MERCURY • colored pencil, ink and paint pen • 9”x12” bristol board
Prints and merch available here!
Returning to my Planet Horse series, meet the first of the terrestrial planet horses: Mercury! Here represented by an Icelandic Horse performing its distinctive gait, I wanted to evoke the fleet-footedness of both the planet (Mercury has the shortest year of all the planets) but also his legendary namesake: the Roman god of messengers, whom the Greeks called Hermes. I couldn’t find any good true-color references for the planet, so I elected to keep him silver—yet another reference, this time to mercury the element.
Original is currently for sale!
VENUS • colored pencil, ink and paint pen • 9”x12” bristol board
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The second of the terrestrial planets, Venus is named for the Roman goddess of love and fertility, whom the Greeks worshiped as Aphrodite. I have chosen to represent her with a Connemara Pony, and while her flowing mane and tail are reminiscent of different interpretation of Venus (hi, Botticelli) I’ve adapted her fiery landscape and thick, toxic clouds into something almost like heavy metal stage makeup—an oblique reference to the face that, on Venus, it rains acid and snows metal. In keeping with the inflammatory nature of both planet and goddess, her border is decorated with a flame motif. This arose naturally as I worked on the piece, and leaves me curious as to how I will differentiate her from Mars—who, as the Red Planet and the God of War, also has some claim to fire as a representative element. We’ll see…
Original is for sale!
GAIA • colored pencil, ink and paint pen • 9”x12” bristol board
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Third and largest of the terrestrial planets, the cradle of life and the “blue gem” of the solar system, also known as Earth or Terra, here she takes her name from the Greek goddess of the earth: the great Gaia. Of all the planets so far illustrated, she is the only one represented by a truly wild “breed:” Przewalski’s Horse. With her rocky terrain and thick atmosphere, in appearance she is somewhere between her terrestrial neighbors and the huge gas giants—while her eyes and nostrils glow red in reference to Earth’s fiery core. She alone shows the signs of life: artificial illumination from human cities can be seen on the dark side of her face. This unique aspect is also reflected in her border, with its flowing, floral pattern.
Original sold.
MARS • colored pencil, ink and paint pen • 9”x12” bristol board
Prints and merch available here!
The final member of the terrestrial planets, I chose for the equine representative of the Roman god of war, whom the Greeks called Ares, the equally terrifying (at least to my mind) Shetland Pony. For while we may associate Mars with that fiery god, in reality the planet is a harsh, freezing desert, and needs a suitably indomitable avatar. In the series, this piece is unique in that it combines both gold and copper metallic ink.
With Mars, the Planet Horse series now contains every heliocentric satellite which astronomers call planets, but I have hopes of one day adapting Pluto—for old times’ sake. And if I do, perhaps Eris and Haumea will not be far behind…
Original for sale!
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The Planet Horses are a series which began with the four Gas Giants in November 2013, soon joined by the privately-commissioned Elemental Horses in 2014, to which were added Ligno and Ferro in late 2014/early 2015. They are part of a broader series called the Celestial Horses, which include Nebula (2015), and the re-worked Ouranos. Collectively they make up the Fantastic Equine series, which can be found in its entirety here.