Creating Your Portrait

Once you have commissioned Lisa to create a portrait, she will first schedule a photo session with you and your horse. This visit is not just about taking pictures, but to get a sense of personality and to study eyes, facial expressions and movement. An experienced photographer, Lisa prefers to work from her own photographs if possible. Once they're printed, she will then meet with you again to choose which photo or photos best represent your horse. Several photos may be used to merge certain details. If current photographs cannot be obtained, Lisa can work from existing images. High quality color photographs with fine detail are essential as a reference for a realistic portrait. Professional photography is best, but requires permission from the photographer to allow Lisa to use their images as a reference for her art.

When Lisa goes into the studio, the first step is the underdrawing. This is a detailed layout to make sure perspective and proportion are correct. Once this is completed to her satisfaction, she begins laying down the rich color and blends. Working with pastel allows for excellent control and blending with fingertip precision. The finished portrait is sprayed with a light fixative to help bind the pastel to the paper prior to mounting and framing.

As each portrait varies in complexity, size, color and number of subjects, the amount of time needed to complete it will vary. Horses in tack and braids also take longer to finish. Please be patient at this point! Lisa will provide an approximate timeframe for deadlines, but she does not rush her art. Her attention to fine detail produces extraordinary results. As your portrait comes together, Lisa takes digital photos that can be emailed so you are able to see her progress. Shown here are progress photos of a recently completed large composite portrait with three horses.