Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
Sometimes, you just wish life came with a pause button. Especially as eventers, there always seem to be memories you wish you could grab hold of and never let go: that special horse, that special day, that special win. Thanks to artist Julie Lawther of Equine Art by Julie, four lucky winners at the American Eventing Championships each year have the opportunity to, if not pause time, at least capture and preserve it.
When the AECs came to Julie’s home state of Texas, she approached the USEA about becoming a donor for the AECS. She offered to create four mixed-media custom portraits, each valued at $2,500, for the champions of both Junior Beginner Novice divisions and well as the Training Amateur and Intermediate division. Naturally, Jo Whitehouse and Rob Burk welcomed her generous offer with open arms.
Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
It’s been a rewarding experience, Julie says, and one she intends to continue even when the AECs move to Tryon, North Carolina, next year.
“It has been my honor to paint these portraits for the competitors,” she explains. “I have enjoyed painting all of them, but especially the ones of the young competitors in the two Junior Beginner Novice divisions. The kids and their horses are so special. What a memory and what an experience it is for them.”
Julie grew up riding at her family’s ranch in southeast Texas and her daughters inherited the equestrian bug, joining Pony Club and competing in schooling horse trials. Julie has also coached several young riders in the discipline, which she says has contributed to her appreciation of the up-and-coming generation of eventers she sees at the AECs.
“I guess because I have daughters and taught children for decades, I really connect to the kids in the sport and what it takes to achieve a national title,” she says. “It is really special to get to meet them and their families and to share not only in their journey and experience but to count them as friends.”
A Win-Win
When asked if she has a favorite AEC portrait story, she ponders the question carefully before answering no, then adds, “But I can share two that really touched me.”
The first was of 2013 Junior Beginner Novice winner Anna Kate Conley, who traveled to the AECs from Kentucky. Julie met the young rider and her family only briefly in person, amid all the chaos and excitement when she came out of the ring.
Between choosing just the right photo and procuring permission and licensing from the photographer, it typically takes awhile to get a portrait started. But several months later, once the painting was underway, Julie shared the progress of the piece with Anna Kate on Facebook.
“She and her whole family where so excited and enthusiastic about the portrait,” Julie says. “And when the 2014 AECs came around, she came running into my booth and hugged me. Her mom, aunt and cousins were all crying, and I was crying, too. Anna Kate has such an infectious smile and vivacious spirit; it was a delight to paint her likeness and that of her mount Reba.”
Anna Kate Conley and Reba’s Song. Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
Another memorable portrait was of 2014 Junior Beginner Novice winner Melissa Morris from Missouri: “I just fell in love with Melissa and her story and her horse, RSR Private Eye.”
Melissa’s mom had purchased the leopard Appaloosa for $200, rescuing him from an uncertain fate.
“It took some time, patience, hard work and great training, but mom and daughter brought this once troubled pony along to his winning ways,” Julie recalls. “This young lady had ridden this pony she trained in the biggest event for a Beginner Novice Junior rider in the country, and she won.”
Julie describes the narrative as “a total pull at my heartstrings,” reminding her of helping her own daughters re-train their own horses, which were often free or rejects with shadowy pasts.
“I know that struggle and pursuit of having a competition horse out of a horse that nobody wanted,” she says. “And here was this sharp little rider on a spotted horse taking the competition by storm. It was a pleasure to create an award for a young person who had worked so hard to get to the AECs and then to ride to a dream realized.”
She got to meet Melissa and her entire family when they picked up the portrait at this year’s AECs. “You could tell how much everyone supported her and how excited they were for her to receive such an award. What a thrill for me as an artist to make someone and their whole family happy and to give them something they will have to treasure as an heirloom.”
Melissa Morris and RSR Private Eye. Courtesy of Julie Lawther
Julie enjoys creating the Training Amateur portraits as well, for a different reason. “I love watching the amateurs ride and compete,” she explains. “They inspire me. I may technically be a professional, as I still teach some backyard lessons, but I identify more with the amateur riders. I get tears in my eyes when I see them succeed in getting in the last jump in stadium for the win. I am jumping every jump with them in my heart.”
She finds the Intermediate division thrilling and says that, while she might not compete at that level, it allows her to participate in the upper echelons of the sport in a unique way.
“Through my art, in a way, I get to ride at that level through my imagination when I paint them,” she says. “I have such an appreciation for all the competitors of any age and skill level who go out and ride in this sport — they are all incredible.”
A Merging of Passions
For as long as Julie can remember, riding and art have been at the forefront of her life. She was sitting on a horse by age 2 and began studying art as a young child, taking fine oil painting lessons twice a week at age 7.
“During this time I of course I always wanted to paint horses, and I rode my ponies at the ranch every weekend,” she recalls. “When I hit junior high school, my passion for horses spilled over from painting them and riding on the ranch into riding and showing various breeds and disciplines with friends during my teen years in the north Houston area.”
