Artist Spotlight: DeLaRenaissance

This week our featured artist is Dale Ann Widen, aka DeLaRenaissance. Thank you Dale Ann for answering my little Q & A!

Dale Ann with her first horse, a QH named Dan Fe Chock Tone (Chalk).

How long have you been selling on Etsy? The DeLaRenaissance shop was opened February 4, 2008.


What do you like about selling on Etsy?
I love the friendly welcoming atmosphere I felt the moment my shop was open. To heart fellow artisans, to feature them in captured treasuries, plus the opportunity I am given to converse with visitors and patrons brings a sense of positive community to Etsy, a wonderful community working together.


What are your earliest memories of creating equine art?
I can't be quite sure of the age, but every year at Christmas my Aunt would give me a brand new box of crayons which were always used to draw horses, some as my parents have shown me over the years, were added illustrations in my childhood books (ooops). When we were traveling by car, short trips or long, my doodles would materialize on the backseat passenger window. Frosty windows were always the best, but warm breath on a cool window worked just as well, and when they evaporated away the window was ready for new horses.

What is your favorite medium?
My favorite medium now is Prismacolor Pencils. No fumes, very little mess, and there is no dry time. Graphite is also wonderful, but I love to create art in almost any medium, oils, pastels, ink, wax/bronze, etc, etc.


What artists have influenced your work or provided inspiration?
The first artists that influenced my work were Charles Russell and Frederic Remington. Later in years I became very interested in the work of Maxfield Parrish, Leonardo da Vinci, Carl Larsson, John Frederick Herring Senior (one of my favorite paintings 'Barnet Fair'), and the living artist Scott Gustafson.


Please tell us a little about your pets.
Well, Benjamin is my 6 year old gorgeous red Mini Rex rabbit who we have had since he was a wee bunny. He adores attention and is so trusting of me that a few gentle strokes can send him into a bunny slumber cradled in my arms.Our cats are Bummble (a beautiful, very sweet and super lovey, but clumsy blue eyed seal-point mix), old Bert (our lovable black long hair grandpa cat), Carbon (a gentle, shy, black shorthair who adores only the person who feeds him, whom we adopted after he found his way to us as a frightened wee kitten), aging Fuzzy (a grey longhair who also is very lovable, but can be overly silly most of the time), and Tigger (a grey tabby, who's queen of the cat clan, claims my lap as her own, and follows me everywhere).My pet French Alpine goats are, Thorlief (queen of the herd), Collette (very sweet but very shy), Blueberry (very sweet and not shy), and Champagne ( a more lovable goat could not be found). On days that I sit on a large low rock with the girls, I am amused to watch as each goat pushes their way to spend time on my lap!And last as well as my largest pet is Maundo 'Special Effects', our solid bay 3/4 Egyptian Purebred Arabian gelding who will be celebrating his 28th birthday this spring. What a guy with personality! He talks about his grain bucket at meal time (how it needs to be filled), he talks about visitors (to be sure I know they are visiting), and he talks of the sweet ripe apples on the tree in the fall (oh please don't walk past the tree without one (or more) apples in your hand)! Did I mention he loves to stick his tongue out at the photographer when his picture is being taken as well? We so love him!I love them all, my dear pets!

De La Renaissance Website