Prints Available

Leap of Faith

I had hoped to be going to n equestrian event with my art, but it just wasn't in the cards this year. I had printed a few extra of "Leap of Faith" and held back two of "In the Still" (only 5 were printed). Since I won't be going anywhere they are now available at my Etsy Shop The Superlative Horse.

In the Still

Each giclée print is 16" x 20" with a 2" white border for a total size of 20" x 24", and is signed.Printed on smooth watercolor paper with archival ink.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

More than a Feeling

Pasture Mates

Oil on Canvas

34" x 34"

3750.00

Starting a painting is easy! I begin with colour washes. I layer them. I manipulate the colour by placing one on top of the other. I let gravity play a part in the pigments settling and running. Most of the time I'm delighted. The work comes in the next stage.
                                                                                                                                       
 I am an intuitive painter. A lot of what I do is that I allow myself to be guided by what I have already painted. I respond to the color, and the line, and the shapes.

What I am moving towards is a feeling. This particular painting was motivated by that feeling of joy, and peace, and of that full hearted love you feel when you see your horses content in the pasture.

If I have succeeded, you will feel it too
.

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith

After several inquiries regard "Leap of Faith" I have decided to offer it as a Giclée print for a limited time. Image size 16" x 20", 2" white border, for a total print size of 20" x 24". 245.00 plus 10.00 shipping and insurance in the United States via USPS. Arrangements may be made for International orders.



or contact me at ctannerjensen@gmail.com

Thank you.

Titled

Against the Wind

Unofficial Photo until I can get to the Photographer

Against the Wind

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite

17.5" x 23"

Sold

Official Photograph

Titling a painting is a funny thing. I never want something to be too specific as I don't want to constrict the viewers experience, I want to enhance it. So it needs to be a open ended.

I usually think of the title hours after I have left my photographers. He will ask me for the title and I don't have one, so we will reference it by materials and subject or color. I have quite a few files titled blue pony or red horse.

Everyone once in a while someone will be taking to me or I'll be listening to the radio and a word or phrase will catch my attention and that's it! The title of a work I have just completed. Or it will lead me on a little course of seemly random thoughts that bring about the title.

Last night via email chat someone asked me the title of this painting. I didn't have one yet. During our exchange she mentioned that her horses' Jockey Club name was Against the Wind. Voila! Titled!

Thank you Anne.

Sometimes

Primavera

Oil, Acrylic, and Charcoal 

on Canvas

40" x 60"

7950.00

Sometimes, if you are very lucky you just listen to your heart. You forget all the reasons why you shouldn't do this or you ought to do that, and you just listen to that constant, soft, true voice. The voice that usually gets drowned out by all the shouting in the world.

This painting is one where I just listened and was led down a garden path.

Double Edged Sword

Untitled

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

17.25" x 23"

975.00

One of the best things about being an artist is that there is no one telling me what to do. One of the worst things about being an artist is that there is no on telling me what to do.

The freedom is amazing! I can explore things, ideas, media, anything and everything. I can revisit the past or plunge into unknown territory. I am the one who sets my own parameters and can remove them or change them at will. It is boundless!

This sort of freedom can also become a hinderance. With all the possibilities, how do I choose one to start? How do I focus on one idea, one notion, and stay with it when there are so many other ideas dancing around demanding attention?

To be honest, I don't know. Some days I don't. Some days I clean and sort things. Some days I stretch and gesso canvas. Some days I do paper work. While, all these things need to be done, some days I do them to avoid choosing.

Most days however, I just pick my media and begin to work. 

Most days are good.

SaveSave

Fortunate

Untitled

Mixed Media on Paper

30" x 22"

NFS

I am fortunate. I grew up with two parents that wanted me to be happy. Not Kool Aid and Potato Chip happy, but deeply satisfied and content happy. This means that it was always okay that I wanted to be an artist.

My friends have understood me. That I am a painter, I am prone to fits of despair, I am prone to fits of elation, I get lost in thought and conversation. That I will spend enormous sums of money on paint while fretting about how to pay the electric bill.

My friends and family believe in me. Maybe not that I am a great talent, but in me. That my pursuit of happiness is valuable, if only to me.

While it hasn't been easy and there are times that I wish I could go and get a 9 to 5 job, I am happy.

I am grateful for the support I receive in a myriad of ways, from clients and patrons buying my work to someone saying "This is beautiful", to a fellow artist discussing media and techniques. I am fortunate that I realize it and I am grateful for every bit of it.

