With Xeres, we met at the end of April 2022. When the world around was still in the transparent clarity of leafless trees, and everything seemed so fragile and somewhat ethereal.

Xeres is a Lusitano stallion. Very delicate, reserved, and somewhat introverted, he seemed to resonate with the feelings of nature at that moment. And his beautiful golden-dappled coat enhanced this feeling.

After meeting him, it took me just over a month before I could start his portrait. But all this time, I had images in my mind that this wonderful horse shared with me.

He would offer to show himself beautifully in the gallop, then proudly raise his neck and freeze. And then he decided he would stand on the candlestick. He turned one side, and I started to sketch, when suddenly he turned the other, deciding he looked better from the other side. And his mane would develop more impressively there.

Even before starting work, his owner Elena and I discussed that probably another horse would come into the picture. And it was a big mystery who we would see there.

From the very first days, Xeres began to transmit to me a very specific image. This image, although not clearly manifested in its pose, it was immediately clear that it was a light, and probably even cremello horse.

Interestingly, when I was choosing cardboard for Xeres, I had thoughts about something else, but my hands reached for a specific sheet in the folder where I keep art cardboards and pulled out a sheet of blue-gray velvety cardboard. Half of a large sheet.

And when the painting was already done, I came across a photo of a work I did back in December of last year on the first half of this sheet. And there was an cremello  horse.

And when the painting was finished, Xeres' owner told me that he had an cremello friend, and Xeres distinguishes horses of light colors in a special way.

Materials: velvet cardboard, pastel, ink, markers 

Size: 35.5x41cm