She rode everything she could, from Tennessee Walkers to Welsh ponies, in a panorama of different disciplines: “I was the barn rat. I learned everything I could, just soaking up anything anyone would teach me.”
Jumping swiftly became her favorite. “It was all I could think about most of the time, and I would doodle jumping horses on school notes and my book covers,” she says.
Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
She discovered eventing later, after getting married and moving to Charleston, South Carolina. “I immediately fell in love with the thrill of jumping cross country,” she says. “It was on a packer named Humphrey Bogart — he was a Percheron/Quarter Horse cross who could jump the moon. It was an addiction I enjoyed as often as I could.”
Her husband was in the military, which made it necessary to pick up and move every few years. Julie says that rather than feeling limiting, the experience gave her a variety of experiences and exposure to different breeds and disciplines.
Collectively, it enhanced her ability to adapt to the needs of potential clients when she began offering lessons and training. “I basically hung out my shingle and started applying what I had learned and continued to learn in starting a business offering lessons and training wherever we lived,” she says.
She also acquired skill sets she might not have otherwise, like shoeing. “Many times military bases are not seated in a hotbed of horse activity, and thus those skilled in the support of the horse industry may be lacking in quantity,” she says. “So not being able to get a farrier out in a timely manner forced me into learning the trade.”
Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
Meanwhile, her passion for art was always close at hand. At one point a client asked her to design a logo for her stable and breeding program, which Julie says was the first time art and horses merged in a way that she could envision a new career combining the two.
She sketched the logo, then was asked to paint a few portraits for her clients. She began attending local and regional shows as a vendor and began gaining success, creating commissioned artwork and teaching art lessons while maintaining her equestrian business.
When the couple ultimately landed back in Texas, now with horse-loving daughters in tow, Julie stretched herself even a bit further, working at an equine veterinary hospital to keep the horses fed and ensure that her kids had the opportunity to compete. She was pleasantly surprised to realize that the job actually complimented her other two endeavors.
“It gave me the opportunity to study the horse’s anatomy in more depth and detail,” she says. “Plus, I got to be hands on with horses in their hour of need and take care of them on a daily basis in the hospital.
“I had to get really keen on reading horses to keep the horses and the vets treating them safe while having various treatments administered. It was a wonderful time in life where I learned so much. I went to work every day studying horses and learning everything they and the veterinarians would teach me. It was trying at times, as anyone in the veterinary business will tell you, but it was rewarding. The knowledge gained in those years really contributed to improving my skills as an artist and as a trainer.”
Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
Life as Art
Julie has a gift for capturing the personalities of the horses in portraits: the energy of a gait, the texture of a mane, the glint in an eye. What’s her secret?
She says it’s a direct result of having experienced so many horses herself, in the flesh.
“I not only learned much about anatomy and movement and gaits through being a farrier and trainer and vet tech, but I could study the horse’s emotions and the expression of those emotions,” she says. “A lifetime of working with horses in so many situations has given to me a library of images and experiences to pull from.”
Julie explains that it takes knowing how a horse is feeling to be able to depict it in a piece of art. She looks for clues in the horse’s body — everything from facial features to the muscle tension in its neck — to detect emotion.
“Those areas are typically where the human eye goes to read a horse. So it is my job to see what it is that a horse is thinking or feeling from their photos and express that to make the horse life-like. To capture one horse in particular, you not only need to know your anatomy and how to accurately depict a horse, but how to manipulate that anatomy and show expression.”
Is it more challenging to draw or paint a moving horse as opposed to one standing still? Yes, she says, then adds a qualifier: “But then again, even if the horse is standing still, I try to give the artwork life and make it feel as if it could move as any moment.”
Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
Most of Julie’s commissioned portrait requests are for head-and-neck or three-quarter portraits, but she says she loves it when she gets to work from an action shot.
“I love to add the kinetic energy to a flat surface and create the experience of being on the horse,” she says. “And I love the mental challenge of imagining what the limbs and body are doing and the proportions and angles. It is a delightful puzzle.”
Clients will sometimes request a minor edit from the original photograph — a change in equitation, the horse’s form or tack — which gives Julie an additional challenge. But beyond the composition and layout, she says the most challenging aspect of creating any painting of someone’s horse, whether it be static or in motion, is getting to know that particular horse.
“I rely on stories and memories told to me by my clients to get to know the horse, as many times I don’t get to meet the horse in person,” she says.
Courtesy of Julie Lawther.
Ultimately, that’s the reason why she so enjoys creating the AEC portraits: “It is the people who make this sport and the special stories behind them and their horses that make creating artwork for them so rewarding.”
Many thanks to Julie both for her big-hearted donations and for taking the time to share her story. For more information, we encourage you to visit her website, Equine Art by Julie, or Facebook page.
Go Eventing.