Thank you.

Relieving the Stress

Shooting Star

Oil and Mixed Media on Panel

From time to time someone approaches me and wants to know if I will do a lay-away plan for them on a particular painting or print. They are usually a bit shy about this, but they shouldn't be. The answer is almost always yes.

The monthly payment plan gives me a bit of relief from stress. I know I don't have to worry about this bill or that because a check is coming in. That in turn allows me to focus for easily on creating.

To those of you who have or are on a payment plan for art, thank you!

Farming and Painting

Spring Romp

mixed media on paper

Framed 

34" x 42"

4250.00

I have long believed that I have the heart of a farmer. I love the smell of the soil and planting things. I can send hours choosing seeds, and bulb, and trees from catalogues and spend countless more drawing diagrams for where to plant them.

How to amend soil fascinates me. What to add to your compost to make it better for area is intended for is a subject I am enthralled with, and lets not even get started about my love for my earth worms.

Why do I think this gives me the heart of a farmer and not a gardner?

Well it's only those things in part. You see like a farmer I work tirelessly at what I love. I choose colours and canvas with care. I spend hours noticing which paint brand has more transparency than another. What happens when I mix this with that. How do get this effect or that on this surface.

And then there's light. I can become quite delirious when describing light. The mere thought of good light makes me swoon.

A farmer, you must understand is also a gambler. Willing to put all of their hard work into what they do and be at the mercy of external forces. One good hail storm will flatten a wheat field. New mown hay lies there at the peril of rain until it is baled. It's biblical in nature, all the misfortune that call lay waste to good crop.

And then there is the market. You have the most beautiful crop of white peaches that you have ever seen. People, however are buying strawberries. The peach buyers  ask "Do you have any cling free peaches? I am not sure I will like white peaches, even though they are beautiful and fragrant." You smile and know they are missing something, something you possess in spades, you are will to take a risk!

Days, weeks, and months may go by without a sale, and you are nagged by that practical voice in your head regarding why you keep at it. The answer is simple, and clear. I do what I do because it is what my heart desires and when it is good, it is glorious!

I have the heart of a farmer.

In the Still

In the Still

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

20" x 26"

Sold

I usually don't have a plan when I started working on a painting. This was clearly the case when I started working on this one. I would just apply a layer of acrylic paint down, wait for it to dry and apply another layer.

After awhile I was satisfied with the result. I set it aside. Every day or so I would pull it out and look at it. After a few weeks of this I decided I was going to finish it.

 I gathered my materials and was about to set to work on an entirely different image when I notice the first horse emerging out of the field of blues and greens. Gradually they all made their presences known.

This is the result of wandering and allowing.

To purchase please contact me or go to my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/listing/457615114/in-the-still?ref=shop_home_active_2

Exploring the Dark

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

17.5" x 23"

800.00

Everyone knows that in the dark, you can't see. However when I was in a drawing class many years ago an instructor turned the tables on the phrasing and said "In a world of absolute light you see nothing."

This had an impact on my. I started search for the shadows.

An Artist Statement

Foundation Stock

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

17.5" x 23"

875.00

I am constantly evaluating my art and studio practice. Trying new media and experimenting with different applications. Working to improve my skill set. Playing with different ideas and approaching the same problem, question from different angles.

As a result of this my artist statement changes. The changes are subtle as I move closer to my own truth.

This is the latest.

I paint horses.

I paint them because I love them, and this love has led me to spend thousands of hours with them, learning about them, and coming to an understanding of them.

There is a moment when I sense an ineffable something that dissolves all the boundaries of my prescribed being, and I am filled with a joy that verges on heartbreak— a feeling so overwhelming that it takes my breath and all my words away, and I am only left with marks and color.

It is in these moments that I feel the most authentic, and want to share what I have felt.This is what I paint. This is what I have to share.

Doubt

Untitled

Ghost Serigraph with

Watercolour, Ink, and Graphite on

Rives BFK

Image 10" x 14"

Framed 20" x 24"

750.00

There are lots of days when I am in the studio riddled with self doubt. Questioning what I am doing. Questioning why I am doing it. Questioning if it matters.

Then a painting sells.

There is a rush. A feeling of yes, someone recognized me. Me. Not my skill, not my ability, not my choice of materials, but me. The me that was and is always there. The me that I had no hand in creating. The me that has connected with something I don't understand. Something that is beyond the word of defining and lies in the field of feeling. Something only the heart glimpses and the artist wants to share.

And someone else felt it too!