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December 3 - 15, 2018 Scottsdale Artist Reception | December 13 | 6:30–9:00pm
SEP TEMBER VHAY All the Red Horses and a Hummingbird
Jackson Hole | Scottsdale | AltamiraArt.com
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Red Horse 109 Oil on canvas | 24 x 36 inches Enquire
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All the Red Horses and a Hummingbird A life spent with horses. A career painting their strong grace. A decade coursing their contours in red. All the Red Horses and a Hummingbird marks a milestone for September Vhay: Within this gathering of new canvases lives her 100th red horse—a series that began as a gesture of play amid pain. While visiting a friend at the Seattle Hospital, Vhay ducked outside to spend a moment with a Deborah Butterfield bronze horse. In her sketchbook, she scribbled a tiny homage to the mighty work: a loose study of equine essence. Soon after, she began her holiday ritual of painting cards for Crane Creek Graphics—the only time she incorporates red into her otherwise muted palette. Beguiled by the miniature horse sketch, she tried a version in the holiday hue, letting muscle memory guide her brush. The small crimson study emerged emphatic: a feng-shui blending of equine traits (power, strength, grace) with the qualities associated with red (passion, fame, dynamism, assertiveness). When fused, the red horses deliver “a double dose of empowerment” felt by both the painter and the patron, as evidenced by the instantaneous sales of those first works.
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Now, she sees red horses constantly. No matter the origin, her practice follows the same process as that first sketch, with the circle of the jaw, a flashback to childhood drawing lessons. She then searches for the defining form, like the oblong shape of the shoulder, the pooling loops of a knee, or the unbroken arc of the back. The distinctive personality of each horse comes alive in her exploration of line; the movement of the brush from thick to thin, the interplay of negative space made by the marks. “It’s a different essence every time,” September says. “A different horse. These new horses are as rewarding as the first ones.” By introducing a new species into All the Red Horses and a Hummingbird, Vhay found herself returning to the small scale in which she started working in red. Hummingbirds have been a feature for her this fall, alighting on the Fall Arts Festival in Jackson, Wyoming. Even before, the winged wonders have
long appeared as casual harbingers of inspiration, whenever armed with a crayon and paper tablecloth at restaurants, she doodles horses and always adds a smudge above, “A little hummingbird,” she explains to friends. Ever since they first appeared 10 years ago, her red horses have drawn together the community of people who have made her art possible. Working without references, from her instinct and memory, Vhay lets the horses emerge as imprints of connection. The connection she expresses through the horses transfers into the connection patrons feel for the paintings and the painter; an unbounded exchange of empowerment through art. Reflecting the liberating presence the red horses have come to occupy within her painting practice, Vhay says“As much as I enjoy the more methodical oil and watercolor painting, it is liberating to work in this realm of loose abstraction and color.”
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Red Horse 107 Oil on canvas | 60 x 60 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 103 Watercolor on hot press paper | 7 x 10.5 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 101 Watercolor on hot press paper | 7 x 10 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 99 Watercolor on hot press paper | 7 x 10.5 inches Red Horse 100 Watercolor on hot press paper | 6 x 9.5 inches
Enquire
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Red Horse 113 Oil on canvas | 46 x 57 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 105 Watercolor on hot press paper | 7 x 9.5 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 102 Watercolor on hot press paper | 6 x 9 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 108 Oil on canvas | 40 x 66 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 104 Watercolor on hot press paper | 7 x 10 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 98 Watercolor on hot press paper | 6.5 x 10 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 112 Oil on canvas | 36 x 36 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 106 Watercolor on hot press paper | 6.5 x 8.5 inches Enquire
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Red Horse 110 Oil on canvas | 24 x 36 inches Enquire
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Red Hummingbird 1 Watercolor on hot press paper | 6.5 x 7 inches Enquire
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7038 E Main Street | Scottsdale, Arizona 85251 AltamiraArt.com | 480-949-1256
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