“Annette's Four Horses”, creativity at its best

This painting is like a glimpse into the world of thoughts of the German artist Annette Sommer‘s childhood, a glimpse into her then very imaginative idea of her four horses (in four coat colors) and also a glimpse through the keyhole of her children's room.

For this reason, chairs and other furniture were creatively transformed into horses, table and chair legs were bandaged, skipping ropes were converted into stirrups. All the things she wasn't allowed to do in real life because she was too young, she practiced in play.

Annette was not allowed to ride until she was 10 years old, and she used every free minute that she was allowed to spend in the riding stable as a little sister to be close to the horses.

She groomed and cared for them, and sometimes she even secretly lay down on the back of a dear school horse and enjoyed the closeness and warmth of the big animal.

Annette Sommer is a 46 year old German artist who lives with her family and dog near Cologne, Germany. She is a trained physiotherapist and passionate horse lover and rider since childhood.

"For many years I have been working as a portrait artist and for many years I preferred to use pencils and charcoal. For more than two years now, inspired by the influence of the Paardverzameld Collective, I have been creating more and more works in mixed media style, moving from portraiture to storytelling and illustration.

Although my love for realistic depiction remains, the artists of hyperrealism continue to be a great inspiration for me, it is precisely the form of illustration, the observation of small things and sometimes humorous details that is something that appeals to me more and more.

While my aim of portrait drawing is clearly to create a work that is as full of character and expression as possible, to capture "THE look" in the case of an animal. I am more interested in capturing the moment of everyday life with my illustrated paintings.

The viewer should be invited to discover and read a little story in the painted picture. Here, too, my style is clearly realistic, even if it is sometimes much more reduced.

Abstract techniques and details are therefore also very far from me ... For me, sources of inspiration are many artists who have worked with drawings and sketches all their lives and whose paintings do not represent a single uniform work.“

Annette Sommer. Germany

www.annettesommerfinearts.de
FB: @annettesommer @YourAnimalOnPaper
IG: annette.sommer_finearts

Annette's Four Horses. Mixed media on DIN A4 heavy paper. Watercolors - Acrylic - Fineliner

Annette Sommer is a member of the Paard Verzameld Collective. Through international collaboration between Paard Verzameld and the Horse Museum Foundation, the painting will be exhibited during the Pratoni del Vivaro World Championships in September 2022.