Our Story

Painted Mares is a studio devoted to the horse as a subject worthy of fine art—to the bearing of a champion, the quiet intelligence in a thoroughbred’s eye, and the bond between a rider and the animal who carries them. The studio was founded on a single conviction: that the horse deserves to be rendered with the same gravity the great sporting painters once reserved for the hunt and the winner’s circle.

We built this atelier to commission portraits worthy of the stable and the gallery alike. We take your photograph and render it into something you can pass down: a portrait that is at once an heirloom, a masterwork, and a tribute, more often than not all three at once. Drawing on the great traditions of every era, our portraits are made to honor the carriage you know by heart—the set of the head, the line of the neck, the noble stillness, and the unmistakable presence that distinguishes one horse from every other.

Our process is exacting. We attend to the particulars that make your horse unmistakably theirs: the precise markings, the angle of the head, the gloss of the coat, the expression only you recognize instantly. Then we let the art do what art does best—elevate the living subject into the enduring. Each style in our collection is composed like a gallery edition: museum-informed, carefully balanced, and finished with intent. In one rendering your horse stands in the grand manner, draped in velvet and light; in the next, a luminous study, a painterly impressionist field, or a clean modern portrait fit for a stately hall. It is considered work—and deeply personal, because the achievement lies in making something that feels at once elevated and entirely your own.

We draw on the heritage of American sporting art—the long tradition of painting horses at pasture, in the paddock, and in their finest hour. There is a particular grandeur to the equestrian world: the sweep of open country, the discipline of the ring, the morning light over a working stable. We bring that sensibility into everything we make: art that is refined, assured, and quietly emotional. The stable is also a place that understands devotion—the dawn rides, the long campaigns, the trust earned over seasons. If you have ever stood at the rail and thought your horse belonged in a gallery, you are precisely the collector we made this for.

Above all, Painted Mares is about permanence—a portrait to hang in the hall, to present to a fellow horseman who understands the bond, or to commission as the lasting record of a champion. We treat the work with the seriousness it deserves: with craftsmanship, intention, and a deep respect for the animal and the rider being honored. This is a studio devoted to the bearing of the thoroughbred, the temperament of the mare, the presence of the stallion, and the simple truth that a great horse deserves to be remembered as fine art. If you are here, you already understand—and we would be honored to render something worthy of it.