A love for animals starts with the love of
a pet, and sometimes the admiration for wild creatures just out of reach. For Caitlin Belk, it was both of these things
that inspired her to draw from the time she could hold a pencil. Like most young children, her drawings were
sketchy, incomplete, and filled with the disarray of colors and lines. However, as she grew older, with a dog by her
side and a cat on her shoulder, she became hyperaware of her surroundings and
how she could duplicate them on pieces of paper.
When she began horseback riding at the age of eight, her perspective on animals shifted. She developed a deep affection for the four-legged creatures that galloped through her dreams every night. Her artwork changed as well, becoming more developed and complete as she ditched her abstract feline and canine work, and focused on her true passion, horses.
Now, even at the age of twenty-three, Caitlin is still riding and still working horses into all her different types and styles of art. From pencil and paper, digital, collage, and even marker, horses are a theme spread throughout these mediums. Caitlin has received both positive and negative feedback for this repetition in her work, but she perseveres and sticks with what she knows and what excites her, both artistically, and in her daily life.
Caitlin’s process for making art is neither pretty nor planned. She will usually start with a reference point, develop a sketch, and then transfer to whichever medium she feels will work for that day. Her favorite medium is digital work and she uses a scanner or camera to transfer the sketch onto her laptop, where she then lines and completes the work with the use of a drawing tablet and pen.
Horses have always been a way for Caitlin to branch out to others and become more sociable. As a teenager, with her dad in Iraq, she became very withdrawn and her art became darker than usual. The more she rode horses, however, the more she came to realize there are good things in the world, and that her art could reflect the good things rather than the bad.
With this newfound knowledge, Caitlin became even more immersed in not only bettering herself, but also her art. She charged head-on into complex and different types of art; she developed a knack for painting and charcoal, and other mediums she had never before thought of using. When her dad finally returned from Iraq, she successfully used her art to pick up the pieces.
It is important to note that Caitlin creates art for herself and herself only. She does not have an agenda to fill or an audience to please, though an audience who enjoys her work is always nice. Art is a way for Caitlin to branch out and express herself in a healthy manner, and perhaps reflect on after some years have gone by. She is not looking to become famous or wealthy or even well-known among her fellow peers; she is simply trying to be more than what she already is.
When she began horseback riding at the age of eight, her perspective on animals shifted. She developed a deep affection for the four-legged creatures that galloped through her dreams every night. Her artwork changed as well, becoming more developed and complete as she ditched her abstract feline and canine work, and focused on her true passion, horses.
Now, even at the age of twenty-three, Caitlin is still riding and still working horses into all her different types and styles of art. From pencil and paper, digital, collage, and even marker, horses are a theme spread throughout these mediums. Caitlin has received both positive and negative feedback for this repetition in her work, but she perseveres and sticks with what she knows and what excites her, both artistically, and in her daily life.
Caitlin’s process for making art is neither pretty nor planned. She will usually start with a reference point, develop a sketch, and then transfer to whichever medium she feels will work for that day. Her favorite medium is digital work and she uses a scanner or camera to transfer the sketch onto her laptop, where she then lines and completes the work with the use of a drawing tablet and pen.
Horses have always been a way for Caitlin to branch out to others and become more sociable. As a teenager, with her dad in Iraq, she became very withdrawn and her art became darker than usual. The more she rode horses, however, the more she came to realize there are good things in the world, and that her art could reflect the good things rather than the bad.
With this newfound knowledge, Caitlin became even more immersed in not only bettering herself, but also her art. She charged head-on into complex and different types of art; she developed a knack for painting and charcoal, and other mediums she had never before thought of using. When her dad finally returned from Iraq, she successfully used her art to pick up the pieces.
It is important to note that Caitlin creates art for herself and herself only. She does not have an agenda to fill or an audience to please, though an audience who enjoys her work is always nice. Art is a way for Caitlin to branch out and express herself in a healthy manner, and perhaps reflect on after some years have gone by. She is not looking to become famous or wealthy or even well-known among her fellow peers; she is simply trying to be more than what she already is.