Carole Boyd

We are pleased to present Carole, otherewise known as ckbesq – Carole is an attorney and talented painter, the work of which she creates on the computer, her portfolio is well worth a lengthy browse and can be seen “!http://www.redbubble.com/people/ckbesq.

Appaloosa and Spotted Horses & Ponies Group “here”:!http://www.redbubble.com/groups/appaloosa-and-spotted-horses-ponies

1. What drew you to photography?

Actually I do not consider myself much of a photographer, but rather an artist. My medium is digital art done with the Microsoft paint program and a mouse. I take a few photos from time to time when I see something that I think needs photographing, providing I can locate my camera in time!

2. What is your favourite subject?

Horses, or course, and particularly my horses, along with my dogs and cats and some nature shots. As for painting, I love to paint animals, both domestic and wild, and my own animals are sometimes called upon as subjects.

3. What medium do you use and what camera do you use?

I paint using a very simplistic program that comes with virtually every computer- Microsoft Paint. It has a few tools like you might use to actually do a painting: brushes, a pencil, a spray can, a fill can, an eraser, and a palette of colors. It doesn’t offer all of the fancy filters or cloning that other programs offer, but the more I work with it, the more I see that it’s not as unsophisticated as I originally thought. If you play around you can really do quite a lot with it. The program doesn’t do it for you- such as adding texture or brush strokes or blur to a piece of art- but if you work at it, you can achieve that result yourself. I kind of like that aspect of it. I also use a regular old mouse. Most people prefer a tablet and stylus, but my mouse and I have developed a pretty good relationship!

I’m rather antideluvian when it comes to photography. I still use probably one of the first Sony Mavica cameras made which has a slot for a floppy disk. You can only take about four or five photos per disk, but I love the camera anyway.

+4. What editing programme do you use? +

Again, nothing sophisticated- just the Microsoft Photo Editor that comes with literally every computer that has microsoft programs on it. All I have used editing for is cropping or sizing. Even with my paintings, I do not use photo-editing other than for sizing.

5. What is your favourite image in your own portfolio and why?

Well, since I am creating new art frequently, my favorites change often. However, I’d have to say that, if we’re talking favorite horse art, “Don’ t Fence Me In” is at least one of my favorites.

I tried to make that horse the inverse color of my Appaloosa leopard stallion Mystic Justice- a palomino with a snowflake blanket of spots rather than white with a palomino leopard blanket like Mystic, but the spots aren’t terribly apparent. I’m very partial to palominos, as my first horse after childhood was a palomino who I saved from the killers. He became a Grand Champion at just about everything he did, and I considered him the best horse in the world and my soulmate. After that, I have always loved palomino horses.

6. What is your favourite image of your own in the Appaloosa Group and why?

Of course, I like “Spirit Horse”, which I use for my Spirit Horse Gallery logo (I have a small gallery of Native American art and artifacts), but as for a real painting, I’d have to say “Riding the Ridge” is a favorite. It was inspired by an area nearby to my ranch where Native Americans were hundreds of years ago, and I could just image them riding the land there, rugged as it is. I also imagined that they rode Appaloosas!

7. What are your favourite three images of other people’s work in the Appaloosa Group and why?

1) Brays Run by Lisa Weber, an etherial image if ever there was one. It is beautiful in composition and execution, and a true pleasure to view.

2) Medicine Dog by Sue Ireland, a colored pencil drawing that looks a lot like my boy, Mystic! Very well done indeed.

3) Dream by Tracy Faught – just a beautiful photograph, both of the horse and of the setting. Well-titled, it is dreamy!

8. Where would be your dream place for a Creating session?

I would love to go to New Mexico or Arizona and do some paintings. Or even to the Big Bend National Park here in Texas. The reality is, I can’t get away for something like that because of work and because I have all the critters here to take care of.

9. Last, but not least, would you like to tell us a little more about yourself and where you live.

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, I think- the hill country of Texas. Thus, I really don’t need to go anywhere else for beautiful scenery or animals. They abound here.
I’ve been here at Spirit Horse Ranch and Gallery for almost 5 years, and feel blessed every day that I can be in such a glorious area of the world.
Although I am a native Texan (but not from this area), I previously lived in New Jersey for over 20 years. Before that I was in New York and Florida. In college (in Oklahoma) I was involved in drama and music, and afterwards was a professional singer/songwriter/guitarrist for about 15 years. During my stay in NY (7 years) I also did soap operas and other performing arts.
Although I never did painting professionally until recently, I have been involved in the arts in one form or another for most of my life. I was, at one time, also with the Russian Ballet.
Finally I have been able to try my hand at painting, but I do it on the computer. It is done free-hand using the Microsoft paint program and a mouse. I don’t use any editing, altering or manipulating devices- just the old paintbrush, pencil, etc. with the paint program. It’s fun, but tedious. It is ecologically sound, though- no noxious fumes or contaminates of old paint, rags, turpentines, etc. going into the earth! Wish I could devote more time to it, but I still make my living by being an attorney during working hours.

Now for our favourite from Carole’s portfolio

A terrific in-depth set of answers Carole and we thank you for your participation.
Skyhorse and Kala