Look into the eyes of a person, or of an animal, and you'll see a reflection of their soul, an image of their very being.
I've always wanted to paint close-ups of horses' eyes, but I thought that my rather messy style wouldn't suit, that I wouldn't be able to do justice to my references and so on.
But then, among my photos (I've always loved taking photos of eyes so I've a got a good collection of them), I found one which really inspired me. It was not such a good photo, slightly blurry, and the colours a little off, but it was one of I horse I know very well, a very intelligent, characterful and expressive horse, and I thought I wanted to paint his eye.
So I did. And I was both surprised and pleased with the result. All the more so since apparently, the horse I had in mind is recognisable in this picture of his eye.
With this picture, "Mirror of the Soul 1" (French Trotter), I had wandered out of my comfort zone and tackled a subject from which I had shied away until then. Painted on 20 x 20 cm canvas, it is roughly life-size (a tad larger). It recieved very encouraging feedback so I decided I would make a series of these paintings.
At the moment I am writing this, I have reached number 3 in the "Mirror of the Soul" series. The first one, because of the personnal significance of the subject, and because I really like it, I have decided to keep. The rest of the collection is for sale, and I will make canvas prints of all of them available.
"Mirror of the Soul 2" (Exmoor Pony)
What fascinates me when doing those eye paintings, is that though the structure is the same, each horse has his/her own personnal expression. There are shy horses, inquisitive horses, nervous horses, sensitive horses, bold horses and almost introspective ones, and it all shows in their eyes. And this is what I try to reflect when I paint them.
"Mirror of the Soul 3"
If you would be interested in buying the original paintings, they are available here. You can also order canvas prints.