Amber the Horse

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

I love painting horses, especially close up. I was particularly drawn to her expressive eyes. I used palette knife to create texture and blend the horse and background.

Laura in the Morning Light

Oil on linen on panel, 8x10 inches --Sold

This is a portrait of a horse, Laura. I saw her at my friend's place. It was in a sunny morning, and she was galloping in the pasture. I was so drawn to the back lighting on her head. I made the background more abstract by repeating the same color palette from Laura's body over the dark space, instead of rendering the details of the things in her background. 

Greeters of the Meadow

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches -- Sold

I was greeted by these friendly horses in the countryside while visiting my friends on the island. I was drawn to the back lighting on the horses as they appeared from the forest and started walking toward me.


The painting is framed (a light color, rustic wood with gold lip). It looks like this.

Blue Roof

Oil on linen on panel, 12 x 16 inches  -- 

I painted this based on a photo of the landscape I took along the old highway 10 in Washington. I loved the back lighting if the tree line and the old barn with blue roof. Then I added the horses with grass in the foreground.

Horse with Silver Mane

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- Click here to buy

This is a horse I saw at the Mule Day parade in Bishop, CA, last summer. For this piece, I played with different colors and layered them. I took so many photos of animals on that trip. I'm going to do a series of paintings from this.

This piece is one of five paintings accepted into the Randy Higbee Gallery 6 Inches Squared Show.

Horse in Red

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- Click here to buy

I love the back-lighting on this horse. He was patiently waiting for the care taker to take him for a walk in front of a red barn. So I know he was excited. I was intrigued by his calm and happy expression. Originally, he was wearing a halter in the reference photo, but I eliminated it. I also abstracted background to simplify the composition.

Horses at the Riders Club

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

There are a study of the horses I painted at the riders club in Roslyn, WA. Then, I made horses more three dimensional in the studio, while softening or losing some edges. I like the light and shadow in this scene.

Sunset Pasture

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches --

This is a view from the backyard of our friends whom we are staying in Bishop, CA. Their neighbors have horses. The pasture is actually on the other side of the wooden fence, but I eliminated the fence for this composition. I realized that the horses are positioned lower than I wanted. So I made them as subtle as possible. Painting horses from life is not easy. So, I photographed the horses, then put the camera by the easel so that I can look at the photos for reference.

Horse with Blue Halter

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- Click here to buy

This young horse was waiting for my friend to take him for a walk. The blue halter looked stunning on his orange-brown coat. I like the little gold carabiner accentuating the complimentary blue.

Tomodachi - Two Horses

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

Theses gorgeous horses belong to my friend Hita in Vashon, Washington. I love visiting her to paint together whenever I have a chance to go to the west side. She has several horses, and I love taking photos of them for my painting reference. In this painting, I aimed at simplifying the shapes, as well as enhancing color intensity, to create a warm and friendly mood just before sunset. For this piece, I used oil colors straight out of tubes, except some Gamsol during under-painting. I didn't use any medium. Instead, I wanted to leave thick and bold brush marks. I love how the lost edges don't get blended too much with the neighboring colors.

Tomodachi means friends in Japanese.

Twin Stars

Oil on linen on panel, 8 x 6 inches -- Click here to buy

Each of these horses has a nice star marking on the forehead. That's why the title of this painting is "Twin Stars." These beautiful horses belong to my artist friend, Hita. I took this photo when I was visiting her last fall. They were standing right next to each other, and it was important to add the reflected light on the left horse that was bouncing off the right horse. The scene was almost like back lighting, with the sun so low behind them. I love the light on them, especially the mane. This piece is a study for a bigger painting, and my main goal was to resolve the values and color scheme. I used orange mixed in pretty much everywhere in this, including the tree line in background.

Mane in the Light

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

This painting is based on a photo I took in Bishop, CA, a couple of month ago. What a gorgeous horse! I was intrigued by the sun light shinning on his mane and back. I love painting animals, featuring the light.

Horses in Green Pasture

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 in. -- SOLD

These are the horses in the pasture of our neighbor across the street. I was painting this pasture from our front yard, and two horses showed up.

Horse Pasture at the Flat

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 in.

Today, I went to the Bristol Flat to paint with the fellow Saturday Painters. It's located between Ellensburg and Cle Elum. It was so  hot during the day, and it was very nice to find tree shades to park and set up my easel on the road that goes up the hill. The horses were enjoy hanging around the water tank. My original idea was to paint the water tank as a main feature, but I decided to include more. This was a great exercise with various greens.One thing I realized was that it helped putting more than one figure in the field that suggest horses so that I can compare how dark or light the surrounding areas need o be painted.

Morning Rendezvous No.2

Oil on linen on panel, 6" x 6" -- Click here to bid

This painting of a white horse is a part of Daily Paintworks Challenge for this week hosted by Carol Marine. I experimented with compositions quite bit, and settled with this one. I noticed a white little flower near the bottom of the reference photo provided by Carol. So I repeated it around the horse. I simplified composition by eliminating the rear legs and tail, shifting the position of its body. I also emphasized orange and red spots here and there to compliment the blues and greens. I hope these tricks suggest the narrative even though the whole landscape is not shown.

Morning Rendezvous

Oil on panel, 10" x 8" -- SOLD

This horse belongs to my friend in Ellensburg, WA. I visited her horses one morning, and took some reference photos of her animals. Isn't he such a good looking horse? I kind of liked the effect of exaggerated perspective.

Grazing for Two

6 x 6 in, oil on gessoboard

I went to Bristol Flat with a couple of artist friends to paint plein air for the first time of this year. We met the property owners and got permission to paint in the field. They raise and breed farm animals, including paint horses. I thought this paint horse was grazing for two, including her baby in her belly. Later, I was told that these mother horses just look pregnant all the time.