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Tuesday, April 07 2020 / Published in Weekly Feature

Shannagh-Leigh Hartshorn: Creating Art From Miniature to Life-Size

By Shya Beth

British artist Shannagh-Leigh Hartshorn knows how to fuse her passion for horses and art together. From starting her own art business and adventuring through new media, Shannagh-Leigh constantly evolves and strives to perfect her art, bringing small but noticeable details through each portrait.

Born in Bolton, England, Shannagh-Leigh has always been an equine enthusiast and ponies were a fundamental part of Shannagh-Leigh’s life since she started riding at a young age. From a small child to a young adult, she has made horses her passion, which helped launch her into an art career. “It actually started out as a part-time thing,” she said. “I was going to college for art and started accepting commissions on the side. I graduated from Edge Hill University in 2017 after studying fine art and design, and I’ve been working for myself ever since.” Things continued to pick up, and before she knew it, she had more and more people contacting her to share her passion and skill with the world.

Escaping With Horses 

When asked if she has a particular favorite memory with horses, Shannagh-Leigh begins her answer the same as many. “This is a hard question! I’m not sure if I have one moment, but I remember while I was studying I’d have a hard day and I’d take the bus to the stable and just spend time with the horse I was leasing. We’d go for a lovely hack around the marina, and just spending time in the stable with all the horses would lift my spirits. That particular horse always looked after me and taught me a lot. Escaping with horses is my favorite memory.”

Shannagh-Leigh spent about 10 years at a riding school, then leased a few ponies and a horse. “It was such a wonderful experience,” she said. “They were all a huge inspiration for my art and became subjects of a few drawings!”

Now at 24 years old, she resides in Manchester, United Kingdom, working on her full-time job as an animal portrait artist. “My favorite thing about art is asking people to view things the same way I view them,” Shannagh-Leigh said. “With my painting series ‘Horse Power,’ I really wanted to capture the power and strength of the animal. Sometimes that can be lost in traditional portraiture that just captures the beauty of the horse, and it was a really fun way to be able to change things up a bit. On the other hand, if someone wants a portrait to just celebrate the beauty of the animal, I can do that, too. I feel like I’m sharing a little bit of myself and what I love in my art, and sharing that with people is just amazing. People say I capture their animals’ personality in my paintings as well as their spirit through the eyes.”

What media does Shannagh-Leigh work in? More than your average artist, for sure. “I work in a variety of different media, but I currently welcome commissions in acrylic and water-soluble colored pencil. I actually started out in digital paintings; I created digital portraits by hand using art programs such as Photoshop, which is where I found my love for realism and detail. It wasn’t until I went to college that I learned how to translate my work into the traditional medium. I do find practicing both digital and traditional media helps me to continue to improve.”

Larger Scale Paintings

Size is another variable, as well. From miniature to life-size, Shannagh-Leigh does it all. “I found my love for water-soluble colored pencils during college and fell in love with their richness and ability to work light to dark, which I found incredibly helpful to transition from digital to traditional media. A few years ago, I decided to try acrylic, as I felt the ability to layer acrylic would be most similar to digital work. I adore the medium and use it to create my larger-scaled paintings.”

The “Horse Power” series Shannagh-Leigh produced during college has been a huge inspiration for her work to date, and helped her create her larger paintings that aim to capture the power of the horse. “I love to bring characters to life in paintings, priding myself in my attention to detail,” she said. “I create realistic paintings with a ‘painterly’ feel, be it the brush strokes used or a slightly richer color in my artwork.”

Shannagh-Leigh is excited about the future. “Surrounded by lots of larger acrylic horse paintings, I’d love to make that my focus and where I take my art,” she said. “I’ve also started creating video walkthroughs of my drawing and painting progress — if I can share my techniques with others and they go away and create amazing pieces from what they learned, that would just be an amazing feeling.”

