Horses, humans and land

Although horses and humans can be clearly observed in a landscape, why are they so hard to represent visually in a two-dimensional form? How can artists respond to and approach these subjects? Traditionally artists have directly observed from nature and studied the anatomy of horses and humans, to then make further artworks. Could artists use even more approaches, to bring about a deeper understanding of the relationships between horses, humans and landscape? In this practitioner reflection piece, I will look at how experimenting with many processes, starting with direct observations from nature, then adding memories of senses such as sound, touch, smell and bringing in an understanding of archaeology and biology, art history and literature, could help artists in trying to understand these complex and connected subjects, to create visual work.