Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses.

I’m taking a slightly different tack here to my usual interviews-with-authors, and interviewing a photographer, Deanne Ward, who specialises in horses and dogs. I happen to know this particular photographer, and have done since we were horse-mad girls at school together, made felt ponies together, had model pony gymkhanas, rode real ponies …. and now, after detours for both of us, we’re both working with horses, although Deanne gets closer up than me. You’ll see just how close in a bit. And so, one sunny May morning, Deanne came to visit, armed with her photography equipment. I provided tea, an elderly Labrador who made sure Deanne spilled that tea over her lap, and who then, having been virtually comatose up to the point of having her photo done, decided she was going to prove just how good Deanne is at working with animals who, well, are just not feeling it. JB: Welcome to my blog Deanne – so, how did you get started – have you always been keen on photography? DW: Well,...

I'm delighted to have been able to interview Frances Bell, equestrian artist. I have seen a lot of sporting art over the years, and what I love about Frances' paintings are her fresh take on horses at work. We're all familiar with the traditional portrayal of horses galloping over fields, but Frances' works take another view. I used to cover my jotter with drawings of horses when I was at school, and still draw rather inaccurate horses now if bored in meetings. Have horses and art always been something that for you, have gone together? I also drew a lot as a child, and horses were among the subjects. This was mainly because I was interested in horses, so along with my other hobbies I attempted to draw them. I loved the idea of capturing the individual horses, but didn't often succeed! As I got to being a teenager I became more aware of the huge history of horses in art. I remember seeing Stubbs' Whistlejacket on a postcard and thinking that this was a maste...