Lisa McKnett can paint anything anywhere.
At the time of this reporter’s call, Lisa was painting a tableau on a bedroom wall in her and her husband’s new Provence-style home in the Rancho Santa Fe area’s Santaluz. “I’ve been working on this for days!” Lisa exclaimed as she took a break from creating a lake scene with hot air balloons drifting by. “I’m about ready to saw my arm off!”

While she can paint anything, Lisa, a lifelong equestrian, greatly prefers depicting horses and other animals and that is certainly what she is best known for. Regularly busy with commissioned portraits, Lisa also sculpts. A 12-inch bronze statue of the great dressage mare Brentina is Lisa’s biggest current project in this medium and she relishes the process of creating it.
Commissioned in honor of Brentina’s United States Dressage Federation’s Horse of the Year honor, the statue started last year with Lisa studying hours of video of Brentina and Debbie McDonald, the mare’s partner in countless international and national victories. “I have to really study the anatomy in order to get the details right,” the artist explains.
Next, Lisa contemplated the best pose, working from a determination of Brentina’s best gait. “Everybody has an opinion on that!” she notes. At the moment, Lisa has settled on Brentina in halt, with Debbie wrapping her arms around the mare’s neck in an exuberant hug. “But then again, I may not put the rider on at all.”
Bones come first when shaping the bronze, and the mare’s impressive musculature follows. When the sculpture is finally finished, Lisa will deliver it to the Dressage Federation, which she expects will then present it to Debbie McDonald.
A native of Sun Valley, ID, Lisa earned an art scholarship to Boise State University. She studied fine art and illustration at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where she worked under the tutelage of John Asaro, Dan McCaw, Harry Carmean and Craig Nelson. She continued her studies during four years at the California Art Institute in Calabasas, learning from many more highly-respected and commercially successful masters.

Giving Back
In the years since, Lisa has received numerous honors as an artist and an instructor. Giving back to the various communities she cares about has been a priority throughout Lisa’s life. Local schools and charities are among the many entities that have gratefully received her donations of art. The Santaluz home Lisa and her husband Charles are now building will include a large studio where the artist can also offer lessons. In the future, she hopes to host art auctions motivated by the desire to let prospective buyers know that original art is often more affordable than they might think.
Lisa attributes her keen sense of equine anatomy and movement to her long experience as an equestrian and to her good fortune in living amongst and riding with some of the country’s top professionals. With her former Grand Prix dressage mount Carlos happily retired with a new owner, Lisa is in the market for a new horse on which to return to the competitive dressage arena. In the meantime, she enjoys owning a broodmare, Stella, and following the progress of the mare’s babies. One of those is the 3 year old Solitaire Diamond, out of Royal Diamond. Lisa proudly reports that Stella’s first baby received a 10 score for conformation from the German Verband.
At presstime, Stella and Solitaire Diamond were for sale. Lisa’s current trainer Donna Richardson is hunting for a new mount for Lisa, as well as a Grand Prix prospect for herself that Lisa and her husband would help sponsor.
“You can’t go wrong if you hire me for an animal portrait,” Lisa enthuses. “I understand the different breeds and the different approaches taken with them.” When it comes to horses, Lisa has had some terrific teachers. She’s been riding with Donna Richardson since April, and her horse-owning and riding resume is long on the influences of top competitors and trainers. She counts Dominique Barbia, Jane Weatherwax, Leslie Webb, Linda Alexander, Merrie Velden, Angela Paltram, Liz Hopps McConnell, Guenter Seidel and Sue Blinks among her mentors. Living, working and riding in the Rancho Santa Fe area, Lisa is surrounded by equestrian excellence. “Steffen Peters’ place is right behind my house!” she says with the cheerful enthusiasm that characterizes her life as both an artist and a horsewoman.
For more information on Lisa McKnett, please visit www.lisamcknett.com.