Today I stepped through a portal. It was my day to publish this post; a step celebrated by the horses after 32 years of grooming me for the art of healing through portraiture. I have not always been an easy student; nor they always kind teachers. When needed, they are masters at tough love especially when confronting my deeply ingrained skepticism. Many months ago on my birthday I knew it was time for a new direction; time to make a commitment to intuitive portraitures. And now it is time to not only share the revision of “The Art of Healing Through Portraiture,” but to introduce my new “Gallery of Portraits.”
When I took my dog for a walk today on a 150 acre ranch, I was feeling a deep sense of satisfaction that the day had finally come for me to publish. As we wandered in large open pastures between groves of evergreen trees, a large red-tailed hawk made his appearance from the top of one of the taller trees. Much to my awe and delight, he swooped around the open field flashing his red tail in the sunshine making sure that I could see it, and knowing that I would understand his reason for being there, a special anointing for this day and this post.
My eyes welled up as I understood the importance of this act. It was almost 30 years ago that I sat on a wooden deck in the midst of a thick redwood grove a few miles from where I now live. I was with a therapist who was doing healing work with me. Directly above us, there was one small window of sky that was visible. Magically in that space were two red-tailed hawks circling overhead all the while that shifts and changes were taking place within me below them. Today this red-tailed visitor was revealing to me that they had a part along with the horses in this 30 year journey of bringing me to this day.
Today I offer you a dense package of information and story along with a combination of supporting links as I present some of my history together with the horses and the unfolding of intuitive and healing portraitures. For those who prefer to scan, I have tried to highlight topics for ease of navigating quickly. The paragraphs that follow the highlighted information provide more in-depth detail for those who prefer to dig a little deeper in a given area. There will be more stories to follow in future posts, stories of individual horses and their part in bringing me here at this time.
The links follow below. The main links include the gallery and are interlinked with each other. The supporting links are imbedded in the main posts, but I have also listed them here for your convenience.
MAIN LINKS: [both are linked to each other]
The link to the main post which is an extensive revision of my last post, “The Art of Healing Through Portraiture,” for those that would like to have a look again, and for new readers.
I first learned from horses that I was an artist and that sketching or painting them brought interesting and surprising results: physical healing, behavioral changes, and new insights into the healing process.I later felt prompted to sketch humans as a means to healing.The results have been fascinating and rewarding.
UNCOVERING OUR MYSTICAL NATURE: [Mystical Living in Everyday Life]For as far back as we can remember, horses have been viewed as mystical beings. In the beginning of my journey with them 30 years ago, they made it very clear that if per chance I might be thinking that I was to be fixing them, it was rather the other way around! They were in my life to fix me, plain and simple. Once I got that straight, they hovered around and took me on as their childlike human protege’ to show me their ways. [Meet the herd in photos and story]
Horses take us to places where intuitions are essential.Once that journey starts, the magic begins. There are unseen worlds to be discovered with rich and mystical gifts awaiting to be uncovered. Gifts that are needed especially at this time on our earth. Sometimes there are inklings of that which is hidden, but fear or unbelief hold them captive and inaccessible. We have been well programmed by a culture that has emphasized the material world and sameness. It is suppressing diversity and anything out of the ordinary or outside the narrative, keeping us away from the precipice where flying begins! It is there that we integrate the unseen world with that which is material, infusing it with life, vitality, and the true power to make a difference in our own personal lives and in the lives of our neighbors.
The seen and the unseen world…One of the many scriptures I learned growing up in Christianity comes to my mind now as I am writing, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.” This is a crisp comparison of the seen and the unseen; the world of flesh and blood, and the world of spirit all wrapped up in one being that we call human.
INTUITIVE PORTRAITURES: Your portrait may reveal something unseen combined with the seen, and together we interpret. With this approach as a process, and based on your own commitment to personal growth, you may experience any one of the following or something else unique to you: a spiritual, emotional, or physical shift; clearing of obstacles that stand in your way; shifts in perspectives, re-framing; and a deeper connection with the divine in yourself. Most exciting to me, is the unveiling of mystical gifts you don’t know you have!
Your portrait may not even look like you..it is a working art form…a tool of healing. Your portrait is an evolution as things come to the surface. I am simply a conduit. Though it may not look like you, it may carry symbols important to you, or may look like someone significant to you. It is a working art form not necessarily an aesthetic piece.
With one client, I had trouble doing his nose.He volunteered that it was because he stuck his nose in others’ business, a subject worth discussing. With a female client, I had difficulty drawing anything that even looked decent even though she was an attractive older woman. Finally I turned the page and surrendered to whatever I might draw. And when I did, it turned out to be a man. I asked her if there was a significant man in her past. It turned out she had been raped as a teenager…and here was an opportunity for a completion of healing around this issue. I did an oil portrait of a friend and on a whim I decided to give her red hair. She later told me she had always wanted red hair! As I watched her life change over the following years to the surprise discovery that she is an incredible natural artist, I wondered if the red hair in her painting symbolically released something new, something hidden? I don’t know, but I like to think it contributed to her personal process. For another client, as we talked, the portrait evolved into a new look of maturity and confidence that became the finished portrait.