For more information visit shannagh.co.uk

Photos courtesy of Shannagh-Leigh Hartshorn

 

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Tagged under: artist, England, equine, miniature, painting

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Marie Meyers has been around the world because of Marie Meyers has been around the world because of dressage, but it’s her farm in Moorpark, California, that has captured her heart. The farm and the business that thrives there represent Marie’s lifelong journey—a journey made up of good friends, spectacular horses and relationships made to last.

Marie was raised in Southern California, and spent her childhood playing just about every sport under the sun, but she didn’t discover riding until she was 14 years old. “I loved animals so much, so I started taking lessons. I did jumping at first, but I was very bad at that, for sure!” Marie laughed.

After some time, Marie moved on to take lessons at Foxfield Riding Academy and began riding dressage. “I fell into dressage by accident,” Marie said, “At the beginning, I thought it was extremely boring, but then I got hooked. By the time I graduated from high school, I had plans to travel to England to work for Franz Rochowansky, a former head of the Spanish Riding School.”

In 1988, Marie’s hard work paid off, and the pair was selected as alternates for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. “They didn’t take the alternates that year, so we didn’t go to Seoul, but the experience, the training and the European Tour afterwards set me up for the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, Sweden,” Marie said.

In addition to having success representing her country, Marie was busy with her life—marriage, a business, teaching lessons and clinics. 

Learn more about Marie in this month's edition of Sidelines Magazine. Click the link in our bio for more 🦄

📸Photos by Lindsey Long Equine Photography, www.lindseylong.com

#dressage #equestrian #horse #horses #horsesofinstagram #dressagehorse #equestrianlife #showjumping #horseriding #equine #pony #pferd #instahorse #dressur #horselove #eventing #equestrianstyle #cheval #dressagerider #horselife #horselover #pferde #love #riding #jumping #pferdeliebe #horseofinstagram #horsebackriding #paard #dressurpferd
We are starting a ‼️new series‼️ here on o We are starting a ‼️new series‼️ here on our socials where we share some of the lovely stallions, and their breeders featured in each month's magazine. Our first feature on this #STUDSunday is...

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Contact Cheryl Maye at (703) 431-9096 for more information
https://www.mayeshowponies.com/more-info/stallions

You can find ALL of the stallions featured towards the back of the magazine in the equestrian gallery. Keep a look out EVERY Sunday for a new handsome STUD muffin🧁 and don't forget to subscribe to get your very own edition of Sidelines Magazine, the magazine for horse people, about horse people 🦄

📸  SAS Equestrian
‼️ROB JACOBS COLUMN‼️ The purpose of this ‼️ROB JACOBS COLUMN‼️

The purpose of this month’s column is to help the young equestrians of our sport develop and maintain healthy friendships within the industry. Cultivating healthy relationships with other members within the industry is not as easy as one may think. As a young equestrian, it may be difficult navigating friendships at the barn and at horse shows. Typically, kids have friendships within the barn they ride at but also friendships with others from different barns in their area. 

Initially, it may seem as though making other friends in the sport would be easy and ideal; after all, there is the common interest of horses. However, because of the natural therapeutic benefits of horses, the sport has a history of attracting all types of people, with a wide range of personalities. This can be both an advantage and a drawback. We are now in an era that acknowledges the growing need to discuss and manage one’s mental health. 

One thing I have learned is that we are likely to notice mental health challenges at an age younger than most people may think. Some of the friendship dynamics I have observed over the years have caused me to pause and really think about the future of our sport. Without looking for a source to blame for the cause of this, i.e. social media, parents, school, teachers, etc., I think if all adults involved worked to encourage, affirm, love, and respect our youth, the likelihood of them developing authentic friendships with their peers may increase.

Both humans and horses were designed to have connected relationships. These relationships allow a greater sense of security when one experiences challenges in life. Cultivating the quality and authenticity of these relationships requires intentional work. 

Thank you Rob for providing your helpful insight on developing healthy relationships. Check out his tips in his column you can find in the link in our bio.
Never miss a story by subscribing to Sidelines Magazine🦄 

Photo by Blenheim Equisports

#horse #horses #horsesofinstagram #equestrian #horseriding #equine #hunterjumper #equestrianlife #horselove #dressage #sidelinesmagzine
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