Stillwater Artist William Ersland: On Horses and Art

Stillwater Artist Will Ersland recently won the Best Acrylic Painting Award in the 2012 Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum’s Western Spirit Art Show.

Winners were selected at the show’s opening on March 3. The 31st annual nationally juried art show and sale exhibits the work of over 100 artists totalling over 250 pieces. The show runs through April 15.

Ersland's painting, Buckin’ Outa Chute Five brought home a cash prize of $500.

Ersland took the time to answer a few questions for Stillwater Patch about his life as an artist, his knack for painting horses, and specifically, his inspiration for "Buckin' Outa Chute Five."

Stillwater Patch: First of all, please describe yourself as an artist. When did you get started? Where has your path taken you, both in life and education? And what is your preferred form of art?

Will Ersland: Like most artists, I started drawing and observing in primary school and built on that interest. We're mostly visual journalists. I went to a liberal arts college and almost majored in biology, but art won out. A large midwest design business hired me to start the seed of an illustration department and I worked there for 10 years before moving to Stillwater to begin a freelance career. This historic river town attracted me 30 years ago, and I'm staying!

My influences have always been with the action painters like Frederic Remington and Charlie Russel and throw in a bit of N.C. Wyeth for good measure.

My approach to art is pretty realistic and it's based on good old academic standards of good drawing and color theory when it comes to applying paint. The brushwork could be described best by letting the strokes decide shape and in their simplest form. In other words, I don't do any blending. I always tell painting students that "each color I put down is mixed from at least three other colors from the tube," and "a painting is in the grays—not the richer colors."

Stillwater Patch: Where do you draw your inspiration?

Ersland: My biggest source of inspiration are the horses I ride and drive and I try not to simply photograph them and paint from the photo, but to draw first and fit photos to the drawings. I have a sport horse named Ike who's a real horse-athlete.

Stillwater Patch: Could you talk briefly about this piece? How long did it take you? Where did you get the idea? What are your favorite parts about this piece?

Ersland: The painting is entitled, "Buckin' Outa Chute Five" and it started from a small photo a cousin had attached from some trip photos to the rodeo. I took my inspiration from that and began a series of small drawings trying to get the form of the bucking bronc rounder and more spring-like...You know, wound up and ready to flip this cowboy into the air.  I really liked the way the look on the broncs eyes turned out and the whip of it's tail. If you've ever been bucked off a horse you know how much concentration it takes to stay in the middle!

Stillwater Patch: What is it about horses that transforms so well into art? How do you work to bring motion into your painting?

Ersland: It's not hard for me to  think of motion when I draw and paint horses. I can almost feel their muscle and bone in my sleep or when I close my eyes. The trick to making something look like it's alive and moving rather than simple static is to just lean the object into the direction you want it to go and exaggerate the muscle movement. A blurry paint line and technique simple help with the illusion.