Katie Upton’s passion for horses has been her inspiration since her days in art school when she bravely sketched them, life-sized on huge canvases, as some looked skeptically at her departure from traditional fine art subjects.
Fast forward 20 years and Katie’s huge horse paintings have found their way into the most respected echelons of both mainstream and equine art. The only problem with Katie’s ascent as an artist is that her success leaves her little time to actually ride the horses that so inspire her. Fortunately, Katie, her artist husband, and their two daughters share their Santa Barbara home property with three horses, Boo, Luke and Chico.
“I wish I had more time to ride,” says Katie. “But just looking at them and being around them is a huge inspiration. I usually have my glass of wine in the evening and I find myself just feasting my eyes on them as they enjoy their dinner.”
Whether working on a commission of a client’s particular horse or an equine of her imagination, Katie strives to “capture the inner spirit and soul of the horse.” The subject’s color, markings and structure draw on reality, but from there, “it’s a step forward or backward” from realism, she explains. “People who commission a work from me are acutely aware they are not going to get a traditionally realistic equine portrait. They want something different and, knock on wood, so far I’ve been able to make people very happy.” Her ability to capture what people love most in horses is a unique gift. “I just kind of connect with them at some weird level,” she says. “I don’t claim to understand it.”

Living Large
Katie grew up in Santa Barbara and earned her Masters of Fine Art from U.C. Santa Barbara. When she settled on the horse as her subject, Katie went large to express the “weight and power of the horse as something that was intimidating.” She has enjoyed going really big. A few years ago, she painted a 15’ by 7’ mural for clients, and she’s currently working on a 10’ painting for a Colorado client with a big display space in their home.
Katie’s big challenge currently is going small, as in the series of 18” by 24” paintings of foals that she is working on. “I like to keep the horse life-scale, so the bigger the canvas the more of the horse there is and vice versa.”
Katie finds time to serve on the board of directors of the local therapeutic riding program, Hearts Adaptive Riding Center (www.heartsadaptiveriding.org). With works that sell in the $4,000 to $10,000 range, Katie’s significant fundraising efforts for this program include the donation of a portrait of Hearts Adapative’s “horse hero” each year. Her latest contribution is a work-in-progress portrait of Sunny that will be auctioned at Hearts Adaptive’s Sept. 23 benefit. (See What’s Happening, page 106.)
Draft breeds comprise the majority of horses in Katie’s oeuvre. But a commission from Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery several years ago has led her into the Thoroughbred community. For the past six summers, her work has been exhibited at the Equidae Gallery, a show mounted through the racing season in Saratoga, NY. A few Secretariat paintings were on hand this summer but the bulk of Katie’s exhibit was her typical fare of Clydesdales and other draft breeds and crosses, which were equally popular with the Thoroughbred crowd.
Katie’s art was first embraced by mainstream art collectors. Equestrians have since clamored on the bandwagon, with dressage and hunter/jumper enthusiasts among her biggest fans. She recently completed her first portrait of a cutting horse and enjoys the challenge of painting new breeds.
Most of Katie’s sales come through her website. Originals and giclee prints are available here, as are a wide array of 11” by 17” posters and a wonderful perennial calendar.
Thus far she has done most of her own business management and marketing. The Woodstock Folk Art Gallery in Vermont has represented Katie’s work for many years and she is contemplating placing her work with additional galleries in order to gain more time for painting. As her private commissions increase, so do the ideas in her head that are begging to get out and onto a canvas. Time, alas, remains the one part of this artist’s equation that isn’t increasing. “I’m kind of realizing that I need to be either an artist or a business woman,” she admits. Hopefully for her fans in and out of the horse world, she’ll opt to continue her artistic endeavors.
See Katie’s original work and inquire about commissions at www.katieupton.com.