Artist Reply: Thank you! I started using oil pastels when I was five years old, and never stopped. So, I have been using them for 23 years now. I never recieved any formal training on how to use them. I just developed my own techniques through endless experimentation. I rarely use them as "glorified color crayons" like many artists. Rather, I cover the paper with thick, opaque coats and then draw over that. That creates the creamy texture and paintlike strokes that you see here. The higher the quality of the pastel, the better this technique works.

Artist Reply: Thank you. I try to avoid portraiture in my equine art in favor of more creative interpretations and representations of horses. While I do portraits on ocassion, I too, feel that they are hugely overdone.