I am a 79 year old portrait artist, writer, and horse “listener.” Approximately 40 years ago after retiring from a teaching career, I did my first human charcoal portrait. The subject was Beatle George Harrison from a photo on the front of a book. I spent days working on it trying to tweak it. In the end, I had erased so many times, I feared there would be no paper left behind his face!
As the years unfolded and with the help of the horses, I learned 4 key things that have moved me toward intuitive portraits:
1.There is a spiritual connection between artist and subject
During the time I was sketching George Harrison, I had a small town art center and our first weekly class was life drawing with human models. It was then I first observed a spiritual connection between artist and subject and became curious about what might be experienced in the exchange, and the impact on the art itself. Through the years and with the help of the horses, I learned to recognize that connection. It has become the integral part of my intuitive and healing portraits, and benefits not only the subject but also myself as the artist. This includes the horses as important Divine catalysts to the whole process especially when sketching in their presence.
2.Distortions and imperfections in the art open the door to important information.
Secondly, as time went by, I began to question why I sometimes had proportion issues or distortions in my drawings. I had some inklings but years later the answer came. While looking at a quick watercolor of my thoroughbred who has beautiful flowing lines from the rear, I noticed that in my painting he was lopsided from one side to the other. Before condemning myself on the distortion, I remembered that this horse had suffered a major hoof injury a few years earlier and because of his physical compensation, there was an actual distortion in his body that I had intuited but my eye had not discerned. I now pay attention to such subtleties. They often open the door to important information even beyond the physical. In doing portraits of myself, I have been focusing on free-flowing or intuitive sketches each looking different but revealing information. Click here and scroll down to view.
3. The intuitive portraits bring healing or other significant changes. Skepticism can cloud that recognition.
Thirdly, during my 30+ years of “being fixed” by my herd of rescue horses, I was often nudged to draw a horse when it was physically ill or uncomfortable. Over time, I began to notice that either they immediately became more peaceful, or I would receive an insight of something to do that would bring comfort or healing. Most of the time there was a spontaneous recovery without my doing anything more than just sketching them. These experiences were the first indications that there was in fact a spiritual connection and that sketching the equine or human subject brought healing. However, my own skepticism clouded full recognition and acceptance of that fact for many years.
A few years ago, my old guy, Dollar, a quarter horse, was determined to overcome my chronic skepticism, and get through to me the correlation between sketching and healing once and for all. After the many years of experiencing behavioral changes and physical healing with the horses when I sketched them, I still wasn’t fully grasping it.
Dollar was relentless. Thanks to his persistence, he overcame my core skepticism. The understanding and acceptance that I was sketching the horses and now humans into health, was now, finally and deeply etched in my soul. Click here for the story.
4. The ultimate goal of the intuitive portraits is to uncover the mystical gifts that are often hidden under trauma or troubling issues.
The final and fourth awareness has come more recently. Starting with the spiritual connection between artist and subject, paying attention to information that distortions and imperfections bring, and the actual correlation between sketching and healing have all led the way to understanding that hidden under the rocks of trauma or troubling issues, lie mystical gifts waiting to be discovered and released. Therein lies the power of who we are and why we are here.
ADDENDUM: There is one more thing that I would like to mention as food for thought. Many years ago, I had a feeling that faces emanate spiritual gifts. I encourage you to notice how a face makes you feel. To mention a few, some are light and bright uplifting our spirits; some faces are comforting, soothing, peaceful; others catch us up in easy conversation; some, like a brother of mine, have a twinkle and hint of mischief ready for a humorous quip that brings healing laughter; some are beautiful not to own nor to judge nor to compare, but to absorb the beauty into some not-so-beautiful part of ourselves to bring healing. I just wanted to stir the waters and would love to hear your own observations and experiences. For those whose faces are burdensome, I believe that is only damage showing. I am of the opinion that a radiant face will either change physical features or override them.
PORTRAIT SESSIONS: If you are interested in exploring your own unique mystical nature on a journey carved out by the horses through portraiture, let’s make it happen! The great artist, Michelangelo, once said, “I saw the angel in the stone and carved until I set him free,” and what amazing work he did. The horses do the same for humans!
HEALING PORTRAITS: 1 1/2 -2 hour session includes the intuitive charcoal portrait, a write up, a 1/2 hour follow-up, and a final charcoal portrait $135.
COMBINED HEALING PORTRAIT WITH HORSE SESSION:[horse session] Sketching the charcoal portrait in the presence of the horses, and considering their responses as significant and powerful feedback. Includes a write up, and a 1/2 hour follow-up session, and a final charcoal portrait. $200.
DISTANT HEALING PORTRAIT: When you live too far away to come to the ranch, I can sketch charcoal portraits from your photos. Add $30 to prices above for preparation handling and mailing.
OTHER OPTIONS: Commissioned charcoal or oil portraits of animals or humans that also bring healing but the focus is more on the aesthetics of the art and a look alike of the subject. Pricing to be determined depending on size and medium (charcoal or oil). DEPOSIT: For Distant and Commissioned Work (see below), 50% required.
The Mystic Horse Chronicle 
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