Of Heaven and Earth
Portraits of Horses in Form and Spirit

 By Kim McElroy

In my travels I encounter many people who commission me to paint portraits of their horses as a celebration of their deep connection. Recently this has occurred to such an extent that my present work is primarily portraits.

Creating these portraits allows me to share deeply meaningful moments with people and horses who truly love each other. Their love opens the window through which I can perceive who the horses are, even if I've never met them.

The people and their horses each have a story. When I prepare to compose the portrait, these stories help guide my intuition and artistic eye to select the most evocative images from photographic references in order to convey their personal meanings on paper. Thankfully, my clients have faith that I will accomplish this task without knowing at any point what it will look like until it is completed.

With each unveiling, I discover from people's emotional responses, that I succeed not only in portraying their horse accurately, but also in capturing their innermost feelings about their horse in profound ways. The portraits seem to celebrate and validate their deep connection with their horse. I believe this is because the spirits of the horses speak through me, in the language of my art.

Sometimes, people ask me to paint horses that have gone on to the spirit realm. Their love is intertwined with their grief, and it is my task to try to remind them of the immortal spirit of their horse. Though my only guides are photographs of the horse's former physical self, I must go beyond those images to their eternal presence.

Each time, the paintings accomplish even more than I could hope. Rather then being a visual memorial, the paintings allow the owners to rekindle the deep love in their hearts, reconnect to their horse's spirit, and in doing so, help heal their sense of loss.

The joy I receive from my ability to share this gift with others cannot be described. Beyond that joy, is the profound realization that my own beliefs about the spirits of horses has proven true, for in the process of meeting with some of these clients and creating their portraits, a series of miraculous occurrences began to happen. These events confirms for the owners, and for me, the power of love, which transcends time, space, and even death.

This journal chronicles some of these events in the voices of the owners and myself. I hope that each creation and the experiences that were involved will open your mind and heart to the power of the eternal spirit of the horse.

The miracles are never ending, for literally as I wrote this story, the phone rang and a woman called to ask me if I could paint her horse who had passed away. In the midst of her grief, she had suddenly felt a powerful need to call me.

It seems all those wonderful horse spirits are spreading the word...