these people were rugged individuals who met life as it came,” Stewart explains. “The era of the 1800s interests me to such an extent that much of my art depicts the mountain men, cowboys, plains Indians and pioneers of that day. I admire people who work hard, accept challenges and are willing to take great risks. The fact that two other of my favorite subjects — the great outdoors and animals — are part of their story, gives me an opportunity to include many elements in a single creation.”
Asked to describe his style, Stewart opts for “suggested realism.” 
“My paintings are not as loosely rendered as those called impressionist nor are they as tightly rendered as those called photo-realism,” he says.
He’s proficient in many media, including watercolor; oil on linen canvas, brushed aluminum and masonite; pastels; charcoal; pen and ink; bronze sculpture; and even the computer (he uses a stylus pen and tablet to paint a picture using a photo-editing software program). 
Over the years, Stewart’s paintings have won many awards and graced many national magazines, including Western Horseman, Quarter Horse Journal, American Paint Horse Journal, Frontier Times and True West.
You can find his work in a number of galleries, including The Shriver Gallery and Taos Gallery (Taos), Jameison Gallery (Santa Fe), Country Store (Austin) and Wickenberg Gallery (Wickenberg, Ariz).
These days, however, much of Stewart’s work is sold via two art-related websites he has established: http://members.aol.com/ geneconrad/gsartgallery and www.acesofarts.com. You can also contact him at geneconrad@aol.com or (405) 720-7026.


Sandy Hubler
Two things have been a constant in Sandy Hubler’s life: horses and art.
“I’ve always had horses,” says the Little Rock-based artist, who was raised in Mountain Home. “As a kid, ever since I was 6, I was always drawing and painting horses. When I was a little girl, my father nicknamed me Doodles, which stuck with me throughout his life. I would doodle on anything — books, papers, napkins. And I’ve been barrel racing for 35 years.”
Hubler primarily focuses on three subjects: horses, landscapes and human nudes.
“I tend to switch around among the three,” she says. “If I were to do horses, horses, horses, I’d burn out. So I switch around.”
When it comes to painting horses, Hubler says, “I like to do animals in their natural state. I don’t like to do posed scenes. I show them grazing or leading. And I do a lot of racehorses because of the motion.”
An impressionist in style, Hubler prefers to work in oils and occasionally pastels.
“I typically do large-format works,” she says, “36X48 or larger. It seems I can paint more loosely that way. I’m not into real detail work. If you want a lot of detail, why not just take a picture? I like to leave something to the imagination. And it seems the more I paint, the looser and freer my work gets.
“I carry a 35mm camera with me wherever I go, always looking for interesting light, shadows and images. I love to work in strong, vibrant colors. I like to bring back fond memories and create images that are pleasing to the eye.”
Hubler’s work is available at eight galleries, including Cantrell Gallery and The Showroom (which Hubler owns with her husband) in Little Rock, Gallery Central (Hot Springs), Salon Art (Heber Springs) and Sara Howell Art Gallery (Jonesboro). Prices start at about $800. Her work is on view at Gallery Central throughout December.
To see more of Hubler’s work, visit her website, www.sandyhublerfineart.com, or call her at (501) 416-0533.


Kelly Graham
Ask Kelly Graham to choose between his two passions — sculpting and cutting-horse competitions — and you’d be hard-pressed to get an answer.
Granted, it’s easy to understand Graham’s predicament. He’s been showing cutting horses ever since he was a teenager in Wichita Falls, Texas (he’s in the top 15 in world standings of open cutting pros). Meanwhile, he’s made quite a name for himself sculpting life-size bronze versions of high-profile horses (including one of Walmart heir Alice Walton’s mares). Oh, and his dad is well-known artist/cartoonist Lex Graham.
Head to Graham’s current hometown, Weatherford, Texas — the cutting horse capital of the world — and you’ll find one of his lifesize bronzes prominently displayed downtown in front of the Chamber of Commerce building.
The secret to Graham’s amazingly lifelike renditions? His painstaking attention to detail. Completing a lifesize bronze can take as long as a year. And most of clients leave their horses — his subjects — at his studio (located on his scenic 100-acre spread) for months at a time during the sculpting process.
“I have a lot that’s adjacent to my studio, which is where I’ll keep the horse,” he explains. “I try to keep the horse while I’m sculpting because it helps so much. For example, you can run a string around the horse’s neck to get a better sense of the volume. I’ll have my calipers out there measuring things all day long.”
And when you’re capturing real-live animals — often, famous ones — you’d better get it right, Graham says:
“Cutting-horse people really know their horses. So I couldn’t just go out there, take a few pictures and say, ‘Okay, I’ve captured it.’ They’re much more hands-on than, say, racehorse owners.”
Believe it or not, Graham had little formal training.
“I tied a horse to a tree, got out a horse anatomy book and just stayed with it,” he says. “Basically, I taught myself. And it just wears off on you. I enjoy it. It’s a good way to make a living.”
Most of Graham’s work is done by commission; a lifesize bronze costs about $50,000. He also sells editions of 30 of smaller tabletop bronzes.
To see more of Kelly Graham’s work, visit www.kellygraham.net or call him at (817) 613-6601.

