Dappled Pony Designs

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Equine Art by Holly Vanasse

My Dappled Pony paintings and horse-themed art products are colorful, whimsical and uplifting. Join the mailing list to be the first to shop new designs and exclusive sales!


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Latest Paintings

Paintings

Each painting is many many layers of collage, paint and ink. I love to create wild backgrounds and paint horses on top of them. This creates lots of opportunities for "happy accidents" and unique color combinations.

Process

I don't know who the horse will be until I am finished. Their personality emerges as I am painting them. I love the challenge of making the background colors work with the shading and highlights of the horse.

Commissions

Photos of your horse are used to inspire a painting that captures the essence of your horse but as if they are in another world, one where colors and patterns behave differently.

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The age of the utilitarian horse is over. But the horse as an object of art, as a subject of concern, as a monument to character development is now more important than ever. That which is irreplaceable and not interchangeable deserves cherishing.

Charles De Kunffy

Horse Artist Inspired by Lifelong Fascination

Artist

From galloping race horses across the USA, to teaching people how to create harmony and safety with their horse, to boarding horses, to now sharing my work as a horse artist… The common thread is the horse, and my vision has always been about trying to connect and communicate deeply with them. There is a certain, elusive feeling that you get when you connect with a horse. It is magical and addicting. I have dedicated my life to seeking this feeling with my own horses and sharing what I have learned with others. To me, my paintings are just another way to do that.

Some of the words and phrases that others have used to describe my equine paintings include:

  • Spiritual
  • Dream-like
  • Beautiful energy
  • Very deeply felt
  • “Respectful homage to the soul of Horse”

My Art

My intention is to create images that uplift the people who look at them,  add more beauty to their world, and increase the connection they have with their own horse or with Horse, the archetype.

photo of holly vanasse horse artist

I spent about four years art journaling, playing with techniques, smooshing paint around and painting other subjects. Finally, I decided to quit fighting it and face the fact that I was meant to be a horse artist. I have been drawn to horses since I was a child and have built my whole adult life around them. Creativity has also been a part of my life in many different forms, from drawing and coloring as a kid, to crafts as I got older, to photography and digital art. My “Dappled Pony” paintings are a combination of my horse-life and my creativity coming together.

 

I create my paintings by starting with a colorful background and then incorporating the horse into the background. This creates a whimsical, fantasy effect that is an intuitive puzzle I work out as I create my artwork.

Connecting with horses is letting go, yet merging, to enter the infinite and dance with the spirit of the horse, a magical moment of mutual respect, harmony, and partnership. Through this union, anything and everything is possible and we can become whatever we give ourselves the power to be.

Margrit Coates