Horsing around comes naturally to artist Lila Blakeslee, as easily and predictably as breathing. One of the original founders and partners of Gallery 14, Blakeslee feels fortunate to have made a living out of two things she loves – horses and art.
Born in San Antonio and raised in Dallas, horses have been an integral part of Blakeslee’s life since seventh grade, when she got her first horse. The magnificent animals, sometimes referred to as God’s gift to humanity, have provided her with joy, inspiration and a livelihood. After a lifetime filled with all things equestrian, the meshing of horses and art are now ingrained.
“I have been very fortunate to have found a way to combine my love of horses and my art, and I’ve found a way to make a living with it. If you can envision it, you can bring it to life. You have to get opportunities, you have to be fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, but you have to go after it,” says Blakeslee.
Blakeslee’s drawing skills are precise and accurate, with horse and rider often shown in action, whether jumping over a gate, or riding to the hounds. Her free-flowing, stylized drawings expose the emotion and energy of an animal in motion, its personality coming alive on canvas as viewers glimpse muscles rippling beneath the glistening coat of the animal and can almost hear its snorting breath.
Her paintings have evolved to where she now paints horses as a “God-like creature.” That extends to including actual hairs from a horse’s mane in her work as a way of putting actual DNA into them, which she feels makes the horse more powerful.
Blakeslee admits to always being “horse-obsessed,” and says her artistic vein was nurtured during her school years in Dallas and has continued to grow.
“One of my art teachers had given me a lot of direction in high school, and I won some scholarships to art school at the University of North Texas,” says Blakeslee, who earned a liberal arts degree in drawing and painting.
Catering to her affinity for horses, Blakeslee worked at Willow Bend Polo and Hunt Club in Texas for 18 years (it closed in 1996), eventually becoming one of only three riding instructors at the private club, which catered to a wealthy clientele.
“I went from the lower ranks, to being put in charge of the whole [equestrian] thing. I was always the middle-of-the-road trainer and had lots of clients, and we did events, show jumping and dressage.”
As her first horse had died around the time she graduated from college, she was able to buy her first show horse with the tips she earned at Willow Bend. She named the horse Gratuity.
Working at the club also enabled her to profit from her artistic talents, as there were lots of horse shows and polo events at their equestrian facilities.
“A lot of famous polo players came through there, and I did portraits of them and other hunter/jumper people that trained there.”
As wonderful as her situation was there, she knew the facility wasn’t going to exist much longer as the land had become so valuable.
“I knew it was time to switch gears to my art, even though I had been doing art on the side,” says Blakeslee. She began to paint T-shirts, which sold quickly and became her bread & butter business, enabling her to relocate to Florida in the early 1990s.
She moved to the Boca Raton area and immediately contacted the United States Equestrian Team Headquarters in New Jersey. There was a big Palm Beach benefit coming up to support the Olympics team for the 1992 Games in Barcelona and she offered to donate art for them to auction, which they also made into posters.
“I did that for three years, also for the Pan-American games,” says Blakeslee. “I got involved right away with the whole horse show world in Palm Beach and Wellington. I started setting up a booth and selling my art at the horse shows and getting commissions, but I didn’t like the intensity of the area.”
Then Blakeslee found Vero.
“It had arts, the museum, the theater, it was like a little Dallas, all of the best things I liked about Dallas. And then, right away, I met a lady who hired me as her private trainer,” Blakeslee recalls, noting that they built a spectacular facility west of town with eight stalls. “I helped her buy the best horses. It was just crazy. I was her private trainer for 10 years.”
Although she will still occasionally be asked by people to help out with a horse if it needs “a little tuning,” Blakeslee currently has one primary equestrian client.
“We sort of share the fun of this horse, where I can ride it, she can ride it, she leases it, and I make sure the horse is behaving well. We don’t have to go to any shows, we don’t have any pressure, that’s the part I love now. He’s a big, beautiful thoroughbred, so I have the best of it now.”
Blakeslee and her husband are regulars at the Vero Beach Polo Club, where she takes her own photos of horses in action.
“I just love that there is polo here and I want to support them. I don’t play polo, and I don’t teach polo, but I just love the energy, and I get a lot of commissions from them,” says Blakeslee.
“People have learned to trust me when asked to paint their horse, because I want to paint my interpretation of their horse and not just an exact picture.”
Blakeslee’s repertoire has expanded since moving to Florida to a love of the ocean, which has rekindled her creativity with abstract paintings that showcase the water’s movement and depth, sandy shorelines and frothy waves. As with the horsehair, she accentuates her work with beach glass to give her paintings texture as well a little of the ocean’s DNA.
“As an artist, [I wanted to] create the emotion of the ocean, as I had for the horse. I do these layers of color. I sculpt the reef with a modeling paste, and then I add sand resin, and then I’ll do these really sheer layers of watered-down acrylic. And when it’s drying, I’m constantly watching it and shifting it. Then these wonderful things will happen to give it a lot of depth.
Under water is teaming with life. It’s amazing. I like to see through the water,” she explains.
“As an artist when you can create an emotion beyond just the visual attraction to it, you can feel the ocean, you can feel the horse’s power, which is the greatest compliment an artist can receive.”
At this stage of her life Blakeslee says, “I’m not jumping big fences now, just riding, and being around the horses. It’s a wonderful thing to do. I have been very fortunate to have been a working artist using my style of drawing and painting. That’s why I never take anything for granted because it changes constantly.”
In addition to displaying her work at Gallery 14, which is kicking off its 15th anniversary season, Blakeslee also hand-paints baseball caps with 3-D horse illustrations and her copyrighted designs are featured on high-end products that are sold in horse-minded venues across the country and through JPC Equestrian. Years ago, when designing embroidery kits for them, she asked for royalties for her work, never envisioning they would continue for more than 20 years.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
