Katie Upton lives and paints where she grew up, on a property nestled among oak trees in the Santa Barbara hills. Surrounded by her horses, she captures their simplest movements in vibrant color with oils and pencil on dramatically large canvases.
Katie’s creations are both warm and imposing, a delicate balance of expression that coexists beautifully. Ranging from smaller portraits to canvases that are eight feet tall, the horses consume the canvas, looking as though they may reach right out and nuzzle your hand. She captures their power along with the softness in their eyes.
Horse Lovers Worldwide
I met Katie six years ago after buying one of her paintings. Being a horse nut myself, I fell completely in love with her art. Seeing an animal that I love bigger than life took my breath away. But it’s not just their size, substance and power. It’s the intensity of the color and the quality of the light that she captures. Most of all it’s the playfulness and character that shine through each painting.
My painting is of a horse called Linda and she’s a stunning chestnut with a wide blaze. The painting is a frontal view and her head fills the four by two-and-a-half-foot foot canvas. Her forelock is covering her left eye and her coat is glowing in what one imagines is the setting sun. What little parts of the canvas that are not filled with horse are painted a wonderfully intense cobalt blue, a striking contrast to the chestnut orange of the horse’s coat. My painting hangs in a place of honor in our stairway so I can see her as I come and go. It brings a smile to my face without fail each time.
When I got a chance to meet Katie in person, I was tickled to discover that she is a fellow horse lover and a kind soul. Her connection to horses is, I believe, part of that indefinable aspect that shines through her paintings.
“I sit every evening with my horses and watch as the light changes across their backs and weaves through the manes and tails and everything else,” Katie says. “I watch while they eat and fuss at each other and come over to me and leave muddy, smeary kisses on my face. I have done this for as long as I can remember.”
The Artistic Process
When asked about her style, Katie explains that “although my work is unique in its style, the cubist movement of the early part of the last century influenced me the most. Drawing is the foundation of my painting. By drawing the horse from different viewpoints the figure ‘opens up’ and better expresses a horse’s weight and power.” Katie remembers that her Dad always said, “First there is an idea and then it becomes a drawing and then it can be built.” She thinks of that when she starts a painting, starting with an idea, and then a drawing, and then she starts to paint. “Then I might change my mind and I tear it down and rebuild it and so on,” Katie explains.
She draws into the painting, constantly reminding herself where all the bones and muscles and planes meet and make points in a shape or a curve. “As I draw and paint, I feel that my pencil or brush is an extension of my hand and my hand is the messenger of my being which embodies all the accumulated knowledge and emotion and spirit that I need to make art,” Katie says. “My work evolves as I do.”
The result is a masterful representation of the personality within the horse that reflects the sheer power of a horse, along with its spirit.
The Evolution of Art
When she was in college as an undergraduate art student, Katie’s direction and focus was on abstraction and she was influenced a lot by the artists and traditions of abstract art. While her sketchbook was full of horse drawings and studies, the finished work she was producing didn’t reflect this. “From the evidence in my sketchbook and in my heart, my love and passion for horses had not changed since I was very young,” Katie recalls.
Then in graduate school she began focusing solely on the horse figure. Horse art that she had seen at the time was largely realism and primarily depicted horses in either a manmade or natural environment. She had other ideas. “I wanted to remove the background and isolate the horse into pure form,” Katie explains, “so it would be only itself, like a sculpture, almost like an icon. So that is what I did.”
An exhibition in 1988 as a graduate student was the first time that Katie showed her horse drawings. There were 10 drawings of horses on nine-foot sheets of paper. Although her colleagues were at first skeptical of the horse as subject matter, and she was accused of being sappy, Katie believes she won their respect. “The important part of it for me was learning what it felt like to be making art that was my passion and my truth,” says Katie with enthusiasm. “When that is the case, what other people think suddenly doesn’t matter.”
A Creative Family
Creative energy infuses the whole family. Katie met her husband, Steve Benner, in art school at University of California at Santa Barbara 25 years ago. He’s a finish carpenter who creates one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture. “We are both artists,” explains Katie, “which means that he understands the process and idiosyncrasies of making art.”
Steve is also Katie’s business manager, taking care of a wide assortment of responsibilities ranging from building stretcher bars and managing the books to preparing dinner. “He is such a tremendous help to me,” says Katie with affection. “It would be very difficult to do what I do without his support both emotionally and figuratively.”
They live with their daughters, Amy, 18, and Sarah, 15, in a renovated horse barn on the property where she grew up. Like Katie in her youth, Amy is in love with horses and shows locally in addition to being a great writer who is studying creative writing in college. Sarah is the poet in the family and enjoys fashion and designing her own clothes. She is a dedicated athlete who plays goalie on her water polo team in high school.
Supporting Horse Causes through Art
It was through Amy’s volunteer work in high school that Katie connected with Hearts Adaptive (www.heartsadaptiveriding.org), a therapeutic riding program in Santa Barbara. “When I realized that this amazing organization offers a place for old horses to have a job and be well cared for and loved by all these kids and adults it warmed my heart. It’s such a win-win situation,” she says. Last year she offered to paint an original of the Hearts Adaptive “horse of the year.” The non-profit auctioned it off at near-market value, generating funds for their important work. Katie wishes that all horse lovers could participate in some way in supporting these amazing programs. It’s good for the students and good for the horses.
Where to Find Katie Upton Paintings
Katie’s fans are international. Her paintings are on view in a gallery in Vermont, and have been exhibited in dozens of group and solo shows. Katie’s work is held in private collections throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Asia.
If you’d like to see more artwork or have Katie paint an interpretation of your own horse visit www.katieupton.com or send her an email at info@katieupton.com.