The Horse Enters Chris Bilton's Art - Summer 2007 Issue of Horses in Art Magazine

The Horse Enters Chris Bilton's Art

by Carmen Bilton

"A portrait of Farrier, Adam Miller" by Chris Bilton.
With a true Renaissance spirit, figurative artist Chris Bilton takes interest in diverse subjects and media, continually striving to grow as an individual and an artist in multiple directions. As a painter, sculptor, builder of musical instruments, and musician, Bilton is a true naturalist with the curiosity of a research scientist facilitated by the eye of an artist. His study and love of nature inherently includes animals.

He integrates and intertwines life perceptions into a unified layered whole. Bilton is able to realize connections others may find obscure, understanding how things relate so that any one experience or skill benefits another. Building a new instrument may hone an aspect of understanding form that he can use in his next painting, or painting a portrait may contribute to an idea he may use in a sculpture.

When Bilton was asked to incorporate horses into a portrait, the idea appealed to him immediately. The massive forms of the beautiful animals introduced wonderful shapes and possibilities. He envisioned a triptych, to allow a focus on each of the two sisters, alongside a composition where they would enter the landscape with their horses. Beyond the subject of the girls and their horses, Chris created a painting where the relationship between each girl and her horse shares the stage, along with the glowing sunlight of the day in the field. Along with the stylistic realism, he strived to capture peacefulness similar to the spirit of the figurative work he creates from his imagination.

Chris found the painting of farrier Adam Miller interesting, partly because Adam expressed that he did not care for a traditional portrait. His goal was to create a realistic, sympathetic, respectable and telltale view of what it is to be a farrier.

Bilton comments, “I took the opportunity to see Adam working in a traditional manner with tools of the trade that parallels my approach to art. He talked to me about his path to becoming a farrier in modern times, using tools and techniques from an old-world blacksmith background.”

Chris took many reference photos of Adam, the horses, the place and the tools, to combine with what he had absorbed from being there. Bilton remarks, “The photographs didn’t tell the full story – that impression of the experience as it takes place, which is very real, wasn’t captured with the camera. I wanted to fulfill his request while fulfilling the demands I set for my artwork – to take an experience and condense it into a moment.”

Working from his imagination allows him to combine elements to fabricate something real, but leaning toward the ideal. Before putting any paint on a canvas, Chris makes compositional studies on chalkboards. “Chalkboards have a surface that is dry, soft and silky, that promotes the fluidity of the chalk on it. They are very forgiving. You can easily erase and add, and that facilitates freedom and the opportunity to explore during the early stages of composing.” Bilton considers the narrative he portrays more general than specific. Even when creating a portrait, he remains most concerned with making an artful composition. He considers portraits and commissions as collaborative projects and enjoys the results. “I never would have painted a farrier on my own. My family doesn’t own horses. But I’ve always loved them and what they look like. I especially love the Renaissance representations, in particular Leonardo’s drawings of horses.” Bilton looks forward to painting more horses, continuing to learn along the way.

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