Horse Artist Interview – Frances Marino

Name
Frances Marino

Website & places you can find my work online
Website: yessy.com/horseypassion
Fine Art America: Frances Marino
Boulder Arts Resource: Frances Marino
Osmosis Art Gallery: Frances Marino
Niwot Colorado

Where I am
Niwot, Colorado

Tell us a little about you, what is your background & where do you come from?
I’m from Buffalo, New York, transplanted in Colorado in 1975. I have aways loved art and would attend art openings and shows and admire other peoples work, not knowing I was probably processing subconsciously the way artists used colors and styles.

I just started art seriously in 2005 taking a couple of drawing classes from the community collage here in Longmont and then the Colorado Art academy for a few classes before they disappeared. Since then, I have pretty much been on my own, except for an abstract class I took from the artist, Gwen Fox, which is where I started my work in acrylics.

When did you first start painting horses?
I started painting horses after I took a horse portrait class at the CAA about 3 years ago and have really enjoyed doing them as my favorite subject.

You work with quite a few different mediums, which one do you prefer?
I work in all mediums except oils because I’m too impatient to see the final result and I usually get the picture 90% done in the first sitting, which is why I enjoy acrylics, they are very forgiving and I can fix my mistakes in a matter of minutes.

I love pastels and usually use them for my animal commission pieces because people tend to like the realism I get from them.

You paint quite a broad spectrum of subjects, what is you favorite thing to paint?
Horses are my favorite subject to paint but I enjoy doing commissions because it forces me to step out of my box and do pieces I wouldn’t normally do, hence learning lots from each piece. I also am constantly walking around in a state of wonderment wondering what is going to inspire me next. I never know where my next subject matter is going to come from…and in a moment, it can just show up.

Who are your main influences?
My main influences are just what nature puts out there for us to lay down on canvas or paper.

I love all art and styles and I guess I grab a bit from everyone and everything and create my own style.

Do you (or did you) have an animal that is the muse behind your work?
Probably the horses

Do you have any secret rituals you do to help you get in the zone for your art?
No secret rituals, but when the feeling finally hits me, I move on it pretty quickly cause it all starts to feel right

Is there a particular place that brings you inspiration?
Life is my inspiration, everywhere we look there is art waiting to be expressed in some form or another.

What effect do you think the Internet will have on art in general?
A huge effect. The places you can go and look at art is limitless.

Has it had an effect on yours?
The internet is amazing. Being a noname artist at the moment, the online gallery I have chosen to put my site on is a God send. People look at my work from all over the world which I could never have gotten from my own website, and being able to enter contests and shows are so easy.

Which one is your personal favorite piece?
My personal favorites are going to be my animals. My three horses, Jess, Willeduke and Toronto, and my greyhounds which is the piece of past and present, but I haven’t entered JJ in the picture yet. He’s the newbie.

Would you ever sell it?
No, I can’t sell the kids

What else are you passionate about?
My other passion along with riding my horses, is dancing.

Country music is one of my favorites and I can’t get enough of dancing to it, I also enjoy the latin dances, cha cha, Salsa, etc. and I do ballroom every other week. There is the saying : “We don’t stop dancing cause we get old, we get old cause we stop dancing.”

Working on anything new?
I’m always working on something new in my head. The hard part is figuring out how I want to present it on canvas or paper, but, there will probably be a horse in it somewhere.

More to Come

Thanks to Frances for answering the interview and sharing her art. Be sure to visit her art site periodically for updates about her latest works.

Also stay tuned for more interviews with horse artists and photographers.

Are you a horse artist or do you know an equine artist you’d like to see featured? Add your name and website in the comments below or drop us a note to get involved.