Elin Pendleton
What does Elin Pendleton like to paint?
“Anything with a heartbeat,” she says.
Pendleton is known for her light-infused impressionist plein air paintings (which are done outdoors at the scene) of performance horse events, especially of hunters, jumpers and eventers. In fact, this spring she served as artist-in-residence at Kentucky Park, where she also conducted a painting workshop, “The Horse in Landscapes” for the American Academy of Equine Art.
Although she’s happy to paint just about anything — figures, still lifes, landscapes, jungle animals — it’s the horse that is Pendleton’s first love.
“The second painting I ever did was of a horse,” she says. “I’ve always had horses, since I was 12.
“I love to go to horse shows and paint people behind the scenes,” she adds. “I know the horse so well that if it moves, it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve painted them so much that it has become second nature.”
Based in Southern California, Pendleton received a BFA from San Diego State University and has studied and painted in South America, Central America and Mediterranean Europe. She calls her style “colorful traditional realism.”
She’s won a number of awards, has been included in numerous major shows and has authored three instructional painting videos; and in January 2005, will publish her first instructional book for Walter Foster, which includes 13 of her paintings.
Pendleton’s work is available at numerous galleries, including Cross Gate Gallery (Lexington, Ky.) and Sportsman’s Gallery (Atlanta). Prices range from about $300-$3,000.
To see more of Pendleton’s work, visit her website, www.equinepaintings.com, or call her at (951) 245-0730.


Kathi Peters
Born in New England and reared in Europe, Kathi Peters has always been involved with art. At 17, she was granted a full scholarship to the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and later to one of Rome’s leading commercial art colleges.
It was in Italy that she discovered the art of papermaking.
“Years ago, I saw the papercuts by [well-known illustrator, sculptor and designer] Ugo Mochi,” she says. “He did the most brilliant papercuts — African scenes and driving. He was my inspiration.”
To learn the challenging art, Peters basically taught herself.
“I experimented for a while,” she says. “You have to be able to see a picture and visualize it if it’s broken down to two colors.”
Here’s how the process works:
“I do a drawing first, then transfer it to architectural paper that is black on one side and white on the other,” Peters says. “I draw on the white side, so I have to do everything in reverse because you have to flip it over to the black side. The details are important because if you aren’t careful you’ll end up with errors — for example, a driver on the wrong side of the buggy, a whip going the wrong direction...”
To complete a work takes hours upon hours.
“It’s very intense work, very focused,” Peters says. “A slip of the X-Acto knife can ruin the whole picture. If I make a mistake, I have to do the whole thing over again. Hours can slip away when I’m working because I get sort of hypnotized by it. And it’s exciting when you turn the piece over and see it for the first time.”
Like art, horses are a big part of Peters’ life.
“I’ve been involved with them since I was 3,” says Peters, who now lives in Morrill, Maine, with her husband and their horses — Welsh Cobs, which they raise for driving and riding, and Tennessee Walking Horses, which they use for trail riding. “And I’ve always been involved in art. Horses have become my subject of choice for the past 15 years.”
In addition to papercuts, Peters also specializes in another little-used medium: casein, a water media paint made from milk protein.
“People don’t use casein much anymore, but I love the matte finish,” Peters says. “Casein gives me the effect I want — I can work very loosely and still do fine detail. And a lot of images don’t lend themselves to paper; they need to be painted.”
Peters’ papercuts will be featured in the invitational exhibit, “The Horse in Fine Art: Paintings and Sculpture from the American Academy of Equine Artists,” on view at The Wildlife Experience Museum in Denver Jan. 8-March 20.
You can see more of Peters’ work at her website, www.kathipeters.com, or contact her at (207) 342-3169 or kathi@kathipeters.com.

Tammy Bality
“I’ve been a horse nut since the day I was born,” Tammy Bality says. “I’ve always done art, and horses are my favorite subject.”
These days, sculpture is Bality’s medium of choice — one that the Colorado-based artist discovered quite by chance.
“There was a huge outdoor sculpture store in Denver 16 years ago, and it just blew me away,” Bality recalls. “I saw some bronze work and got ahold of a foundry and just starting going. I bought some clay and just started sculpting.”
Bality’s eclectic work encompasses a broad range of styles and subject matter — wildlife, domestic animals, humans — and an equally broad range of three-dimensional media (including Raku, earthenware, porcelain, resin, concrete and glass). Many incorporate a Celtic theme, which draws from her roots.
“I love mixing media whenever I can,” Bality says. “It’s challenging and fun to mix things up. It’s like my horseback riding — I’m always trying different things [she enjoys saddle seat, team penning and ranch versatility]. I learn something new every time; and going back and forth keeps me balanced.”
In addition to producing numerous representational sculptures of various horse breeds, Bality has also created a series of small sculptures she calls Journey Ponies, one-of-a-kind totem-type figures that combine familiar imagery with folklore.
“In a lot of Native American and Celtic lore, horses represent travel — whether the journey is a physical one or a spiritual one,” Bality says. “And horses have always been a mode of travel — just as my art has been for me.”
Each Journey Pony is approximately 10” tall and is hand-sculpted from water-based clay (terra-cotta, porcelain or stoneware) and then Raku-fired based on polished agate or natural sandstone with accents of bead, fiber, fur, semiprecious stone and/or horsehair. They range from about $400-$850; Bality’s bronze sculptures start at about $4,000.
Bality is represented by a number of galleries in the West, including Creative Eye Gallery and Sharpshooter Gallery (Denver) and Signature Gallery, (Delmar, Calif.)
To see more of her work, visit her website, www.spottedponystudio.com, or contact her at (303) 588-3469 or tbality@hotmail.com .